I pulled out of my drive this morning and something seemed to be pulling the car back, almost like the handbrake was still partially on.
It was after a few feet that that I realised that the car wasn't actually in gear.
Was I imagining it (maybe just rolling slightly downhill perhaps), or will the car move a little without having selected a gear? I don't want to try it again, without asking some advice, in case I might do some damage. I suppose the plates are together, as the clutch is up, but I don't know if it actually is possible to put any power to the wheels.
On a slightly similar subject, it made me think about an instance on the M25, when I was taking a refresher lesson. The traffic was crawling, but there was almost continuous movement, just very brief stoppages in between.
Because of the way the traffic was moving, I had the clutch pushed in pretty much all of the time, to avoid stalling, and the instructor started complaining about the smell from the clutch.
She wasn't, however, very good at explaining how to avoid issues, so I wonder, what, if anything I could have done.
Would be very interested to hear any thoughts.
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You are not in any gear when you are not in gear, there is no drive to the wheels at all. (I assume its a manual?)
You sure it wasnt in gear? sounds like sticky handbrake and clutch slip to me.
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You will get a tiny bit of creep in a manual box when the oil is cold. Jack up the driven end and start the engine. In neutral you'll probably get the wheels turning.
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Cold oil cant move a car.
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The diesel in my Volvo does quite a good job at -10 and below :)
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>> Cold oil cant move a car.
>>
It can, if it's cold, and if as the OP suggests it might have been very slightly downhill.
The car could have been teetering on the point of overcoming its initial inertia and inching down a very slight slope, and the drag in the gearbox can be just enough to start it moving.
Regarding the very slow sto-start traffic and the burnt clutch, that's a tricky one to give an answer to.
Officially, you are not supposed to "coast" and must be in gear at all times when moving, or else in the process of engaging or disengaging gear, with the clutch pedal depressed.
But in reality, in very slow traffic, that can mean abusing the clutch by endlessly slipping it in order to drive slowly enough.
What I do, after years of experience, is try and anticipate the bunching and stop-starting ahead and maintain a constant creeping speed, corresponding to idling speed in first gear. If the gap becomes too wide as the traffic speeds up I might shift into second and continue at idling speed, or if the traffic slows so much that the gap closes I slip into neutral and coast a bit until conditions change again.
But what is very bad is to be constantly driving with the clutch slipping.
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>> >> Cold oil cant move a car.
>> >>
>>
>> It can, if it's cold, and if as the OP suggests it might have been
>> very slightly downhill.
>> The car could have been teetering on the point of overcoming its initial inertia and
>> inching down a very slight slope, and the drag in the gearbox can be just
>> enough to start it moving.
>>
Agreed.
>>
>> Regarding the very slow sto-start traffic and the burnt clutch, that's a tricky one to give an answer to...............
>> But what is very bad is to be constantly driving with the clutch slipping.
>>
>>Because of the way the traffic was moving, I had the clutch pushed in pretty much all of the time, to avoid stalling, and the instructor started complaining about the smell from the clutch.
>>She wasn't, however, very good at explaining how to avoid issues, so I wonder, what, if anything I could have done.
I'd say what is very bad is the quality of teaching by driving schools - between this, and things that Rattle has said in the past, that a lot is left out, or glossed other.....
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>> >>She wasn't, however, very good at explaining how to avoid issues, so I wonder, what,
>> if anything I could have done.
>>
>> I'd say what is very bad is the quality of teaching by driving schools -
>> between this, and things that Rattle has said in the past, that a lot is
>> left out, or glossed other.....
Not sure about others, but I didn't find this one very good. I was having refresher lessons, so it was more about just having somebody in the car with dual-controls until I was confident enough, but I don't think I would have made good progress with her.
I got the feeling that she actually wasn't that experienced.
It was small things that she wasn't able to answer. For example, we were once driving on the motorway, and I was about to move into the middle lane, when she shouted to stop, saying that I shouldn't cross the solid line.
When I asked her why there was a solid line along the right hand side of the lane, she said that she didn't know.
A little bit later in the drive I suddenly realised that, the fast lane was actually closed and that they had turned the hard shoulder into a lane. But she didn't seem able to figure that out.
The regular problem I had with her was that she would often slam the brakes on, a few times almost getting us rear ended, as we entered 30 zones on single carriageways.
I didn't get it because I was being super cautious that the needle was under 30 before we got here. After a few lessons, I realised that she was going by a separate digital readout, which eventually read the same speed, but seemed to have a big delay when changing speed.
So, I would have slowed down to, say, 28 on the needle, but the other display would still be reading 35, then she'd whack the brakes on, and rapidly move down to perhaps 18-20, because the digital display would not react quickly to her braking and still read over 30.
I pointed it out to her and she didn't really respond, just an "oh", but she seemed to stop doing it in future.
Just lots of small things like that, which made me question her real experience, either at driving, or at being an instructor.
Last edited by: SteelSpark on Sat 2 Oct 10 at 16:14
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I think driving school tuition is awful.
My girlfriend has a driving licence and I have even been known to let her loose on my car. We took out Boris bikes for the first time the other week, and she kept on asking me what gear I was in.
No idea whatsoever how the gears work.
Starts with the pedal upon which a foot is placed set at about 5.30 and wonders why wobbles all over road making a slow start when I am already miles ahead.
You can imagine how the car driving goes.
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SWMBO selects a gear for her bike and then stays in it all day. Similar with a car.
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What gear are you in when you are not in gear? - Zero
