The Tow Files: Artsy Fartsy

[Docmayhem]

... one of the service techs said he saw them try to "push start" it, that is, push the car down the street in neutral, and then pop it into gear. A little trick that can start a standard stick shift if the battery is out of commission, except, that wasn't the problem, and this was an automatic car. ...

I can tell you from experience that you can, in fact, push start a car with an automatic.

You just need to get it up to about 40mph...

[wolfie]

I can tell you from experience that you can, in fact, push start a car with an automatic.

You just need to get it up to about 40mph...

A little knowledge is a dangerous thing. That may have been possible in the past, but late-model cars with automatic transmissions don't have a direct mechanical link from the gear selector to the transmission - and the drive-by-wire system won't take it out of "Park" until the engine is running. There's a bypass system (bolt that has to be screwed in) to force it into neutral so that it can be pulled up onto a flat-bed tow truck without damaging the transmission.

[Argus]

An actual summons? I figured that it was a letter of intent. Just a scare tactic.

Like the packet one guy handed to Gord?

[Argabarga]

I don't know, could've been a summons, could've been intent, could've been a lot of things. I've never been sued so I can't tell the legit "this is srsly a lawsuit" stuff from "this might be a lawsuit" stuff.

[Zeddi]

My parents hat the broken timing belt around 10 years ago with their https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opel_Vectra from the mid-nineties.

They don't drive that much, so by service-manual it wasn't due, but it was simply to old and dissolved.

They hat luck, thoug, the engine could be rebuild for around 1500 EUR i think.

[Deserted]

the drive-by-wire system won't take it out of "Park" until the engine is running.

I can't speak to anything else you said, but my van (2013 Toyota Sienna) will indeed let you shift out of park without the engine running. You just turn the key to the all-the-way-on position and shift normally.

...but I never would've considered trying to push-start any automatic. Just doesn't seem possible to me.

[CrazedClerkthe2nd]

Well, I guess it's time for the company's Martian Death Ray Lawyer to earn his money, but I don't think he'll exactly be breaking a sweat to do it.

NEXT!!!

I am picturing Marvin the Martian in a business suit.

[Deserted]

But where's the kaboom? There was supposed to be an Earth-shattering kaboom!

[Shyla]

I'm still laughing at the kid waiting to be picked up. Walking 8 blocks should be nothing where you are. I toured the campus many years ago and knew I didn't want to walk that far.

Deserted, I suspect the no handbills rule is something set by management for that property. But Argabarga, I think you should frame one of those for the shop in case his next car gets towed.

[Argabarga]

Frivolous lawsuits make me angry..... VEEEEEERY angry Indeed!!!!!

[Monterey Jack]

Capture that Earth creature and retrieve my Uranium Pu-36 Explosive Space Modulator!

[Talon]

Sheesh. I'm a girl (go ahead and laugh)

If you were a funny girl telling a joke, laughter would be appropriate.

But you've got stiff competition in the humor dept on an Argabarga thread

[eltf177]

Delays, always delays...

[Docmayhem]

A little knowledge is a dangerous thing. That may have been possible in the past, but late-model cars with automatic transmissions don't have a direct mechanical link from the gear selector to the transmission - and the drive-by-wire system won't take it out of "Park" until the engine is running. There's a bypass system (bolt that has to be screwed in) to force it into neutral so that it can be pulled up onto a flat-bed tow truck without damaging the transmission.

I never said it was a good idea, just that it was possible.

I've never seen what you describe, but it is common for cars to need 'key on' and 'brakes applied' to shift out of park. There is usually a bypass for when the battery is dead to allow a disabled vehicle to be moved.

[Sparklyturtle]

Me saying I'm a girl is actually very funny, because I'm 57 and gray-haired, and I do wish I could write like Argabarga.