For the people at shops who leave the car in gear without the parking brake on, if you ever work on a V6 alfa romeo, dont do that or you may be buying the owner a new engine. If they roll backwards in gear (especially with the stupid thermostatic spring timing belt tensioners some of them have), the timing belt will slip. Otherwise I can understand the reason for doing that. I think with the mustang if they guy forgot to inform them that it had a remote start and the person just thought he was unlocking it, its his fault. If they knew it had a remote start and used it when someone else had parked it and left it in gear, then they should be buying him a new car.
Junkyard_Dog wrote:
Keith wrote:
I'm curious - why the "windows down" rule?
Some cars automatically lock with the key out of the ignition after a certain time. If you remove the key to keep the battery from draining, place it on the console and close the door with windows up you just locked the keys in the car. Windows down gives you an easy in.
And you never know which cars have been modified to do that. Twice in 4 years we had cars that when you pull the key out and throw it on the dash - the doors lock and the windows roll up automatically. Then only way to stop it was to pull the battery - which set off the alarm since that was independently powered.
rogerbvonceg wrote:
I've lived in the UP in winter, and I still wouldn't have remote start. Dress for the weather and stop wasting gas on extended, unattended "warm-ups."
It's not for the driver so much as it is for the windows. Having to hold your breath so you can see out of the windshield, or simply not being able to drive because the moisture in the air turns to ice on the glass as soon as your start moving, make it VERY critical that you have heat before moving off.
It's more of a waste of fuel to have to have a tow truck take your wrecked car to the body shop because you couldn't see where you were going.
Not to mention that around here, the thieves and cops are after you if they see cars running unattended.
It's not "unattended". The way every remote start I have seen works, if you apply the brake or shift out of Park, the car shuts off.
Oh yeah. Seen that auto lock thing more'n once. That is one of my hard and fast rules; drop a window if the keys are in the car. It's a damn sight cheaper than hiring a locksmith or paying to fix door lock linkage bent by amateur breakin attempts.
93celicaGT2 wrote:
Celica AllTrac.
Toyota MR2 Turbo
Camry/Solara V6
etc etc etc
They all suffer from the typical Japanese "all controls must be feather light" ethic. The clutches I reference feel more like a brake pedal than a clutch pedal. 2800lb pressure plates are fun...
Knurled wrote:
93celicaGT2 wrote:
Celica AllTrac.
Toyota MR2 Turbo
Camry/Solara V6
etc etc etc
They all suffer from the typical Japanese "all controls must be feather light" ethic. The clutches I reference feel more like a brake pedal than a clutch pedal. 2800lb pressure plates are *fun*...
Hrmmm.... Well... while i don't have an Alltrac or an MR2 turbo, my 92 GT Celica's clutch pedal is stiffer than the Escort's gas pedal, and is fairly stiff.
I'm not saying 2800lb pressure plate stiff, but it's pretty surprising for a stock clutch. Not a whole lot lighter than the South Bend unit that's in the MX6.
I get what you're going at there, though. Nothing infuriates me more than stock Honda clutches.
Knurled wrote:
rogerbvonceg wrote:
I've lived in the UP in winter, and I still wouldn't have remote start. Dress for the weather and stop wasting gas on extended, unattended "warm-ups."
It's not for the driver so much as it is for the windows. Having to hold your breath so you can see out of the windshield, or simply not being able to drive because the moisture in the air turns to ice on the glass as soon as your start moving, make it VERY critical that you have heat before moving off.
Exactly. I lived in the UP for a long time, and it's colder yet here in northern MN. I don't have remote start, but still give the car plenty of time to warm up. The warm up time isn't for me (I can always dress warmer if I have to), it's to get enough heat going to keep the windows clear. Not to clear the outside (people who do that instead of brushing it off annoy the crap out of me) but to keep them form frosting up.
cwh wrote:
I grew up in Youngstown Ohio. In the '60s you needed a remote start because of all the car bombs. Seriously.
I can believe that, my grandfather told me about the "insurance" he had to buy for his service station.
apexcarver wrote:
yeah, but in this case we are talking about florida...
Hey, it did snow here this year, twice!
But yeah the guy is dumb for having remote start on a manual muscle car in Florida but the dealer is still going to have to pay I think. Also I think it also better to always park a manual transmission in neutral with the parking brake on. I think it's better on the parts and better if you happen to get towed.
I think the dealer has to take the same resposibility that they would have to if the service writer hopped in the car and started it without checking if it's in gear first.
SupraWes wrote:
Also I think it also better to always park a manual transmission in neutral with the parking brake on. I think it's better on the parts and better if you happen to get towed.
While I do agree that it's better to use the handbrake, I notice that you live in a state where they do not try to go for an even ratio of inches of salt laid down to inches of precipitation.
Caliper style handbrake mechanisms fail with depressing regularity and even regularly used cables will sieze up sooner or later. If he brought it in and they used the handbrake and it stuck, then what?
As an absolute rule, you don't use the handbrake unless you just repaired it, or the consequences of it sticking are minor. Even if the vehicle was parked by the owner with the handbrake, you don't use it. For one, maybe they don't pull it up very high. For two, are you sure it was THIS car that had the handbrake pulled? You saw eight other cars today. Do you feel lucky?
