Need ways to start a car with a dead battery.- 92 Civic Auto.

On 15 Feb 2006 09:38:16 -0800, > wrote:
>
> Sam Nickaby wrote:
>> I have been thinking of a good way to prevent stranding
>> myself from a dead battery. It happened twice. Once at a
>> beach from leaving my lights on. The other was at a college
>> campus which the stereo and the dome light ran down the
>> battery. Unlike the beach, the college campus have lots of
>> helpful students with beat up cars that have jumper cables.
>> Now, I have a new idea. Once my battery runs dry, I
>> remove my alternator belt and wrap a rope around the
>> alternator pulley. I then pull the rope so it'll turn 10
>> revolutions per pull. I keep doing this for about 20 times.
>>
>> What is the possibility that this will supply enough charge
>> to start the car. If not, can somebody think of a clever idea
>> to start an automatic?
>
> As far as a solution, if you're really running your battery dry so
> often as to retrofit your car, how about a 2nd battery that takes a
> charge, but until you flip a switch, will not energize anything?

What about something like this?

http://www.prioritystart.com/

From reading their page, it is supposed to disconnect your battery if
there is a drain on it without the engine running. Once the battery
gets below a certain voltage, I'm guessing it breaks the circuit. That
way you've still got enough power left to start the car again.

I'm interested if anyone has any positive/negative opinions on it, since
I'm thinking about getting one for a car that I don't drive very often.


John.

On 2006-02-15, Larry Bud > wrote:

> 30-40 milliamps!!! He'd be better off pulling the alternator with a
> rope!

LOL!..... or drag his feet on the carpet and touch the battery!

The 500-750mA models listed would better suit. Even better, find out
what the Hell is draining the battery and fix it and get a new
battery. A battery that won't hold a charge for couple days is a bad
battery. Go to your local mechanic or even some auto parts stores and
have a battery "load test" done.

nb

Sam Nickaby wrote:
> I have been thinking of a good way to prevent stranding
> myself from a dead battery. It happened twice.

Drive a manual transmission. You can push start those.

However, caveats:

- unburned fuel/air mixture during the first few cycles can ignite in
the exhaust system where it can damage the catalytic converter. You
have to weigh the cost of continuing being stranded against the cost of
a new catalytic converter. If you are fleeing from a natural disaster,
and your car won't start, who cares about the converter, right?

- the engine might not still not start due to the ECU and surrounding
components being adequately powered.

> Now, I have a new idea. Once my battery runs dry, I

You know, you could just carry an extra battery in your trunk if you're
that absent-minded. Check it once in a while to make sure it's charged.

Also, a battery never completely runs "dry". What you do is turn off
everything that was draining the battery (dome light, stereo,
headlights). Then leave the car alone for 15, 20 minutes. Chemicals in
the battery might redistribute themselves to build up enough
concentration to provide enough current to start the car.

> remove my alternator belt and wrap a rope around the
> alternator pulley. I then pull the rope so it'll turn 10
> revolutions per pull. I keep doing this for about 20 times.

How is that going to work? You won't charge the battery from a few
revolutions of the alternator. It could provide enough current to spark
the engine if someone turns the ignition key at the same time. But
then, the belt is off!!! How is the engine going to continue running on
a dead battery, and no belt to the alternator?

"Don Bruder" > wrote in message
...
> In article >,
> "Mark Hewitt" > wrote:
>
> > > wrote in message
> > . com...
> > >
> > > Having a manual transmission is a bit of a rarity nowadays.
> >
> > Maybe where you live. But not here.

I feel the same way, but the vast majority of cars sold here are automatics.

"Don Bruder" > wrote in message news:43f34be3$0$95956 When
I put it in
> second, I want it in second until I decide to put it someplace else, and
> to hell with whatever the widget that passes for "intelligence" in the
> gearbox thinks is right.

I do not care for the proliferation of worthless computer controlled
gadgetry in many
modern cars. For an air conditioning system, I would prefer a temperature
control and
an on/off switch. I do not need a $600 climate control computer. Nor do I
need a system
which holds on the lights for a few minutes when I exit, and dims gently
when I get
in the car.

The one item that I would really like would be log scale ammeter that could
function
with little or no current drain when the car is starting, running, or turned
off. Not the
easiest of tasks, perhaps, there are a number of ways to approach it.

Over the years such a unit could have saved my bacon when lights that should
go off don't, when kids in the back seat turn on reading lights and leave
them on,
when car control systems don't shut down on their own, when any of a number
of faults parasitically drain the battery, and when the starter begins to
sound weak.

Mark Hewitt wrote:
> "Mike Romain" > wrote in message
> ...
> >
> > Not any more it doesn't!!!
> >
> > That 'used' to work before computers and electric fuel pumps, but I
> > found out the hard way that push starting a modern vehicle with a dead
> > battery is only good for exercise.
> >
> > The fuel pump and computer need power or the engine won't start. The
> > gent would be just as well off 'pull starting' on the alternator
> > pulley...
>
> I have a 1 year old car complete with computers and electric fuel pumps and
> managed to bump start it no problem, it wasn't even a steep hill either, I
> got a friend to push me, and once I was going about 5mph I lifted the clutch
> and the engine started.

Was your battery actually dead, or were you just playing around?

Because if your battery is actually dead, what can happen is that the
first few strokes of the engine can blow unburned fuel-air mixture into
the exhaust system where it will later ignite, possibly damaging your
catalytic converter.

So push-starting your car is a last-resort,in an emergency situation
where it makes sense to take that damage risk.

Mark Hewitt wrote:
> "Mike Romain" > wrote in message
> ...
> >
> > Not any more it doesn't!!!
> >
> > That 'used' to work before computers and electric fuel pumps, but I
> > found out the hard way that push starting a modern vehicle with a dead
> > battery is only good for exercise.
> >
> > The fuel pump and computer need power or the engine won't start. The
> > gent would be just as well off 'pull starting' on the alternator
> > pulley...
>
> I have a 1 year old car complete with computers and electric fuel pumps and
> managed to bump start it no problem, it wasn't even a steep hill either, I
> got a friend to push me, and once I was going about 5mph I lifted the clutch
> and the engine started.

Was your battery actually dead, or were you just playing around?

Because if your battery is actually dead, what can happen is that the
first few strokes of the engine can blow unburned fuel-air mixture into
the exhaust system where it will later ignite, possibly damaging your
catalytic converter.

So push-starting your car is a last-resort,in an emergency situation
where it makes sense to take that damage risk.

Kaz Kylheku wrote:

> Sam Nickaby wrote:
>
>>I have been thinking of a good way to prevent stranding
>>myself from a dead battery. It happened twice.
>
>
> Drive a manual transmission. You can push start those.
>
> However, caveats:
>
> - unburned fuel/air mixture during the first few cycles can ignite in
> the exhaust system where it can damage the catalytic converter.

Oh, good GRIEF!!

Catcons are *not* that delicate. No way in God's green earth that a few
cylinder-fulls of raw fuel/air mix is going to hurt a catcon. No way, no
how, AINT GONNA HAPPEN. If it did, we could never have had 16 years of
CARBURETED cars (1975 until the last carbureted Mazda pickup in 1991)
with perfectly functional catalytic convertors, now could we?

Running 20 miles with two spark plug wires disconnected- now THAT will
heat up a catcon to a nice cherry red and do some damage... but just
starting an engine? Nope.

In article >, Steve >
wrote:

> Kaz Kylheku wrote:
>
> > Sam Nickaby wrote:
> >
> >>I have been thinking of a good way to prevent stranding
> >>myself from a dead battery. It happened twice.
> >
> >
> > Drive a manual transmission. You can push start those.
> >
> > However, caveats:
> >
> > - unburned fuel/air mixture during the first few cycles can ignite in
> > the exhaust system where it can damage the catalytic converter.
>
> Oh, good GRIEF!!
>
> Catcons are *not* that delicate. No way in God's green earth that a few
> cylinder-fulls of raw fuel/air mix is going to hurt a catcon. No way, no
> how, AINT GONNA HAPPEN. If it did, we could never have had 16 years of
> CARBURETED cars (1975 until the last carbureted Mazda pickup in 1991)
> with perfectly functional catalytic convertors, now could we?

Or the *ORIGINAL EQUIPMENT* cat on my carbed '82 Mazda 626 which, due to
an uncooperative electrical fault that took the better part of a year of
on and off hunting to finally pin down and cure for good, got
push-started on a fairly regular basis - Sometimes as often as 4-5 times
in an hour during a 4-8 hour shift when it was earning its keep as a
pizza-mobile. On November 30th of last year, it went through California
smog testing showing less than 1/3 of the allowed emissions for its
testing category - *ACROSS THE BOARD* - and WITHOUT needing to resort to
any of the "fool the machine" tricks or gimmicks to make it happen.

Needless to say, I ain't sweating even a little bit over zapping the cat
with a push start, regardless of the dire warnings that folks like Kaz
keep tossing out.

> Running 20 miles with two spark plug wires disconnected- now THAT will
> heat up a catcon to a nice cherry red and do some damage... but just
> starting an engine? Nope.

Absolutely. Continuously dumping raw fuel-charge into a cat is gonna
turn its innards into a heap of fused slag in short order. That would be
one of those things that fall into the "unquestionable fact" category.
The few snorts of fuel-mix it gets from performing a proper (IE, key on,
get to speed, then dump the clutch in second or third) push-start on an
otherwise healthy engine don't amount to a half-assed fart in a
hurricane.

--
Don Bruder - - If your "From:" address isn't on my whitelist,
or the subject of the message doesn't contain the exact text "PopperAndShadow"
somewhere, any message sent to this address will go in the garbage without my
ever knowing it arrived. Sorry... <http://www.sonic.net/~dakidd> for more info

On 15 Feb 2006 13:39:13 -0800, "Kaz Kylheku" >
wrote:

>Was your battery actually dead, or were you just playing around?
>
>Because if your battery is actually dead, what can happen is that the
>first few strokes of the engine can blow unburned fuel-air mixture into
>the exhaust system where it will later ignite, possibly damaging your
>catalytic converter.

Why would anyone care? CCs are useless, enviroterrorist pieces of
****.

*************************
Dave