Well, disaster for me....

Woke up this morning at 7:15 intending to be in school for around 9am to get some past papers marked and catch up with a few mates to share any last minute exam notes for wednesday's p3 exam. I haven't used the car since saturday morning. I was looking for my CD-face off all over and couldn't find it. I get quite annoyed by things like that so thought "not to worry, will find it later, got to be in school".

Go out to car, "oh there it is!" my face off was on the car. I kick myself for leaving it on (first time I can recall ever doing it!) but as i get in the car it's beeping. Hmm i though, maybe a little warning thing to say "you've left your stereo in, take me out" or something. Oh well, take the face plate off and it stops. Turn key, dead, check immobiliser = off, oh b*ll*x! The CD player had played until the battery went dead for the last few days.

Most of you know, I don't know much about cars really so i started with what I knew (bare in mind I needed to be in school ASAP so breakdown call out wasn't an option) Get spare bettery from garage from Dad's Scenic, jump leads, turns over but dies, that battery is dead. Ok, getting desperate, push it down the road to a slight hill, jump in at a few mph, in 4th, clutch out, "duhu dudhu" *nothing*, again, nothing, end of hill, middle of road no engine Get out and push it up the incline out of the way and swear repeatadly whilst trying to phone to tell friends im going to be late.

Dad comes back from work 10 minutes later and he can't jump start me (Battery on scenic is underneath drivers seat and not too easy to get at) so he puts me on the top rope and he tows me and "pull starts" it. Phew! Ran it for about 5-10 mins, drove to the tope of a big hill, stopped engine, restarted fine, phew!

Drove to school 40 minutes late

Basically, can you imagine if this had been wednesday?! My first exam and a maths one at that! I was so lucky i went out today, i might not have gone anywhere in all honesty in the car until wednesday and then found out :O

Went to my grandpa's and he has given me a spare battery just incase any damage was done on the recharge.

Paul

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Uno 1.0ie Start. Standard.

Try putting it in 2nd instead of 4th next time. Might work. I see myself in the frustration, when exams are closing in on you.

You should re-wire the connectors behind the CD-player, so it is guaranteed to shut off when you turn the ignition off. The "continous power" must go straight to the battery in your setup.

Morten.


gas lowered on abarth wheels. upgraded interior and visuals. audio through phoenix gold and kenwood.

projects: air in and out.

Mort: I always thought 4th was best for a push start? Maybe I am wrong, you know I don't know too much! I just thought 4th because it would send the highest torque through the engine and turn it over quickest?

I like having it not be ignition dependent and decided not to bother changing it when I installed the CD player. I seem to often be waiting for people in my car and would hate keeping the ignition on to listen to music! My dad's scenic is clever, it will work for 8 mins with the ignition off at which point it beeps several times and switches off unless you press the power button to tell it to stay on.

Maybe I regret not putting it to be ignition dependent now...at least it wasn't wednesday though!

I do say i was surprised I couldn't push start it, it might not be a steep hill but i got up to over walking pace! I did try 3rd as a last ditch attempt but it was useless

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Uno 1.0ie Start. Standard.

I did a road trip with a mate in an old mini. It needed push starting evry time because the starter didn't work. We always did it in first (or sometimes reverse) and it always worked first or second time. It never occured to me to do it in any higher gears and it has always worked this way...

"The new rules are very simple, the FIA will keep them to themselves until such a time as Ferrari needs them" Patrick Head

http://www.geocities.com/drpepperdionysus

Hei Paul.

2nd gear will make the engine ignite and run on low speed - after a little jump. 4th gear won't make it run, it will just struggle and choke itself.

Based on experience, not theory...

I agree with you about the CD connectors. I wired it to the ignition because my external PG amp is shut off via the head unit. If I didn't, the amp would draw current constantly. If I want to listen to music while waiting on people (99% of the times it's my beautiful woman) I turn the ignition in "reverse". This makes the CD-player work (but also the parking lights on the car, but they draw very little current, and has never caused any problems).

Have a nice day.

Morten.


gas lowered on abarth wheels. upgraded interior and visuals. audio through phoenix gold and kenwood.

projects: air in and out.

Sorry to hear about it Paul, TBH i know NOTHING about cars either but when i've needed to "bump start" mine its been in a lower gear 1st or 2nd nothing higher.
Kevs now got a booster pack, which is realy just a big yellow battery pack with jump leads attached and as you turn the engine over it gives it a jump start Its so simple even i can use it
Hope it runs well for you on Wed and good luck

I've always push started cars in first.

Steve...

Go on the Fiats...

1st gear is great on horisontal ground. Then your friends have to push from behind. Watch the rearview mirror when you let the clutch out and they bang their heads in the rear hatch window.

Morten.


gas lowered on abarth wheels. upgraded interior and visuals. audio through phoenix gold and kenwood.

projects: air in and out.

Interesting....My grandpa who has spent 40 odd years in engineering and the last 15 years fiddling with cars as a retirement hobby has told me "high gear" due to my theory but I guess practice is what counts with this, normally I pull out the clutch and quickly hit my foot down to prevent the problem with stalling due to low speed in high gear - that would be avoided if in 1/2 but maybe it's harder to get to fire anyway...if it happens again, i will try both and see which works best.

Mort;I didn't think about using the ignition backwards for the the CD player, good idea!

Dawn: Thanks for the sympathy and for the good luck (i should do fine i hope!) I have seen the booster packs and like them a lot - just I couldn't justify the cost of one. We have the spare battery in the garage to use like that in emergencies but I forgot it hasn't been charged. I will get it charged later I think.

Steve; point noted.


I hate car batteries, they never seem to do what I want and scare my a far bit (long story about battery explosion, deafness and questioning by police for bomb making - don't ask!) but I think mine has a decent charge now because i was driving over 90 minutes today in all. My grandpa says that it would have been charging with a large p.d. and because a large discharge causes sediment to be brought up, the batteries life will now be seriously affected I think I understand that a deep discharge on a lead-acid battery causes the cells to short circuit. Well, I have a spare now just incase!

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Uno 1.0ie Start. Standard.

haha Mort! I took a girl home and said "you do know the only reason why i offered to give you a lift is so you can push if it won't start again!" Oh i know how to charm them! lol.

Unfortunately this morning nodody I am friends with/vaguely know was around and the only people down the road were happy enough staring at me trying to push it myself!

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Uno 1.0ie Start. Standard.

I think I am right in thinking bump start = push start where you push it up the road, and jump start = battery leads or pack thing which only works if it is the battery which is the problem.

"The new rules are very simple, the FIA will keep them to themselves until such a time as Ferrari needs them" Patrick Head

http://www.geocities.com/drpepperdionysus

Above post not really relevant thinking about it!:I

"The new rules are very simple, the FIA will keep them to themselves until such a time as Ferrari needs them" Patrick Head

http://www.geocities.com/drpepperdionysus

On a side note, why is it 28 degrees in my room and 30 degrees outside, humid as heck and dull outside. I am dying here trying to revise physics - i am not yet wearing as little as cinq yet though
Anybody got a portable air con unit? My fan is on full and my laptop is like a radiator!

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Uno 1.0ie Start. Standard.

Originally posted by pghstochaj
haha Mort! I took a girl home and said "you do know the only reason why i offered to give you a lift is so you can push if it won't start again!" Oh i know how to charm them! lol.

Click to expand...

Paul, I'd say you're learning. Instead of charm, read use.

Anyway, I've got this great battery with an internal light on it. If it's ok it glows green. When it's 50% it glows white, and when dead there is no light ofcourse. Actually my local FIAT dealer sold it to me at a very good price. 68 Ah aswell.

Morten.


gas lowered on abarth wheels. upgraded interior and visuals. audio through phoenix gold and kenwood.

projects: air in and out.

I've got VW dials now... nice blue and red

It's not related to your battery problem, I'm just showing off. []

We all know how you like to show off

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Uno 1.0ie Start. Standard.

Mort; lol about the girl, she wasn't best pleased! I like the idea of a battery like that. My old old laptop had batteries like that that had a little indicator on how charged it was.

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Uno 1.0ie Start. Standard.

Shut it paul []

lol, sorry cinq, you know it is all said in jest (if not, tell me)

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Uno 1.0ie Start. Standard.

You're actually best off in 3rd for a push-start. 1st gear will turn the engine relatively fast for a given road speed but it needs a lot of torque throught the wheels - very bad for clutch and driveshafts, and will probably stop the car dead when you let the clutch out. Same goes for second, to a lesser extent. 4th will work if the car's going fast enough butyou need to get to around 15mph - not easy to push that fast!
As soon as it fires, rev it slightly to keep it going and drive round for about ten mins to get a bit of charge into the battery. If it's only been flat a few days it should be fine.

I used to own an Uno too so I speak from experience! Although my battery never went - there was a dodgy connection on the starter motor that I usually couldn't be arsed to put back on (or fix permanently) - was much easier just to push the damn thing!