Car Driving: How to Start Car with a Weak Battery
Driving a car is a passion rather than a basic requirement of our daily life. When we board a car, we would always like to be on the driver’s seat, as occupying the drivers seat is a real pleasure in our life. We dream about a life where our first desire would to be an owner of a car. Car gives us comfort, luxury and status in the eyes of the on lookers.
We approach our car press button on the remote occupy the driver’s seat and drive away to our destination. We need not wait for the bus. We do not make ourselves a part of the crowd rushing to occupy a seat in local trains and metros. We feel ourselves the luckiest family having a prize possession that is a Car.
In spite of all the above we sometimes become targets of peculiar gaze of the onlookers when our car breaks down or we become a traffic-stopper and vehicles on our rear blare and honk on us. We sometimes land in a trouble because of minor faults in our car or due to our poor expertise in driving.
Let us discuss a common problem that we face with our cars and the probable ways to address it without taking help of some trained Motor Mechanic:
Car does not start due to Weak Battery:
If our car battery is older than 18 months then its capacity for recharging and in turn providing adequate power supply to the self-starter to start the car, is considerably reduced. In such cases, the automobile workshops advise us to replace the battery with new ones. Yet, during the intervening periods, we need to know the ways to start the car.
We face similar problem when we keep our car unused for prolonged periods and the battery is discharged on its own.
1. Push Start: There are two ways to start a car with a weak battery. The first one is our age-old system of ‘Push Start’. The user’s guide provided by the car-manufacturers along with the vehicles do not recommend this way of starting the car. Yet, we have to resort to this way if the car stops in a remote place where there is no other way to move vehicle and reach out for a safer place.
First, make adequate arrangements for moving the car manually. Here are the ways to move the car manually for ‘push start’. Place your car on a down gradient and let the car roll down for picking-up adequate speed for moving it in 2nd gear. The other way is to take help of someone to push the car from the rear for achieving a desired speed.
Now, before moving the car you need to occupy driver’s seat and take the following actions in proper sequence:
Move the gear lever to ‘2nd gear’; press the clutch paddle full; press the accelerator a little; insert the ignition key and twist it to ‘switch-on’ position; Now ask someone to push the car as described in the proceeding paragraph. Wait for the car to achieve the desired speed. Then release the clutch until the engine starts. Your car engine will start running.
Push the clutch again and bring the gear lever to ‘neutral gear’. Now either you run the engine in idle condition or else drive away to your destination.
2. Kick Start: The recommended way to start a car is by ‘kick start’ system. For this you need to have a well-charged battery or else you may use any other battery fitted on a car. Now you need to have a pair of two-meter long thick electric cables strong enough to withstand 30amp load. There should be crocodile clips properly attached to both the ends of the cables. Patented readymade ‘Jump Start’ cables are also available in the market and it is advisable to have one pair of cables in our car for crisis management.
The ‘Jump Start’ procedure is simple. Bring the other car near to your car; connect the red cable to the Positive Ports (marked +) of batteries of both the cars; connect the black cable to Negative Ports (marked -) of both the batteries. By doing this you have connected the well-charged battery of the other car to your car. In other words, you are now using the battery of the other car for your own car.
Now occupy the driver’s seat; bring the gear lever to ‘neutral gear’; push clutch paddle full; insert ignition key in its slot and start your car as usual. For keeping the engine running apply hand break; let the car be in ‘neutral gear’; let the ignition key remain in its slot; open the window glass of driver’s door and come out of your car leaving the engine in ‘idle running’.
Remove the cables and keep them in your trunk. Shift the other car to its original place. Now you should drive away for recharging your car battery. Go for a long drive at least for 5 – 10 km possibly at lower gears and essentially without putting-on your AC.
In this way your battery will be recharged for your normal use. In some types of batteries, you need to check the acid-level in the battery. If the level has gone down you may pour some distilled water by opening the caps with the help of a coin.
In general, Battery-life is specified between 18 – 24 months if your battery has crossed its 18-month life, then you have to be vigilant about your battery, as it would not recharge well and supply inadequate power output required by the self-starter to start your car-engine. Eventually, you should change the battery at right time. There are good exchange-offers in the market, so that you may exchange your old battery with a new one at a lower rate even before it is completely drained-out.
Skoda is all set to create another milestone in India. Skoda plans to release Skoda Yeti in the 2010 Auto Expo. This skoda yeti is said to be a Small utility vehicle(SUV). Already Skoda Fabia and Skoda superb crossed the estimated sales in India and it is sure that Skoda yeti will be surely a big hit in the Indian market. The gap between Skoda Fabia and Skoda Octavia is filled by this vehicle. The truth is this yeti is not really a Sports Utility Vehicle but something between a SUV and a Car. The smart of this car is that it is made of less weight materials with long suspensions so it fulfils its purpose in both urban and rural areas. Dashboards are neatly placed in the interiors. The added feature of the yeti from the others is the bike carrier which is something unsual. By raising the tail gate, the bike carrier can be opened and the lower part of the tail gate can be opened in the horizontal position. This car is priced to be 10 lakhs. 9000 cars were sold by Skoda in India in 2009. It is expected that this car crosses this margin in vast.
Finding India as the suitable place, Nissan, the Japanese giant is all set to roll out its car plant in india that too in Chennai. It is said that Micra will also join with this giant for its plan in India. Already Nissan-Renault have zeroed their manufacturing centre as Chennai and have announced Rs.4000 crores investment for their plant with a target of 400000 lakh car per annum. This is the first Hatch-back model to be released with a displacement of 1200cc. Nissan is expected to release atleast 4 new models before 2013. This small car is said to be a competent for the small car giant Maruti and is said to beat Honda City in the sales. It is said that Nissan has planned to release three new models in platform”A” in a five year plan basis. Like Honda small car, the Nissan’s also announced the usage of local content and are sure that about 80% of the local contents will be with them by march. Along with India, Nissan has planned to release the cars in five other leading competitive countries
The German auto giant Volkswagen has launched its new child “Polo” at the 10th Auto expo held on 4th January,2010. Already the roll out of Polo was held in Maharashtra in the presence of the local chief Minister Ashok Chavan, the Minister of Industries and Employment for Maharashtra Mr.Rajendra darda, with Dr Jochem Heizmann, member of the Board of Management of Volkswagen and Mr Jorg Muller, President and Managing Director, Volkswagen India Pvt Ltd. The car is powered with 1.2 litre engine. It is said that about 50% of the contents are from local market and this percentage will be increased to 80% in three or four years. While addressing the reporters, the managing director was proud of its tie up with the small car giant Suzuki as it is more strong in India and japan at low priced segments. This polo will be available in both petrol and diesel engines. It is surely in competition with Honda Jazz, Hundai i20 in cost factor. It is also said that the Volkswagen spots car will be launched in June 2010. At this rate, Volkswagen is set to grab about 8-10 percent of the market shares along with Audi and Skoda in the next 5 years.
Two things a chevy cars really lack :
1. X-factor of their product
2. Image.
exactly, even post the "so called" new civic & CRV couldn't able to do well in the market... honda cars may be 'the best' in quality but whats the cost for that..?? chevy has nicely prized cruz & as well as captiva competitively.. those days are gone people started preferring VFM products than paying royalty just for the sake of brand...
when i20 first launched everyone thought 7l for a hatchback is too expensive & even the sales wasn't that good in intial days but the same product has become VFM & the sales have picked up very well post jazz launch... Jazz has a great refined engine and revvs good too, its is not the fastest car around but its good. Interiors are good too but again not the best. It is spacious too. Looks are subjective but it is good according to me,that all other engines are outdated or bad.well not at all u can, even i'm a fan of honda's engine but again what we get from the final market matters.. even a tata can make an engine like that if they couldn't tata will CKD the engine from some manufacturers for that huge tag...if u compare it with 1.2l engine, is it really worth to invest 1.5l more than the competitors just for extra 9bhp's & so called refinement, which is nowadays almost all the engine are well refined... mileage it truly depends on driving condition when specs are almost similar... in terms of performance at that price tag u can get a 100bhp 1.4 gamma engine which is very fun to drive with AT & with very good handling as well..about this u ask any i20 owners they will tell u.. the USP of i20 is interiors be it in looks, space, ergonomics, fit & finish of plastic the best in its segment...
What i meant is the honda engines score when it comes to engine refinement, topend performance and fuel economy. and thats true. 1.2 l engine is actually match for bigger 1.4l / 1.6l engines in terms of performance and at the same time beats the 1.2 l competitors in terms of efficiency. Refinement is in a different league actually.
about interiors u just take i20 which is very rich in features,good looking & as well as very spacious over jazz...
i20's wheelbase is actually higher than that of jazz's but jazz has still more spacious especially at the rear. And the boot space of 380-400 l actually matches some sedans !
The magic seats, quality of fit and finish , ergonomics are all topclass with Jazz. And yes it is better than i20. no offence.
The 8.3L price tag is a let down. Honda cannot taken the Indian public for a ride only but its brand name and I am happy to see that Jazz sales are zzzzzzzz.
It should have been priced at max 6 lakhs or so. Look at i20 with 80 bhp but still selling like hot cakes. It is because it is selling at 6 lakhs or so.
Jazz although being a good car will never sell much with that price tag, only some guys who has lots of money to spare might buy them.
What favours the beat :
1. Looks are quite impressive for a A2 segment car.
2. 3 cylinder multijet engine means it will be the cheapest and most fuel efficient diesel in its class beating the equivalant marutis and tatas
3. The spark actually rebuilt the faith among the customers providing a good experience.
Beat can built up from this growth in confidence.
4. Below fours lakh budget , except i10 most of the cars sold are actually one generation old compared to the beat !!
then why do u say jazz engine is unbelievable & to defend its prize tag u saying engine is technically sound bla bla.... anyways if cost doesn't matter any manufacturer can make a best product out of it...