General If the starter cable goes . .

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General If the starter cable goes . .

lazylobster

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If I'm out and about and snap goes the cable. Apart from pushing / bump start, what could I do / use to engage the starter?

The lever / button seems obscured by the exhaust etc.


This is for info only, I'm not in this position at the moment.


Please advise.
Cheers
Rob
 
With the 650 engine you can operate the starter with a short stick from the engine bay. I have an 18" piece of broom handle in my car to push on the starter lever :)
 
If you are careful, and have the appropriate length/shape of stick, you can do the same with a 500. If the end of the stick that goes on the starter lever has a 'V' cut into it, it will locate easier on the starter lever, and be less prone to slide off.
 
What are the chances of this happening? Wondering if it's a common problem...
 
What are the chances of this happening? Wondering if it's a common problem...

It's also a very easy way to start the car or turn it over when you are tinkering...

You can never find a good stick when you need one so " Be Prepared"....

I found an off cut of T&G oak flooring was just right and as Tom points out a V cut out locates things nicely, the "Groove" edge makes a great shape to locate the lever...
 
Thanks for the replys. I need to find a suitable "stick" or other. Also, need to have a good nose about. My lump is the 594cc A1 unit. Looks pretty tight in there with the zorst and heat shield in place.

R
 
Thanks for the replys. I need to find a suitable "stick" or other. .........

If you want I can speak to the guys in Italy and locate you a Genuine Italian "Fiat 500 starting Stick".

Of course it will come with a certificate of Origin and a full provenance provided by the owner of the tree from which it was cut so many years ago...

We will be adding this to our range of "Genuine Italian Products"... to sit aside the Patina Spray and Patina Dust...
We have been trying to Source Italian air.... the idea being that we can have this compressed into cylinders that you may mount in place of the rear seat and via a tube and special valve arrangement run you 500 on Genuine Italian Air....
The cylinders will be rental free just a deposit and you will be able to exchange your cylinder when it runs out, as a temporary measure you will be able to still run your car on UK air but obviously with reduced performance and possible overheating problems...
 
If you want I can speak to the guys in Italy and locate you a Genuine Italian "Fiat 500 starting Stick".

the carbon fibre Abarth ones are very rare :)

But before you get carried away with using your push stick make sure that the rubber insulating boot is fitted where the heavy feed wire from the battery fixes to the pull solenoid switch. I once worked on a newly acquired car that unknown to me had the rubber boot missing. When using the push stick the cable goes limp and it got a direct short. I remember looking at the cable and thinking that I did not remember the cable being painted red then I realised that it was glowing red hot lit up like the element in an electric fire. :eek:
First pull on the cable snapped it as the steel was perfectly annealed by the heat.
 
I'm not the only one aware of this; hereby you may view my flexible, hairy starter-stick. :eek:

Having the proper exhaust heat-shield for an "R" engine probably helps. This is without using the choke and just a slight manual pull on the throttle at the same time. I'm not too sure is this would be OK if the engine was red-hot.:eek:

You can even hear my fan has gone loose again.:bang:

[ame]https://youtu.be/wafZ57Kdgmc[/ame]
 
I only have short arms :D. Hot engine will be an issue.

I’d better get surfing the web for that rare Italian Fiat original start up stick . . . .

R
 
I'm not the only one aware of this; hereby you may view my flexible, hairy starter-stick. :eek:

PLEASE, be sure to have your camera rolling when you inadvertently do this with the car in gear and can't get your hand out :ROFLMAO:
 
It happened to me. The cable broke up near the starter lever. I did the reaching-behind-the-engine trick which was fine. But what was even easier was undoing the panel behind the hand brake and pulling the starter cable out. Give it a tug and you're away. Of course it helped that I didn't have any carpets in at the time. Still haven't but that's another story.
 
Everybody (including myself initially) seems to have forgotten the alternative to the "starter-stick"----the push start. Just before Ann and I got married (and that really WAS a long time ago) I had a 500 with the 2 bolt starter mounting, and after a very hard drive from South London to Northwich (Cheshire) and a gentle drive back, the starter fell off! The bolts had obviously got slightly loose during the 'thrash' and the starter had flopped about, to the point that the top of the bell-housing broke. Luckily I was in my mate's garage, so we removed the starter, put a bolt through the wires and taped it all up with copious amounts of insulating tape---and for the next month or so, until I could afford a new bell-housing, we 'bump-started' the car. A number of very funny stories came out of that incident, but basically it was a case of full choke, ignition on, push the car until a bit of speed had built up, jump in, engage 2nd gear and hey-presto she would burst into life (the car that is, not Ann). Admittedly the car was a good starter, and we we were both a LOT younger.
 
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