How to push start three different manual cars with a flat battery.

Best video on this topic, great camera views and clear explanation.

I've always had until 2018 manual cars by choice. In my experience for the reason you mentioned second is better.

Cool video.

I don't have a hill or a pusher, is it at all realistic to push it yourself with the driver's door then jump in, throw it in first and release the clutch?

Very good to know this! I always assumed jump starting from another car's battery would be the only way. May come in handy one day!

I had been told to drop the clutch quickly which always made me worry about the crankshaft being shock loaded. But then again now I have little choice with how slippy my clutch is becoming.

Does the same apply for a diesel car?

Would you use that 1st trip after 'bump-starting' it to take the car to the mechanic to charge the battery? Or like...have you temporarily solved the problem? Or do you fix it yourself after that initial restart by some DIY charging method?

if I practice this will it damage the car? battery? engine?

A manual car doesn’t care if the engine is on or how it turned on this is why this works. As far as the car is concerned this was a normal startup of the engine

Wow, informative and easily understandable.. thanks

In past I used several times this method for starting and always used 2nd gear. 1st gear can easilly stop car immidiatelly and if someone pushing car from behind it can smash itself on rear.

Bro you’re videos are incredible

So my car is just way to heavy to push and I can’t get it going fast enough to start. There’s no slope or anything in my driveway

Hey man you mentioned your old blue Vauxhall Astra, and I took a look at the MOT history. Looks sad, as it looks like someone tried to get it to pass MOT, fixed a lot of problems with it but eventually gave up on it. The car was probably scrapped shortly thereafter...

I always use 2nd gear

i actually did it on 2nd gear and it world flawlessly on a ford firsta 2017

I have faced this issue twice in a parking bay. Both times there was hardly any space to move the car even one foot. Not to speak of any downhill or uphill gradient. Both times i had to call the customer helpline of the car who came with a starting kit to help me. Both times i changed the battery the very next moment.

I Bet it really sucks to wait until your 18 to drive in the UK i was able to legally drive with an adult in the car at 15 in the states

This saved me today

I learned to pop the clutch in my beetle (learned to do that before I even knew how to drive the car because it was being by a twerp) but I came here to see if it was even possible to pop the clutch in my new Corolla with a push button start. I thought that was a little trick I lost and it got me out of some binds in my bug. Just a good thing to have in the toolbox

Excellent and thorough demonstration. Thank you very much for this.

So well explained and spot on. Only wished the steering wheel would be positioned on the left.

Yeah, about that. Can't exactly use a hill to do this in The Netherlands

Thanks, I was so close to calling roadside assistance but this helped me out.

Yes that's almost impossible to do so in an auto car especially if not a conventional gas car, because of that electric parking pawl. I always keep a portable jump starter in my car, no matter where I am. It's a lithium battery "power bank" with 12v and 1000A current available. It comes with its own jump starting crocodile clips and spark protection, inversion protection, and error protection which it won't electric shock you or spark burn your hands, or blow your battery or engine. If the battery is even completely flat, damaged or dead, I'll unscrew it out (you may not need to do so if you have your own indoor garage) and take into my home, charge it with a car battery charger (from 240v wall AC) with battery recovery function. I found 12v auxiliary batteries of cars are quite similar to lithium batteries in some characters, which could be resurrected bit by bit by very slow pulse charging (auto repeating on and off charging) like your heart beat. All you will need then is plenty of patience, and wait. I'll measure the battery occasionally in order to make sure its recovery progress. It's a little bit challenging for a electricity beginner or driving learner to get an electric multimeter and measure the battery voltage. I did it because my background made me be familiar to electric things more than fuel, engine, pistons and kinetic things. A fully charged car battery should be measured around 13.3v ~ 13.8v and flat battery voltage is around 11v. A "dead" battery should be lower than flat battery voltage, which I've ever measured 10.2v and even 8v.

Once the car is jump started, make sure keep running the conventional car for 12 miles ~ 15 miles without turning off engine, in order to charge your battery back much enough. Travel for at least 20 minutes in a hybrid car system instead, because their engines aren't always on in the journey.

Nice to see a VX220

Can't imagine this is that good for the car but it's better than being stranded since we hopefully wont do it often... though might be good to practice once in a safe area to make sure you know how to do it should the need arise. Though not many people know why you need some power to push start. Assume you have a non electronic car, carburetor and your fuel pump either magically works or there is fuel in the carb already. Old people in my family say carbs are better yadda yadda but the fact is they cannot be push started with a flat battery even if they have fuel in them... this is because the system will still be at 0 volts no matter how fast the engine turns. You need some current to start the alternator, the alternator needs an excitation current since it has no magnets inside (usually), hence no matter the car, push starting only works when the battery has some charge in it. Conveniently, with modern electronics, I doubt they will activate if the battery is so dead that the fuel pump and alternator cannot work either... Now once the alternator has a quick jolt of current, it can generate its own excitation current (usually) and so will then charge a totally dead 0 volts battery... but only after something provided the initial current while the engine is turning.

TL;DR even in old cars without any electronics, if they have an alternator, they cannot start without some charge in the battery. The alternator needs some initial excitation current to generate power for the electrical systems like the sparks, hence even an old carburated engine needs to have some power in the battery to start the alternator and generate the power to run the spark coils. So if your dash lights up and there is clicking as Richard says... then you can push start... if it's flat, flat dead, then even an old car wont start because the alternator wont have any excitation current to start generating electricity.

On Level Ground you'd have to Push The Car on your Own.

Would be an Option

Or If your near a Hill.

To get There.

Your a Wonderful Instructor Richard🚘🚘🚘🚘

Your Videos are Awesome

I really Like Your Videos👍👍👍👍

You're right gear 2 would be the best

you can push start a torque converter automatic i believe, you just need to go like 40mph or so

would also be nice if DCT/automated manual transmissions had a push-start mode

How long the drive then for 'charging the battery' up...?. or would it be charged .......please ? v ?

Great tip!! I would use 2nd gear and get up to about 10mph so it doesn’t slow down as much. If you own a diesel car and if you need to roll/bump start it, it requires to build up more speed and have it in the higher gear due to higher compression in the engine. I love when you drive a different car and teaching us how to drive a different car!😊

everyone's happy until they realize they have a vauxhall nova

2000th like. And well deserved

fantastic tutorial, really will help in the future. The rental went flat in Malta, Luckly somebody knew how to do this. Now I know too.
Cheers

thank u very much

You should put it in 2nd gear, not 1st. If you get a bit too much speed up, and it is in 1st then the pullback when you let the clutch out could cause damage.

2nd and reverse is best for and my experience

Had a friend with a Fiat 500 automatic, the lights would come on and it gave a transmission error on dash, engine wouldn't even attempt to turn over, was puzzled but in the end it was the baattery

Good to know

I don't have a hill, god damn!

I had such a hard time pushing it all the way up the hill.

thanks bro, was super helpful got our car going

2nd gear is always a better option...
I'm South African, learnt push start on a tractor when i was 13 years..but tractors use 3rd gear to start

I did this in reverse in the middle of town in the USA. Thank god I grew up with Japanese manual cars lol but I had to do it myself it was a nightmare on a flat road. Pushing the car and then hopping in my 3000gt heavy ass car to pop the clutch.

Great tips!! This was so relatable! Iv been the one pushing the car to do this many times! (but dint know what was actually going on to get the car started! - just that we're bumpin it!) I just asked my mate, and apparently 2 is the gear that's widely used. :)

Always taught second gear to bump start and worked every time.