rtea2008

iTrader: (2)

I figured out how to start the car without the clutch! BUT, it could be a hazard if you forget to leave your car in neutral.

I hope you aren't parked behind anyone or behind something if you forget to leave it in neutral before you start.

1) look under the steering wheel and above the pedals, there should be a plastic cover that's snapped in, unless it has already been removed. Take out that plastic cover

2) locate the switch! its the one with the yellow plug, not gray


on the other side, you will see this:

sorry, i couldn't fit my phone down there to snap the other side so I just took this one.

this is the switch that makes it mandatory for you step the clutch in all the way in order to start the motor.

What I did to hold the switch in:
- used a zip-tie
- a piece of cardboard
3) Zip-tie the piece of folded cardboard to hold the switch in place

REMEMBER TO LEAVE YOUR GEAR IN NEUTRAL BEFORE STARTING YOUR CAR!!!

if you want to test it first before doing anything, hold the switch in with a finger and try starting your car without pressing the clutch.
(pics and mod from an '06 TSX)

Itchytoe

Wouldn't that cause other problems since your car thinks you always have the clutch enguaged?

JTso

iTrader: (2)

What's the point of doing it?

georgetoris

no... i think your just tricking your starter into thinking it's enggaged, they do the same set up for Remote Starters on manuels... don't really see a point in it.. last i checked it wasn't that much of a mission to press down a clutch LOLLOL

poltergeist

I predict rtea2008 will need the services of a bodyshop soon.

tony4311

agreed. Why exactly do you want to do this?

Hoosier_Buddy

+1

Give your cruise control a try now.

vthree

iTrader: (1)

thats the sensor that failed on my car... you can just uplug the plug.. and put a wire in both sockets.. =) then you can unbolt your sensor and send it to me. lol.

poltergeist

FWIW the clutch pedal cruise control defeat switch and the clutch pedal starter bypass switch are two individual switches. The O.P's "mod" will not effect cruise control function.

Still, defeating a safety feature of the car is a really bad idea.....and with cardboard and a ziptie????....that's just lame.

If you've ever been in or witnessed someone accidentally start a car in gear, it's usually not a pretty sight.

rtea2008

iTrader: (2)

no, just like georgetoris said. it's not having the clutch engaged. You still have to press it in to shift and take off.

To ease the starting method of a standard car... getting tired to push in the clutch to start now. haha

my cruise control still works. it would be the one with the gray plug below that will disable your cruise control.

lol no i'm going to keep it haha. Why don't you wire yours?

kanonen

btw, I don't think that hitting the clutch is much of a safety measure-maybe just a little. You can still forget and lift your foot off the clutch after you start your car while in gear. But in any case, yes, why disable it...but I guess that is fine, I put it in the same category as another thread where someone wants to merge the 2 exhaust pipes into only one! Why do this!!

tony4311

wtf man really? Buy a damn automatic next time if you're too lazy to push in a damn clutch to start a car. Man that sure is hard work.

poltergeist

Except if you accidentally start to engage the clutch with the engine running, you'll feel the car start to move and instinctively push the pedal back down to disengage it.

If the car starts with the clutch engaged and the trans in gear (which is a lot more likely now that cars all have fuel injection and high output ignition systems), and your foot is nowhere near the clutch pedal to disengage it, you and the car are going on potentially destructive ride until you figure out what to do.

In the old days (before clutch interlock switches that bypass the starter) cars usually didn't start so easily and often the car would "bump" but would stall as soon as you released the key.

...something to think about.....

biker

If you ever needed to move the car a bit and had no other way to do it (the engine was dead), moving with the aid of the starter motor and this trick would work.

curls

Or you could push it and not risk damaging your starter or anything else on your car.

vthree

iTrader: (1)

my actual sensor broke.. so i had to do this "trick" but since your not using yours.. i'd gladly take it! lol.

2K6TSX

I can imagine not pushing the pedal in to be easier, but in that case I would have gotten an AT. The only benefit I can think of is that there is reduced wear on the clutch as a result of engaging it less often? What do you guys think of this?

poltergeist

That just makes no sense at all. One way or the other you have to depress the clutch pedal (to disengage the clutch) in order to put the trans in gear. The only difference is whether you do it before or after you start the engine.

Again I say "what's the point".

2K6TSX

Yes that makes sense, but right now without this 'mod,' i have to push in the clutch to start the car, then push the clutch again to put it in gear. This method would increase wear slightly. But this can be avoided by just parking the car in gear, then u push the clutch once to start the car, release the clutch and then drive away. I also agree that there is not much of a point, if one was so bothered by the clutch they should get an AT.

JTso

iTrader: (2)

^^
You are supposed to leave the car in gear for a manual tran when parked.

Audioserf

Truly, this is a terrible idea.

2K6TSX

yup i'm aware of this, it's how my car is always parked

poltergeist

O.K so with this "mod" (if you leave your car in gear when it's parked) you have to....

1- Climb in, push the clutch pedal down to take the trans out of gear (or yank it out of gear with the clutch engaged which at the least is hard on the shifter bushings and cables).

2- Let the clutch pedal up so you can have the "benefit" of not having to start the car with the clutch disengaged.

3- When you decide you want to go, now you depress the clutch pedal again to disengage the clutch so you can put the car in gear, then engage the clutch again to drive away.

Makes perfect sense to me.......or not....

SoCaliTrojan

Sounds like you weren't meant to be the driver of a vehicle with a manual transmission. What do you do in rush hour traffic? Do you just leave it in first gear and crawl the entire time?

It's not hard pushing the clutch. And during those rare times when I didn't pull the gear shifter into neutral all the way, being able to slam on the clutch pedal instinctively has saved my vehicle from lots of damage.

And man, if you're tired of pushing the clutch in for the first time when you get into your vehicle, it must be hard for you to even drive down the street...

valeratj

Theoretically, if ur car stopped at railroad tracks or somewhere else where it cant stop, u can use the starter to get it moving. i know, I know, its not good for the car ect, but if u got no one to push it, this maybe better than being hit by a train....

curls

Or rather than trying to have the starter push you to safety, how about you get out of the car and get to safety yourself!

SoCaliTrojan

I think you're trying to talk about toe-starts, but what does that have to do with this thread? The procedure requires using the clutch (unless you plan on pushing the car in neutral and then slamming it into 1st and hope that you get the timing right to get the gears to mesh together).

And yes, I have toe-started the TSX before when my car wouldn't start in my driveway (I was installing my rear view camera).

super jumbo

i agree with rtea2008. i can see if you wouldn't do it to your own car, but at least understand why somebody else would do it. the only reason that switch is there in the first place is as a precautionary measure so idiots that don't know how to work a vehicle properly don't screw up and hit things. i have a '04 6 speed with a remote starter and it works the same way. starts up when i press the button, but if i get in and use the key, i have to press the clutch. i have to press the friggen clutch so many times anyways (especially in a 6 speed hah) that i really don't need the left leg exercise.

but seriously, i think everybody here knows that if you were to get into your car, start it in neutral, and let it warm up for a minute, you would probably take your foot off the clutch before putting it into first gear. so that fact that my car will make me clutch to start the car regardless is borderline insulting to my intelligence. save it for the fords......

2K6TSX

just to make sure, you know I don't have this mod right? I don't deem it worth modifying, pushing in the clutch to start the car is not a problem for me

valeratj

^ I was talking about moving the car by having the starter turn the engine to move the car from the critical spot. Toe starting is there too

poltergeist

Yep, got it. I was only trying to demonstrate that, if one were to leave the car in gear when it's parked, (as is recommended in the O/M) there is no reduced "wear and tear" on the car.

poltergeist

I "warm up my car" with my foot depressing the clutch pedal. It's really not much exercise......but then again I park my car "out" in end spaces exclusively because I don't mind the "exercise" of walking.

Like someone said earlier in this thread, if it hurts your leg too much to depress the clutch pedal for a minute or so at a time, I think you'd be better off with an A/T.

super jumbo

i despise automatic transmissions... it's not a bad feature and i wouldn't go though the trouble of disabling it because it doesn't bother me that much.

it's really just the principle that it is unnecessary to clutch if i'm looking at the stick shift and it's in neutral when i start the car up.

myroncuz

bump! LOL i just bought a 04 tsx and the previous owner looks like cut the plug and electric taped some wires together or maybe just an individual wire from grounding out. im searching this cuz i want to revert it back to normal!

acmectec2001

Maybe the car had a remote starter and they removed it? I'm sure this switch would come into play when they wire it for a remote.