August West

I was wanting to see what you guys tend to do when your car stalls while at speed, say coming off a freeway onto the off-ramp, you clutch in and rest in neutral for a bit and then the engine stalls... do you bumpstart the engine or do you use the starter?

I've heard bumpstarting is bad for soaking the catalytic converter with unspent fuel and thereby shortening its life but sometimes I wonder. It seems easy enough to slip the tranny into third and let out the clutch for a quick restart.

This doesn't happen that often with my car but she is kinda stall happy. I've learned to rev the engine up over 3-4000 rpm and let the engine descend to idle from there while in neutral and that seems to keep the engine from stalling.

Any opinions?

Rocket Rob

Bump starting should be fine. Why is the engine stalling? Do you have a lightweight flywheel? Or is there another issue?

altarchsa

Mine's started doing it a little lately. I think the ISV is dirty again. It stalls after a long engine brake from freeway speed. I traditionally bump start but shift to a higher gear than the gear used when engine driven. It seems to be smoother.

FeralComprehension

I think that's nonsense, frankly- if anything, a keystart is more likely to do this in that the ECU may be programmed to enrich the AFR on a keystart but either way I'm not worried about the catalyst's health from such a rare occurrence.

boxsey911

After having the LWF fitted I used to just get a stall when the car was cold just after reversing off the drive. So had to do a key re-start. However, it recently started to stall when approaching a stop (as I came off the gas and pressed the gas and strangely, more so if going up hill). A gentle letting up of the clutch would bump it back in to life.

So, I decided to clean the ISV this weekend:



Didn't stall on the first test drive afterwards, so I'm hoping doing this has helped.

f3nr15

What does "bump starting" involve?

Letting off the clutch in second slightly whilst the car is still rolling? Anything else?

Babalouie

Basically yes. You slot it into a higher gear (say 3rd at 30km/h) and gently let up the clutch. The engine will spin back to life. Don't use a low gear though, or it'll burst into life at 7000rpm or more

boxsey911

I can well remember an occassion earlier this year when three of us rennlisters helped bump start a fellow rennlister's car from a standing start because his starter motor was acting up. After about a hundred yards of not starting, we realized that the engine immobilizer hadn't been cancelled before we set off...

August West

I don't have the LWF but did get some RS valves, hotter cams, and a sportcat but have yet to dynoflash my car yet. I'm running with a Steve Wong chip which does great but I'll still get the occasional stall. ISV and MAF have been cleaned as well.

Thanks for all the input guys! Now I won't have to shame myself every time I bumpstart the old gal.