Quote:
Originally Posted by Piotrsko
The older stuff wasn't so picky about minimum starting voltage, the new stuff OBD2 checks for generally a minimum of 10 volts or it won't do anything. The electric fuel pump usually does the fatal deed.
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If I had a plug that could have replaced the shut-of solenoid (and the engine weren't too cold) the ol diesel Golf could have been started without a battery.
The thing is that if the 4,000lb Avalon dies for any reason it's a lot harder to push anywhere than the 2,000lb cars we've owned before. In some of our other cars I wouldn't even start the engine to move them around in the driveway. The Avalon, as a hybrid, should work in EV mode for extremely short distances, but ironically that mode isn't available when the engine is cold.
Pushing around a 6,000lb full sized pickup or SUV is even harder.
Quick story. I have a friend who's a photographer that went to take a family of clients up to the mountains in their full sized AWD SUV Yukon on a well maintained dirt road. But apparently they're not from Colorado and when they saw the dirt road and lost cell service they got scared and decided to head back to town. Mind you I and a lot of other FWD, low-found-clearance car owners drive over that same road as the time with zero problems.
However, i did see a Toyota 4runner flipped over on its top there on one of those same roads a month ago (we were in our Avalon again having no problems with the road). The speed limit is 25mph there for a reason (curves, grades, animals, etc.)
It seems there are quite a few that are either too scared for who knows what reason to take their Pickup or SUV over roads any normal sedan can go, or they get too over confident and wipe out.