Deleted User 298457
Deleted User 298457
Aye but brakes are cheaper than clutches.
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Are my driving instructions correct?
- Thread starter lunar
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Soldato
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While I'd may disagree with what the instructor was saying I wouldn't contradict them while your kid is learning as getting the hang of driving is hard enough as it without them getting told two different things.
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Isn't it easier to just have a battery that isn't defective?
Easier in what way? I just have a pack in the boot of each vehicle and charge periodically - just charged one of them for the first time in ~4 months yesterday actually and was still at 86% charge.
I've changed the batteries on all my vehicles out for Varta Silver except the Qashqai which has a Yuasa due to availability so battery reliability isn't a problem.
I've rarely had problems battery wise but as mentioned before doing a lot of driving at night in rural areas, etc. I'd rather be self-sufficient as much as possible.
Of course it is but there's a time when the battery goes from working fine to suddenly not starting, especially at the start of the winter when it starts getting cold. You can go from no noticeable issues whatsoever to simply not starting in just a few days.
Or there's the situation where you go on holiday, park up in a car park and then come back a week later to find that your son has accidentally knocked the rear interior light on as he got out of the car and nobody noticed, only to leave you with a flat battery. Ask me know I know about this one
There are very good reasons to carry a battery booster pack.
I cannot think of a single time in the 20 years I've been driving where I've had a use for a battery booster pack away from home. It's just never been required. The effort involved in having to keep one charged up enough to be useful if you need it and the space they waste in the boot is surely out of proportion with the chance of requiring it?
I understand it if you have an old and failing battery but that is back to my original point - just replace it.
Ideally you should be travelling sufficiently slowly that rolling resistance will bring you to a near-stop. Unless, of course, you're travelling downhill. For me, it's a gentle and smooth application of the brakes. Gearbox braking is used when you're travelling downhill.
Gear in neutral, handbrake on. But if you're going to be moving imminently then first gear and clutch pedal depressed. At traffic lights there's plenty of time to change into first gear and disengage the handbrake when the lights turn from red to red and amber.
They're the size of a phone and hold charge for months and months at a time if you get a lithium one.
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Corrected.
The one I have will start a huge diesel (tried it when I helped someone out) and sits in the compartment on the back of my front passenger seat. Every six months or so, I take it indoors and stick it on charge overnight. It's never dropped more than one bar on the charge display in that time so I could probably get away with doing it once a year.
Hardly takes any space or effort.
I've given you one example in my previous post. I touched on one above here. Earlier this year, I was walking back to my car in the hospital car park, there were a couple there in a large diesel SUV with the bonnet up, the rest of the car park was nearly empty. I asked them what the problem was, they had a flat battery and the AA/RAC/whoever had quoted them six hours before they could get to them. I used my pack to help them out.
And again, I refer you to what I said before. At the wrong time of the year, it's very possible to go from a battery that works perfectly to one that won't start the car literally overnight with no indication whatsoever that it's on the way out. A booster pack will get you going.
I agree with you that once you get the signs that a battery is failing, you should replace it.
But to suggest that one will never ever need any kind of battery assistance is just sticking your head in the sand.
I've bailed out other people before with mine, I've rarely if ever had a need myself in the last 20 years but still. The ones I have also double as a powerbank and torch so can be useful in a pinch for other stuff as well.
Mine are all around mobile phone sized footprint (EDIT: Though in a case with the accessories they take up about twice that) but thicker and just tuck in with the stuff under the floor in the boot or behind the rear seats in my pickup, the lithium based ones hold their charge for ages albeit usually advise to charge at least once every 4 months.
EDIT: My Goal Zero one still showing 4 out of 4 for charge and almost immediately indicating full when I tried to charge it - doesn't show a percentage like the others - last charged it December 22.
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Regarding the battery pack, you don't usually know about a failing alternator until your battery is failing. By which time it could be handy to have something to give you some charge to limp home or to the garage.
I don't carry a battery charger in my car mind, but that's one situation i could think of where it might be useful.
I don't carry a battery charger in my car mind, but that's one situation i could think of where it might be useful.
do battery packs put charge into the battery , or just provide it, transiently, to restart the car ...ie. you'd still need a working alternator, for lights too.
versus if you've planned & just taken your foot of the accelerator and let it coast, in gear, to the junction, and, block/sequentially changing down to avoid any loss of control/stalling if you needed to solicit engine.
yes but brakes are wasting petrol/uneconomic -
versus if you've planned & just taken your foot of the accelerator and let it coast, in gear, to the junction, and, block/sequentially changing down to avoid any loss of control/stalling if you needed to solicit engine.
Deleted User 298457
Deleted User 298457
100% agree. Coast in high gear until about to conk out then shift into the appropriate gear. No need to flex about your skills in engine braking (y).
You can use them to put some charge into the battery and/or to supplement the existing charge in the battery so as to at least have enough power to start - most mainstream ones won't substitute the battery in an emergency if it is totally dead, though you can get ones which will.
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Caporegime
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If you are changing gear fine then your clutch will not wear out. You can even change gear without using the clutch did you know that?
What wears out the clutch is hard launches and riding it not using the gears to slow down the car.
Using brakes to slow down a car is nothing but wasted energy in heat. Using your gears and coasting to slow the car down increases MPG.
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the best example I know south on the A10 into cambridge with visibility of the upcoming lights for about a mile - it's like snooker, the challenge to synchronize you engine broke/coasting arrival to have zero momentum as you join the queue, or, better, arrive with the traffic moving off - if you don't have FSD you have to get your kicks somewhere - one foot coasting must be a fun technique though ?
Deleted User 298457
Deleted User 298457
Well then reduced gear changes and therefore block changes makes sense. Not sure what's confusing.If you are changing gear fine then your clutch will not wear out. You can even change gear without using the clutch did you know that?
What wears out the clutch is hard launches and riding it not using the gears to slow down the car.
Using brakes to slow down a car is nothing but wasted energy in heat. Using your gears and coasting to slow the car down increases MPG.
Caporegime
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I am not confusing anything. Using the gearbox to slow a car down is the most efficient way of driving. More so than using brakes.
I am not saying it is quicker either which it most certainly isn't when there is a clear road in front of you but in some cases it can even be safer for example driving in icy conditions or steep hills.
These driving instructors teach you to pass a test and keep it as simple as possible.
Soldato
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Depends entirely on the car. General advice is to switch even to even and odd to odd, ie drop 5th to 3rd, or 4th to 2nd.
My car won't like it if you block-shift up. You'll drop the revs so far it'll practically stall. 5th doesn't really come into play until you go past 60mph. You have to ride the rev range.
Same for block-shifting down, as there's insufficient revs in higher gears for engine braking, and it will actually drop the revs even further if you apply the brakes.