Miata Mailing List: February 1996, Message #202
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   From: Rick Mouritzen 
Subject: RE: bump starting :(
   Date: Sun, 4 Feb 1996 01:44:35 -0500

I had a similar experience after leaving my parking lights on for about =
6 hours - but this was at about 50F.  My first clue was a funny buzzing =
sound coming from the front of the car, which I thought was very odd.  =
Inside the car I realized the lights were still on.  There was still a =
little battery left - enough to barely work the interior lights - but =
not enough to run the radio or turn the engine over.  I had a few of my =
friend try to give me a push start, but that didn't work.  Not long =
after I got a jump start from.  I figured the low power caused the fuel =
injection system to fail to feed fuel to the engine.

BTW:  Is there an easy add-on to warn when the lights are left on?  I =
miss that feature in my old Honda.

----------
From: 	dreamdsn[SMTP:dreamdsn@teleport.com]
Sent: 	Saturday, February 03, 1996 5:30 PM
To: 	Multiple recipients of list
Subject: 	bump starting :(

Yes, I did leave the parking lights on all day in 20 degree weather
(freezing rain, snow etc.) and no, it wouldn't start. Options? Call AAA =
and
wait a couple hours for a jump OR freeze my *ss off and push the car up =
out
of my friends driveway, up an incline and then roll down an STEEP ice
covered hill which terminates at the bottom onto another road. Of course =
I
chose the "easy" route. Pushing the car out of the drive with a little =
help
was difficult enough. Jumping into the car as it began to roll (quickly)
down the "ice chute" was "exciting" (the kinda excitement you get when =
you
drive your supercharged Miata for the first time and decide its to hairy
for ya) The car wouldn't even start on the icey slope so it was a matter =
of
negotiating the turn at the bottom and tring on the next street. Two
possible problems: the street below wouldn't provide enough traction to
turn the engine or (a worst fear) there wouldn't be enough juice to work
the injectors and fuel pump. (Does anyone know these stats?) Neither one =
of
these problems occured except that I had to drop into second gear after =
a
couple attempts in first. I have push started British cars way too many
times to remember so I figured this couldn't be any worst. I was =
correct,
it started fine, just in time to notice that the fuel gauge was buried
below the Empty mark, so my next chore after warming the car up was to
remember the location of the nearest gas station. Plan ahead, I think =
not.

Dave
95 Red

dreamdesign
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