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Blazinghand
United States25552 Posts
Normally, Push to Start is an ease-of-use feature in new and expensive cars. Today, it turned out to be the opposite-- but also something more. If you guys want background info on what's going on in my life, here are my previous two girl blogs: [Part 1] and [Part 2]. This one isn't as light-hearted as those, I'm afraid to say, but the end result is as happy.
Push to Start
Until that moment, it had been a long and altogether excellent weekend. Since it's the last one with both of us in town, and her birthday, I took her out for dinner and a drink, and everything was great. She had stopped by the library earlier and borrowed a movie: We watched Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind. As an aside, Eternal Sunshine is possibly the only Romance movie that I can honestly say I've truly enjoyed. I'd highly recommend it to anyone-- it's a great movie.
It was the end of a great date-- possibly our last date for a long time, as we parted ways to our respective city for the coming months. It ended in my car, with her crying and wishing that we didn't have feelings for each other, that life might be simple and there would be no long distance relationships. She asked me to break up with her, because she would never be able to break up with me, and long-distance relationships are so hard.
In the end, she walked away from the car, trying to dry her tears. I sat, not knowing what to do, staring ahead into the darkness. After a few moments, I disengaged the parking brake, put my right foot on the brake pedal, pushed down the clutch, put the car in gear, and turned the key. The car turned over, once. The tachometer was stuck at 0. I tried again. This time, the car just feebly wheezed at me.
My car was dead.
"Are you serious, car?" I asked aloud, alone in the vehicle's cabin. The car had no reply-- its battery, previously on the verge of dying, was now dead. I'd need a new battery, or at least a jump, to get it running again-- and I live 20 miles away. I'm not a AAA member*, so I needed to figure this out.
The road ahead of me was clear, with no parked cars. I knew what to do.
I opened the door and shouted back at her. I called her name. "Wait! My car is dead."
And in a few moments, we were both pushing my car down the road. Slowly, the lumbering behemoth gathered speed, building energy and momentum. We kept on pushing, and gradually got the vehicle up to speed. Soon, we were cruising at probably 10 miles an hour, more than fast enough for my purposes.
"Okay, we're good!" I shouted, and jumped into the driver's seat. I depressed the clutch, put the car in gear, turned the ignition to "ON", and then released the clutch pedal.
The car roared to life.
I brought it to a stop and it sat there, idling. I could hear the alternator working double-time to refill the nearly-empty battery, even over the hum of the engine. I turned to her, and we were both smiling, exuberant at making something broken work, at bringing something dead to life with just our own efforts.
I could feel her smile against my chest as I held her in my arms.
Push-Starting a Manual Transmission Car
This is probably only relevant for non-drivers or people who live in the US and have only driven automatic transmission vehicles:
If a car's battery is dead, that only means that it cannot start, not that it cannot run; even an incredibly bad battery can keep a car running, since electricity is constantly generated by the alternator, which in turn is powered by the chain reaction of the combustion engine. You will often see people jump-starting cars using another car, and once the jump-started car is running, it can be detached from the working car and run fine.
Push-starting a car uses the same principle, but provides power to start the engine using the wheels and the car's momentum, rather than another car's battery.
Manual transmission cars don't have torque converters, but rather deal with differences between engine speed by using a metal brake called a clutch. By default, both plates of the clutch are pressed together, and the engine moves at the same speed (converted, of course, by the gearbox) as the transmission, which rotates at the same speed as the drive wheels. By pushing down a 3rd pedal operated by the left foot, the driver can disengage or partially disengage the clutch, separating the plates and letting the engine rotate at a different speed than the transmission, transferring either none of part of the power. This lets the driver shift gears, and begin the car moving from a stopped position.
When starting the car from a stopped position, the clutch must be engaged slowly, so that the engine doesn't fall below the critical speed needed to keep rotating, yet still transfer enough power to get the car moving. If you release the clutch suddenly, the momentum of the car takes precedence, and the engine speed aligns instantly with the wheel speed-- in the case, 0 mph, and the chain reaction stops. This is called stalling, and happens often to beginning drivers.
Push-starting a car is the same as stalling, but you do it when the car is in motion-- so instead of the engine being forced to stop, it's forced to start, and once it's rotating, even without battery power, the chain reaction persists and you can drive. This is only possible in manual transmission cars due to a clutch.
When push-starting a car, it's usually a good idea to try to start it in 2nd gear, since that will give you a better mechanical advantage for the ground pushing against the engine-- though this requires the car be rolling a little faster.
In any case, it's one of the many perks of driving stick. Hope this was educational!
  
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When I first clicked this page, I thought it would have sexual innuendos because push to start is in that one hiphop song (by chris brown????) and it's obvious that song is about sex.
As for having a long-distance relationship GL....
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long-d relationships are the WORSE. Cute if it works out, annoying if it doesn't.
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I would never do a long distance, lol
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What car are you driving? Just curious. And does it have carburetor or fuel injection system? If latter, it is generally not recommended to carry out the procedure you described. Pardon my technical vocabulary I hope it's understandable.
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On August 30 2011 08:21 itachisan wrote:
long-d relationships are the WORSE. Cute if it works out, annoying if it doesn't.
long-d relationships eh?
sounds like a win for both parties to me
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Blazinghand
United States25552 Posts
On August 30 2011 08:34 Gatsbi wrote:Show nested quote +On August 30 2011 08:21 itachisan wrote:
long-d relationships are the WORSE. Cute if it works out, annoying if it doesn't.
long-d relationships eh? sounds like a win for both parties to me
oh man that sounds... painful? if both people are in a long-d relationship with each other... >.>
On August 30 2011 08:33 myzael wrote:
What car are you driving? Just curious. And does it have carburetor or fuel injection system? If latter, it is generally not recommended to carry out the procedure you described. Pardon my technical vocabulary I hope it's understandable.
Yeah, it's bad for your engine, but on the other hand, so is leaving your car stranded in a bad part of town  ( or having to walk home. As a general rule, you want to jump-start your car, or better yet, get a new battery.
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Why don't you just move closer together? May have been answered in your previous blogs.
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Blazinghand
United States25552 Posts
On August 30 2011 09:21 Hidden_MotiveS wrote:
Why don't you just move closer together? May have been answered in your previous blogs.
We're both students, and so until graduation (in under a year) we're doing a semi-long-distance thing. After that, depending on where we find jobs, we'll break up or stay together, since a permanent long distance relationship isn't viable*.
EDIT: *In my opinion, at least. To each his own.
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that was a touching (and educational) story :3
5/5
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On August 30 2011 09:24 Blazinghand wrote:Show nested quote +On August 30 2011 09:21 Hidden_MotiveS wrote:
Why don't you just move closer together? May have been answered in your previous blogs. We're both students, and so until graduation (in under a year) we're doing a semi-long-distance thing. After that, depending on where we find jobs, we'll break up or stay together, since a permanent long distance relationship isn't viable*. EDIT: *In my opinion, at least. To each his own.
But that's like almost a year away!
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Ah bump starting a car with a clutch and manual stick. Its really satisfying to know a dead battery wont stop you from being stranded on the road.
Plus manual is a lot more satisfying and fun to drive as opposed to those yawn inducing slush boxes.
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On August 30 2011 15:38 FractalsOnFire wrote:
Plus manual is a lot more satisfying and fun to drive as opposed to those yawn inducing slush boxes.
Couldn't agree more. I really don't understand how people are able to drive automatic and not fall asleep. An call themselves good drivers... No hate, just preference 
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On August 30 2011 18:28 myzael wrote:Show nested quote +On August 30 2011 15:38 FractalsOnFire wrote:
Plus manual is a lot more satisfying and fun to drive as opposed to those yawn inducing slush boxes. Couldn't agree more. I really don't understand how people are able to drive automatic and not fall asleep. An call themselves good drivers... No hate, just preference
Sort of egotistical to say don't you think? There's many very good drivers that drive both but choose an automatic car for personal reasons (family, etc). Many many who yes, believe it or not, are a lot better than yourself. Manual may be more fun, especially when your new to driving. And if your new to driving, that could be why you don't understand. I assume you don't have professional driving education under your belt (your post would never have been made if you did most likely), so I think it's fair for me to laugh when you "call yourself a good driver... " No hate, just my ignorance detector is lit right now. I couldn't let you get away with that post. Source: my profession
To OP: Glad you made it out of a sticky situation okay with just some rational thinking. Hoping things work out for you.
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Long distance relationships are most certainly difficult. However they can work out as long as both parties are willing to hold on. There's a quote that goes something like "distance means so little when someone means so much." I hope things will work out
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Being one who is currently in a long distance relationship, let me just say that its not as bad as people make it out to be. There's a stigma on long distance relationships that I feel is somewhat deserved but somewhat not.
Long distance really helps you as a couple and as an individual. You are able to have your own independent lives and identities while also being in a relationship. It prevents you from suffering from chronic "I've been seeing you everyday for the past 12912 days gtfo" syndrome that occurs in many relationships.
I will admit yes it is difficult not being able to see my girlfriend as frequently as I want to (I haven't seen her since August and I probably won't see her til October) but when I do see her, it really makes it all worthwhile.
I sincerely hope the best for you and if you decide to give it a shot, I hope it really works out for you. Don't go into it thinking "this will hard". Think "we can do this".
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EPT
