Manual Cars and Popping the Clutch (to re-start engine)

[ATaylorRacing]

Do not "pop" the clutch, but rather side step as if you were taking off from a stop...no more wear ad tear than shifting into another gear. The higher the gear selected the smoother the transition. If I am as low as 5 mph I use third. The vehicle you use will determine the best method, but try 4th or 5th first. When I do it my back seat passengers do not even know what I have done.

[AnDoireman]

Certain gearboxes I believe will not distribute oil when the gears are not being driven. May be worth pointing out.

[slurp812]

Originally Posted by tasdrouille

I always bump start in 5th around 20 mph, that makes it really easy and completely transparent to passengers.

I always use 5th as well. The starter turns the motor over at less than idle speeds. Maybe 200 RPM?

[elhigh]

I've been engaging the clutch at about 25mph in top gear. A little testing around town - I live in a really small town with 20mph speed limits - shows that my truck will putter along at idle in top gear on the flat at about 20mph, so letting the clutch out on 5th at 20-25 turns the engine at or just above idle speed, pretty low-stress. Passengers never notice. If I'm heading down a longish hill, I'll ride it with the engine turning but the ignition off to top up the brake vacuum booster, or to keep coolant circulating. No blown heads yet and I've been doing this engine-off thing for a long, long time. I reckon it'll be okay.

My truck's at ~185,000 on the original clutch, so if it fries at this point I'm still ahead of the clutch curve.

[elhigh]

Originally Posted by AnDoireman

Certain gearboxes I believe will not distribute oil when the gears are not being driven. May be worth pointing out.

I know that's an issue with a lot of automatics, but I'm not so sure about manuals. If you've got the owner's manual for your car, a quick check in the section on towing ought to tell you whether your car can be safely towed any distance on all fours, or whether it should be flatbedded all the time. If the manual says it's safe with the drive wheels down, your car should be okay.

The manual for my wife's car says it's okay at low speeds for short distances, but considering the hills I like to coast, that's not an option - and they don't really tell you how slow is "low speed" or how long is a "short distance." I don't trust weasel words like that.

[Tony Raine]

you shouldn't have any problems restarting with the clutch. i drove my old truck (yes, standard) without a battery for about a month or 2. i just always parked on hills. its only on the second clutch in around 300,000 miles.

[bennelson]

Bump starting can be done amazingly smoothly.

The first time I road with Doax, it took me a few mintues to even realize why he was messing with his key.

It's because he was pulse-and-gliding on the freeway, and I couldn't even tell when he had his engine on or not!

That's smooth bump-starting!

[Christ]

I tried this in my civic, but later turned to slip-shifting into and out of gear, rather than using the clutch at all... frankly, I don't feel that the time taken to turn the engine off and restart is really that gainful for me, as it only takes 10-15 seconds for me to go from 60-40, even down slight hills.

I leave the engine idle (it idles lower than normal already, due to my preference), and pull the selector out of gear as I'm letting off the gas. Then, when I want to put it back in gear, I just match my speed with the accelerator, so I don't have to touch the clutch.

It's pretty obvious why I personally don't work out well doing it the other way though, I've hard-taught myself not to use the clutch unless I have to. (Bad knees, less stress if I don't use it.)


By the way, I pop start my car from a stop in my driveway frequently... usually use 3rd gear, sometimes I just lift in 1st though. It only takes a quick slip to start the engine.

[brekko]

ya I have been driving a lot more city lately and not turning off the car at all because it just causes too many problems, especially when it's so cold outside, but what is this slip-shifting idea?

[Christ]

slip shifting = when you are letting off the gas, apply pressure to the stick as though you're shifting gears. You'll feel it slip out of gear smoothly, and it won't damage anything.

As you're coasting, you kinda get a feel for when you have to put it back in gear and start accelerating again.. so you start to slowly rev the engine to the speed you'd need to smoothly put it back in gear, no grinds, no clutch use.

The second part is called speed-matching.

And slip-shifting in it's real terminology is exactly what everyone else calls "half-clutching" it's still using the clutch, but not fully disengaging it, forcing it to slip while shifting to another gear, but not losing as much inertia. It's a ricer thing, although, I'm sure it had real-world application somewhere.