I’m practicing for my driving licence and I’m going to driving school, just out of curiosity though I’ve looking on YouTube how to start and run a car and I’ve seen at least 3 different methods, I dunno which one is the correct. Things like the order when you release a pedal or when you need to press the clutch keep switching…
Some cars won’t start unless the clutch is pushed in. Some will. If you are in gear, it will push the car forward.
The most complete and safest way for all cars is.
Foot on brake. Clutch in. Put in neutral. Start car.
That should work and be safe in all manual cars. It is likely the “correct” way for a driving test.
Once you get to know a car, you might just use the brake and clutch and leave it in gear when starting the car.
This is the way.
Fun fact, once I brain farted and didn’t put the clutch in and the car was so old it didn’t have a kill switch and it stuttered forward right into a house. That was fun.
I gotta find it again, but someone in a race finished his final lap after running out of gas by leaving the clutch engaged and just running the starter lol. It was enough to keep the car rolling until the finish line.
I did the same but in reverse!
Another fun fact: occasionally, that’s a legitimate technique. I have an old manual Toyota 4Runner 4x4 that actually has a “clutch start cancel” button you can use if, say, you stall in a tricky rock-crawling situation. You can crank the starter to crawl forward without risk of rolling backwards, like might happen if you actually started the engine and tried to use the clutch.
No. If the clutch is in, there is no need to put in neutral. (You would not pass the driving test in Germany)
The correct steps are:
Right foot press down on the brake
Left foot press down on the clutch
Start the engine
Release the hand brake
Check that the 1. gear is in
Then release the brake, get on the gas just a little, release the clutch carefully, and there you go.
(edited, because I forgot the hand brake)
Lol, I’m not from Germany but I seriously doubt they’d fail you in a driving test because you put the car in neutral before you start it. That’s just ridiculous.
I got a minor error on my test in the UK for “unnecessarily touching the gear stick” so …
That’s insane. Starting in neutral is arguably safer.
It is OK if you put the 1. gear in before you start the engine, but you should not put in neutral.
Warum? War bei mir damals™ nicht so, eher im Gegenteil. Erstmal checken, ob auch ja kein Gang eingelegt ist.
Möglicherweise haben sie die Regeln irgendwann geändert, das weiß ich nicht.
Justify that, please.
I hit a barn with a dump truck because the clutch pedal failed to disengage the clutch, and I was in first gear when I tried to start. In neutral, the truck would not have lurched forward, and I would have discovered the problem when I couldn’t slip the transmission into reverse.
The transmission should be in neutral until the hand brake/parking brake is released, and you are ready for the vehicle to move.
Then your right foot was not firmly on the brake, see step 1.
It was, indeed, on the brake pedal. “Firm” pressure was, indeed, being applied, and the parking brake was set with enough force to prevent movement.
Without the engine running, there is no vacuum boost on the brakes. “Firm” pressure on the brake pedal is not sufficient to overcome the high torque of a starter motor against first gear, even with an adequately set parking brake as well. If you’re going to insist on having the transmission in gear, the highest gear would be the best alternative to neutral, as it provides the lowest torque fighting the brakes.
The amount of pressure on the brake pedal needed to stop the vehicle without boosted brakes would better be described as “standing on them like your life depended on it”, but you only asked for “firm”. The measure you have put in place to mitigate the observed danger is demonstrably inadequate, and you have yet to offer any sort of reasoning for your “first gear” suggestion.
But, this is all a digression. Your position is that the vehicle should be in first gear. The only explanation you have offered for that is the possibility of failing a German driving test. “Preventing Injury or property damage” is a far higher priority than “appeasing some authoritarian twat”, so I’m going to need a better explanation from you for first gear.
Why would they fail you for putting the car in neutral and pushing the clutch in before you start the car?
What are you supposed to do if you want to let the car warm up or you’re waiting for someone or any other reason you want to start the car but not immediately start driving? Are you supposed to put it in first, push in the clutch, start the car and then just leave the clutch pushed in for 5 minutes?
LOL
Guess what: You are supposed not to do it.
That is explicitly forbidden in Germany, for the sake of the environment.
Older (pre 2000) diesel cars needed a few seconds, sometimes a minute to “warm-up” the starter. You had to turn the ignition half way before you actually start the car. That’s the only “warming up” a car might need to function (normal circumstances).
Glow plugs. They needed time to heat the glow plugs, which look like spark plugs, but function like an incandescent light bulb. They would be a nice hot spot in the cylinder to help ignite the fuel and get the engine started.
While the engine doesn’t need to be warmed up anymore, the HVAC system may need the engine to be hot before it can keep the windshield defogged and ensure the driver’s view remains unobstructed.
Ok, thanks for the update. I’m neither a car guy nor a native speaker.
That’s not warming up the starter, that’s warming up the glow plugs. And turning on the ignition doesn’t require you to be in neutral or press the clutch, since it doesn’t turn the engine
…how do you demist your cars?
Not sure if I understand. Tell me more details.
It’s a wet morning and the inside of your windshield is fogged up. (Or it’s cold and there’s frost on the inside)
Most people take a rug or a sponge and wipe the windshield. Then after starting, the air condition helps.
Some cars have a heatable windshield. All have a heatable rear window.
Until the engine warms up, I can’t keep the windscreen from misting up in the winter. Especially if it’s frosted on the outside!
You fix your leaky weatherproofing and put a dehumidifier inside overnight to get rid of the leftover moisture. Afterwards your windows will no longer mist up.
Fix the issue instead of treating the symptoms
Modern car engines would need a very long time to warm up in idle anyways, and modern cars usually have electronic defrosters for the windshield
The outside is the easy part (unless there is thick ice): use the water spray with the wipers. In the winter, the water contains a thawing solvent.
For the inside, what I personally do in the winter: before parking my car in the evening, I open all the windows for a few minutes to let the cold air in (also switch off the heating). Cold air is very dry. So it does not mist up (most times) in the morning.
lol I guess I shouldn’t expect more from a country where the AFD is running away with elections
I guess countries are not made for your expectations…
Disagree.
It is possible for the clutch pedal to fail to disengage a malfunctioning clutch, or for a clutch cable to part while the vehicle is being started. In either case, the vehicle will lurch when in gear and the starter is actuated.
I know it is possible, because I hit the back wall of a barn with a dump truck when it happened to me.
Except for emergency scenarios (roll starting, or trying to use the starter motor to move an otherwise disabled vehicle), the transmission should be in neutral when starting, and not shifted out of neutral until the hand brake is released.
I guess they just don’t use broken cars in the driving test.
Excuse me, Whatthefuck.
Mechanical shit breaks, things go wrong. Standard practice should be to operate in such a manner as to minimize danger to life and property when shit breaks and things go wrong.
Offer a reasonable explanation for why the transmission should be in first gear. If that explanation is some variation of “This authoritarian that said to do it this way”, ignore them with extreme prejudice and do it the right way.
No, I do not excuse foul language, and this will be my last response for you.
The question here was about a driving test, not about some mechanical science. Case closed.
I will note that I didn’t ask you to excuse my foul language. I was addressing your condescending horseshit comment.
Assuming you have accurately represented German testing standards (which doesn’t seem likely), the proper course of action here is to either provide the requested explanation, or petition the German government to correct this error.
If your clutch has slack for some reason and you are not in neutral you will have a bad time