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1970VWBus
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PostPosted: Sat Mar 20, 2004 12:10 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hey.. I've never had the privelage of push starting my bus before. lol
Does anyone know what gear is better to use, 2nd or 3rd?
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Jamie
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PostPosted: Sat Mar 20, 2004 2:32 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I've used 1st, 2nd or reverse many times.
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1970VWBus
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PostPosted: Sat Mar 20, 2004 2:24 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Do you know if there's an advantage to one over the other? Like is 1st better to use than 2nd? Or vice versa..
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Jamie
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PostPosted: Sun Mar 21, 2004 9:22 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Most people will tell you to use 2nd gear. If your car is well tuned it should start easily on the first push. I've pushed started my vw many times by myself in one push. Try 2nd and see what happens.
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Jamie
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PostPosted: Sun Mar 21, 2004 10:14 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I guess I didn't answer your question. I don't know why 2nd is supposed to better. I think it feels less jerky when you use second and is maybe easier on the engine then using first. Maybe you should ask this question in the Performance/Engine Forum. Got any interesting Push Start Stories to tell?
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Jamie
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PostPosted: Mon Mar 22, 2004 9:08 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Back in 1975 my 66 Bus ran out of gas around midnight as I was coming into Fresno's west side on a trip over from Santa Barbara. I didn't know how far I had to go to get gas. Some cool local people helped me push the bus over a mile to get to a gas station. I bought a couple of six-packs of colt 45 thanking them for the help.
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Fish
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PostPosted: Wed Apr 14, 2004 12:57 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Quote:
Do you know if there's an advantage to one over the other? Like is 1st better to use than 2nd?

2nd gear let the trans spin easier. If your on flat ground or in dirt and try to do it in first it will sometimes lock up the rear wheels and no start. 2nd gear will let the bus to keep rolling for a while giving the motor time to spin and start.
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nobrakes
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PostPosted: Thu Apr 15, 2004 4:25 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

2nd gear starts last longer !
I once had a Fiat with a bad starter, a replacment was well over $100.00 and I was a poor kid. I push started that Fiat every time I drove it for more than 2 years, You look for inclines, clear runs, and back in every time you park. Ahhh the good old days Rolling Eyes
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alain ritchie
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PostPosted: Thu Apr 15, 2004 5:20 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

The worst is when you break down, on your own, on a busy road. You jump out to start pushing and people just crusie past honking there horns as if you chose to break down there!

twats!
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Amanda B. Reckonwit
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PostPosted: Wed May 05, 2004 8:38 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I had a '68 Bug that wouldn't start, just kept turning over. So we tied it to the back of a friend's car and dragged it around the block in 3rd gear, clutched it every so often and it finally fired up. True Story.
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69calibug
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PostPosted: Mon Sep 13, 2004 9:52 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Not mine, but my dad's story. He had a '66 Beetle that would never start in the winter. One day he was in a parking lot and it wouldnt start. He decided to push it backwards to start it. He started running to get speed, and slipped on the ice. The door smacked him in the head as he fell and knocked him out. He awoke to an old lady asking him if he was ok Laughing His car was in a snowbank across the road, which luckily wasnt very busy, so the car was OK. He then decided he should fix the car.
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timp
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 16, 2004 10:21 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

a couple years ago, my dad's fox's starter went bad, so i had to push start the car for him in the snow...
when he popped the clutch, he also slammed the gas and took off (god knows why). I slipped, and now having lost the only firm place to keep my balance, proceeded to fall on my face in the street.
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mikedren
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 16, 2004 12:45 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

One night at the movies I had to help push start my friends saturn and jump another one's truck, they were both dead when we came out. I haven't had to do it to the bug yet.
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TeamSpatula
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 16, 2004 1:49 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

What sucks is when you're pushing it yourself, and getting closer and closer to the bottom of the hill...
One of my first VW memories - I was about 8 or 9, walking to the school bus stop past the college that I lived beside...there was a girl trying to start an orange Beetle, and she asked me to give it a push. I did, and she started it up and drove away...I thought that was the coolest thing, especially with me being a little kid - starting a car like that...
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sseckman
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PostPosted: Tue Sep 21, 2004 6:37 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

One time my dad and I were at the movies and when we came out we had left the lights on. So we had to try to push start it. the engine had been having troubles previously and we could not get the damn thing to start. But the entire wait staff of the applebes came out and helped us get it started.[quote]VWs are a drug (taken from another post Cool
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kavikhahn
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PostPosted: Sat Sep 25, 2004 4:12 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

When I was in high school, I had a '63 bug that had some kind of mysterious electrical gremlin (at least mysterious for a 17 year old kid) that caused the battery to go dead. Not a problem. Got my mom to come out and "drive' while I pushed down the street. I'd get it going plenty fast, yell at mom to pop the clutch, then ...nuthin, so I'd push some more. After about a 1/4 mile, I was bushed and had to rest. I checked the battery connections one more time. While I was back there, I threw up because I had really overdone it with pushing. Looked things over, figured out she didn't have the ignition turned on. Sheeeeit. Turned the key, pushed about another 6 feet and it started right up. Car sure stunk. I guess I figured my mom, an old farm gal would know about needing to turn on the ignition.
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vwjosh6070
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PostPosted: Fri Oct 15, 2004 11:09 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

about a month ago, we went to the parts store to get a new starter and stuff for the bus, and we had absolutely no problems goin there, but when we were leaving, she wouldnt start, so we pushed her, she fired right up. cool. then when we are at astop light waiting to turn left, she dies, i hop out and start a pushin, mom pops the clutch and putters off to get out of the intersection, but leaves me there! this is in rush hour in atlanta! as soon as i got home i changed the starter out.

and 2 weekends ago, my friend and i went on a trip in the mountains in my bus, and on the way up the gen. decides it wants to stop charging the battery. we stall out at a gas station and i end up having to push her, she fired right up, and off to wal mart for a new battery to get us to the campground. fun fun fun. i love it. she always started the first time too.
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Morganwerk
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PostPosted: Sat Nov 27, 2004 5:42 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Several years ago I went to Kelley Park in my 1963 Single Cab and then went to do my swing shift at SFO. After my shift was over I headed to the parking garage with my friend Judy. We said goodbye and she hopped into her plush Lexus while I hopped into the SC. I hit the key and nothing happened. Dead battery I figured, but after pulling the light switch I could see there was plenty of juice as the headlights shined brightly. I hopped out and crawled under the SC to check for a loose connection, and then under the decklid.
Judy by this time had backed out of her spot and was almost to the exit ramp when she realized I hadn't moved yet. She made a U-turn and came back to check on me. I decided that a bump start was in order.
I got Judy to climb out of her leather interiored climate controlled car and had her sit in the drivers seat. "I don't know how to do this" she warned me, but I explained to her that she wasn't actually going to do anything but steer it toward the ramp. I startred pushing and she started getting comfortable adjusting the mirror so she can see me and checking out the rather spartan interior compared to her ultra modern car.
"How do I look?" she called out as I pushed.
I got to the ramp and had her set the brake. She hopped out and I hopped in. I put the truck in second gear, made sure the ignition was on and released the brake. The SC didn't move so I jerked my body forward suddenly and it was just enough to get the wheels moving. I was on the fifth floor and coasted down the corkscrew exit ramp past the fourth before I popped the clutch and was on my way home.
The next morning I replaced the starter and when I returned to work that afternoon, Judy was recounting her adventure to our co-workers
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steverooker
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 01, 2004 2:28 pm    Post subject: push starting ! Reply with quote

The first vw we ever had was a 71 bay window and on the drive home from buying her she kept cutting out when we stopped (we later found out the regulator was bad) so I did a lot of push starting, my girlfreind at the time (now wife) didnt know how to dump the clutch and get her to start and at one point I was pushing the van along and then when it had picked up some speed down a hill I ran and jumped into the side door, hopped through the walk through jumped in the drivers seat (now going quite fast) and then dumped the clutch and we drove for another few miles ! I was pretty impressed with that one !
later I was pushing again, knackered, with my girlfreind stearing, I had my back against the bus pushing by walking backwards and the cars which were being held up by us were facing me, just as it got to the point that I couldnt push any more the bus suddenly went light and there was a bunch of lads pushing the bus on all sides, we made it to the car park where we later got another jump !
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Air-Cooled Head
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PostPosted: Tue Jan 25, 2005 10:27 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

This is more of a non-push start story:

At one time I lived in a small New England town. The house I lived in was halfway up/down a fairly steep hill, on a very busy main road, and across from a cemetary. Because of the hill, most driveways started several feet below the level of the front yard, and had a steep ramp.

I had a 67 Bug that had all types of issues. Many mornings, I'd have to roll down the driveway to get it started. Problem was, I had to get it started, then stop before getting out to the street, in about 20 feet. In the winter, I had the added pleasure of praying the car would start & I could stop it on the icy driveway before hitting the street, and being knocked into the cemetary!
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