some people shouldn't drive

[Bliss]

Bliss - you may want to re-read the OP - the person wanted a jumpstart - but the vehicle did not have an engine! Not sure if you caught that.

I read it, but my brain was refusing to accept the possibility.

Is it possible the no engine comment means the engine is dead beyound repair? or it literaly means no engine?? o.O I mean..... nevermind.

Maybe I'm just really clueless about cars, but how would a jumpstart help here, and how would an alternator or regulator be relevant? From the OP (emphasis added by me):
"What might be a reason for the vehicle stalling? It *lacks a motor*"

Sorry if my words are incorrect btw since the auto terms I know I know for certain in spanish, I only know a few translations on english.

You se, your car uses two types of elements to work, that is fuel, and electricity. In a fuel oil car electricity would be theoretically needed only to start the car, since they use a starter plug instead of a spark plug, and thereafter they only rely on the cylinder's heat..

Anyhow, the battery in your car is designed for you to start your car, only. It feeds the starter engine and the spark plugs until your car has started and works at normal speed. Then, the car generates it's own electricity via an alternator, which is simply a generator mechanically connected to your engine's movement.

Since the alternator creates a variable ammount of voltage depending on the speed of the engine, and it's in theory designed to create a little more at the most basic speed than your car needs to run and recharge your battery they come with either a mechanical (OLD) or electronical regulator, which takes the voltage the alternator generates and shapes it to something the car can take and use (this is a simplification).

If the alternator or the regulator get damaged, you car can be receiving less voltage during run time than it needs to work, or even no voltage at all. If this happens, the "relatively" cheap process of runing the spark plugs your car needs while runing will feed off your battery instead of using the voltage coming from the alternator/regulator.

When this happens, you will slowly deplete your battery, and eventually it will not be enough to feed the plugs, and the car will stall.

Once it stalls, you would be able to start the car with a jumpstart, yes, but since the car is not producing it's own runing current, it will stall again minutes, seconds, or instantly after you remove the jumpstart cables, thus making the jumpstart useless.

[friendofjimmyk]

I read it, but my brain was refusing to accept the possibility.

Is it possible the no engine comment means the engine is dead beyound repair? or it literaly means no engine?? o.O I mean..... nevermind..

I don't know and I was too afraid to ask.

[protege]

Well I did have a friend who lost her 1st car to "Engine Fallout" She had just gotten off the highway and was stopped at a major intersection, the light turned green, she hit the gas, we both hear this loud metallic THUD and the car won't move. Turns out her engine mounts had rusted through and the thud was the engine literally falling out of the car.

Holy crap!

...and I thought it was bad my Tempo's engine failed! With that, the car started overheating. Since I wasn't in an exactly safe neighborhood, I had to drop the windows and crank the heater to full blast. That worked for awhile. However, once moving, the temperature gauge went red and I started losing power. About a mile later, there was a loud bang, followed by lots of steam/smoke, and plenty of sizzling noises. The engine had blown up But, that wasn't the worst of it. As I was reaching for the keys, the dead car was promptly hit from behind, totaling it

And no, I didn't ask for a jumpstart...I called for a flatbed to tow the POS to the scrapyard while waiting for the ambulance. (I'd been injured, but not too bad--just enough pain though)

[friendofjimmyk]

Before I was in dispatch, I was on the other side - a call taker - I got quite a few calls where the conversation went as follows (usually, unfortunately, they were always women! C'mon girls!!?!?!)

After getting all the info needed, I am supposed to ask what is wrong with the car, quite a few women have said the following:

SW: OH, I know what it is - the engine has blown up again - it's doing the same thing that my last car did when the engine blew up!

YOU'RE VEHICLE NEEDS MORE THAN GASOLINE TO MAKE IT RUN PROPERLY, LADIES!! Before I was able to drive a car, my father made sure I knew where all my fluids were and how to check and fill them and even how to change a tire!

[AFpheonix]

Am I the only one with the mental image of a Flinstones car? Maybe one of the passengers got an angina attack, hence the jumpstart

[friendofjimmyk]

This morning, someone else in our department asked if Fred Flintstone had placed the call...

[Sofar]

Ah, my mother once drove across country in a 1955 V.W. bus and she found out when she got back that all that was holding the engine to the engine mounts was rust. It's worth noting that around here jumpstarts are rarely necessary, just push the car down the nearest hill and it'll start up fine. I've even kick-started my automatic Volvo in this fashion, though I was exceeding the speed limit when it finally started, (and still only one third of the way down the hill.)

[protege]

It's worth noting that around here jumpstarts are rarely necessary, just push the car down the nearest hill and it'll start up fine. I've even kick-started my automatic Volvo in this fashion, though I was exceeding the speed limit when it finally started, (and still only one third of the way down the hill.)

The only problem with that is, if you try that in a car with power brakes and/or steering and it *doesn't* start, you're possibly SOL --it's much harder to steer/stop than normal

Along those lines, when my MGB was still running, it *rarely* started on the button. Because it was driven so infrequently, the batteries (yep, the MGB has two!) wouldn't hold a charge in winter. The only way to start it was to let it coast down the driveway, or push it down the street a block. That usually got it to start every time, plus it usually freaked out the neighbors to see an orange MGB GT being pushed down the street

[dispatch]

when I first bought my 5 speed and my dad was showing me how to drive it he had me pull over and walked me through roll starting it, he said when he was about my age he drove a car for 3 months with no starter

[Gurndigarn]

Sorry if my words are incorrect btw since the auto terms I know I know for certain in spanish, I only know a few translations on english.

You se, your car uses two types of elements to work, that is fuel, and electricity. In a fuel oil car electricity would be theoretically needed only to start the car, since they use a starter plug instead of a spark plug, and thereafter they only rely on the cylinder's heat..

For what it's worth, I believe the English here is "diesel".

[DGoddessChardonnay]

There is a mushroom cloud rising over my pre-frontal lobe right now. The fallout and radiation damage will not be apparent for several weeks. The shadows of brain cells are burned into the inside walls of my skull. The final death count may never be known.

M

In other words, your brain went Chernobyl, while mine went sideways

I could not have read that OP right. How on earth does a car drive without a motor?????

[dispatch]

I would love to have seen the driver's facial expression

"ok, let's just pop the hood and...... "

[Bliss]

Should we turn this into a car thread? I'm sure IPF and Dispatch might enjoy it.

For example, a friend of my dad he rode along with once. He noticed she started from semaphores in second gear, when he told her she must start in first, she admonished him:
- "No, first gear is only for when you're leaving your home garage."...... she was VERY lucky she drove a 70's monster that could pull itself from 0 in second gear.

[protege]

Should we turn this into a car thread? I'm sure IPF and Dispatch might enjoy it.

For example, a friend of my dad he rode along with once. He noticed she started from semaphores in second gear, when he told her she must start in first, she admonished him:
- "No, first gear is only for when you're leaving your home garage."...... she was VERY lucky she drove a 70's monster that could pull itself from 0 in second gear.

Both my Tercel, and current Mazda will pull from 0 in second. However, it's hard on the transmission to do that.

On a slightly different note, not too far from my grandmother's house, people used to test their cars on one of the hills. This road was very steep, and twisty. However, if you could get your car up there in top gear, you'd bought a good one. Getting the old Tercel up there in 4th was no problem. I tried it in the Mazda, and had to downshift from 5th to make it..otherwise I'd have stalled. The hill is still there, but it doesn't get many tests like that anymore.

[dispatch]

there's a hill by my freind's house that I have to go up in 1st gear if I don't want to stall, that's always fun

one day my family had to switch up cars, I wound up driving my sister's taurus, it ran well for a 10YO car, I had driven it before I left town, and after 6 months it was showing signs of being neglected like lots of vehicles piloted by 16 year-olds are (no offense to those of you in the age bracket, but I've seen cars neglected like you wouldn't believe by new drivers, myself included).
as I dropped her off at school she told me "it kind of sputters and stalls sometimes, so be careful" I made note of it. when I got to the gas station and opened the fuel door, there was no gas cap, so later that day, when I picked her up, we had a chat about car maintinence

me: hey, how long has this thing been missing a gas cap?
sis: oh....it's been awhile!
me: how long?
sis: oh, I don't know, I think since October (it was now feburary)
me:and how long has it been sputtering?
sis: since october

having younger siblings is great, it's like practice for when I have kinds