cop on my back

:shock: First one is the pain in the butt one. I cleaned the inside of the car for the first time in the 2 months I have owned it, including treating the leather seats. Has anyone tried to clean the rear window glass?? Man that is the the hardest of any vehicle I have ever owned! :notnice: I never realized how close to horizontal the rear window is!

Second the odd one. Has anyone been driving along and switch the key off and then right back on again? I have a manual and when I did that the engine would not run until you hit the starter, even with the transmission engaged and the engine turning over. I had to push in the clutch and start the engine while rolling along. No big deal, just odd. Why, you ask, would you do that?

Well.... I like find every odd thing that a vehicle does when I get it. There is a thread about someone having the throttle stick at WOT. Well, one would normally turn the key off ASAP and assess the problem. Now I know that if this ever happens, I can expect to have to start the engine and not just turn the key back on.

For those of you with automatic tranny's, I suspect the same but the engine would stop turning over even if the car is in gear ( My 04 Sport Trac does this) and that means you loose power steering which can also be scarey.

Anyway, lets here some comments.

Altoid

Wait so you are driving you turn the car off and don't understand why it wont run?

cop on my back

No, I turneed the key off and then right back on the the engine won't run in the ON position

austexstang

The reason your car does that is because it has an interlock switch on the pedal to prevent the car from starting in gear. All manual tranny cars made today have it. You have to depress the pedal down, disengaging the trans, to start the car.... Big brother at work again.

JessicaRabbitt

Actually that is odd, being that it is a manual.

I agree that its a good idea to take your car and work it, to find out how she reacts when certain things happen. Its best to do it in a controlled manner, so if any of these things happen while driving you know how to react.

RMac

The rear window is a little difficult to clean, but oh well.

As for "turning the key off and back on again," the response that you described seems perfectly fine to me. The clutch-starter interlock is designed to require you to push the clutch in all the way before allowing you to start the vehicle, for various safety reasons. Why should that be any different if you cut the power when cruising down the highway? No offense, but doesn't sound like the smartest "test case" in the world to me. A head-scratcher for sure :scratch:

cop on my back

NO NO NO, you don't understand. If you have a manual trasmission car, you can start the engine with the car rolling by having the ignition on and dumping the clutch to turn the engine over. That interlock you are talking about has nothing to do with it.

I mean probably just about everyone on this site has done that in their lifetime. This will not work on this car if the car is rolling, or so it seems.

Lets go step my step:

-your'e driving 40MPH on a nice straight flat road
-you turn the key off and back on
-the car is still in gear and the engine is turning over just like it was before
-you hit the gas to accelarate and nothing happens
-the ignition is on and still nothing
-this continues until you push the clutch in and hit the starter
-you let the clutch out in the appropriate gear and carry on

holderca1

I numbered the steps to help me describe what I am still confused about. So the engine in on in step 3. What exactly are you doing in step 6, you say you hit the starter, but I thought the engine was already running.

JessicaRabbitt

Richard, I was thinking the same thing... does that mean you cant push start this car?? I remember push starting other cars, and running along side while my b/f is pushing... then get to a good speed, hop in, dump the clutch, and we're off!

Although, losing the power steering is a PITA though. But, thats not new for any of later model cars.

JessicaRabbitt

HolderCa, he means that the engine is running, but you still have to hit the clutch all the way, and turn the key to the "Start" position otherwise the accelerator doesnt work.

Montrose

I think he is just saying that if the engine dies in this car while you are driving, you can't just start it by popping the clutch, as you can do in older manual transmission cars.

Of course, this is a simple way to push-start a manual transmission car that has a dead battery. I've done it lots of times.

Someone will have to try it with an 05 to see what happens. Maybe the driver's manual covers this?

flight96

I used to do that in my old '53 Chevy truck...only while the engine was off and the truck rolling we would pump the gas about 4 or 5 times, then let the clutch out!!! And BANG...you'd get the biggest backfire I wouldn't try it on the '05 though....probably blow the exhaust off Mind you there's no carb on the '05 so it wouldn't work anyway ...Hey Richard...shouldn't you be working??!! :nono:

holderca1

Oh ok, anyway...still not sure what the point is, I don't plan on turning the car off while I am driving.

Tone

Push starting doesn't always work on modern, fuel injected cars. In the old days, if your battery died you could get the car rolling, put it in first or second gear, let out the clutch to get the engine turning and it would start right up. Even thought the battery was dead, as soon as the engine started turning, the alternator would supply enough juice to fire the plugs, and the mechanical fuel pump would supply fuel to the carb and off you went.

Modern cars have electric fuel pumps and computer controlled injectors. Just because the engine is turning doesn't mean the computer will fire the injectors. I imagine that the start/stop scenerio (and I've done that on older cars on a lark as well) is either outside the computer's operating parameters, or it reads it as a potential "event" -- such as a collision -- and intentionally kills fuel to the engine as a safety measure.

Not that big a deal, though. Given that the Mustang has an electronic throttle, if is stuck WOT, you probably would want to stop and cycle it all the way to off again (like rebooting a computer) before restarting anyway.

flight96

Oh man NOW I feel old..... "In the old days...."

mustp51

Does seem odd. I have push started my '95 several times. As long as there was enough juice for the fuel pump to run, it starts fine, if the battery is stone dead, it would not start. And I have turned the key off while it was going down the road, was trying to figure out what some strange noise was, and coasted in neutral. Pushed in the clutch, put it in 3rd, let the clutch out and it fired right back up. The noise wound up being the throw out bearing.

cop on my back

QUOTE(JessicaRabbitt @ February 11, 2005, 2:53 PM)
HolderCa, he means that the engine is running, but you still have to hit the clutch all the way, and turn the key to the "Start" position otherwise the accelerator doesnt work.





Oh ok, anyway...still not sure what the point is, I don't plan on turning the car off while I am driving.

There is no real point, just thought it was a bit odd. I have never owned or driven a manual vehicle that could not start by rolling in gear and turning the ignition on. My 2000 Mustang GT didn't have this odd "querk".

I don't plan on turning the car off while driving either.

I am sure you will take a little more interests in this down the road when your battery is too weak to turn the engine over (say lights left on) and you can't jump start your car with out having to use jumper cables. That is one of the reasons I don't like automatics (there are lots more).

Sonic05

Oh, oh, oh, I know, I know! Teacher pick me, pick me!

You never said you pushed the clutch in between shutting the car off, and then turning the key back on. i.e.:

1. Moving at 40mph
2. Turn key off
3. Push in clutch
4. Turn key on
5. Let clutch out

Normally, when you push start a car, you get it rolling, then dump the clutch. Well, you never let the clutch out since you never pushed it in. Most likely, the computer needs to see the clutch switch operate to go into the Start mode. The engine may not just fire back up after being turned off. Remember, when you turn the key off, then back on, the computer assumes the engine is not running or turning, so it won't do anything. Now if you turn the key on, push the clutch in, get the car rolling, then dump the clutch, the computer may know that you are push starting. In which case it will go into a Push Start mode. Yes, and I do know for a fact that older cars, when they first started with electronic ignition, would have a special push-startable ignition module put in them just for the manuals. I'm sure there is some safety reason for it not letting the engine fire without something happening beside just the ignition being turned on. Thought of something else . . . maybe it was because you where moving too fast? Try it at 10 mph.

Anybody believe me?

The owners manual should say, and it should say if it will work with a dead battery as well.

cop on my back

You may have a point, but I think this thread has gone to HE double hockey sticks!

NolanzDad

on another subject...regarding the rear window...try cleaning the rear window of the Dodge Intrepid- near impossible..I guess you need a squeegee!