Ever since I replaced my dying Subaru Forester with a Fiat 500e (and then added another 500e to my metaphorical garage), I haven't once had to think about whether or not my car would start. My little electric city cars may have their own issues, but I have to say, it's pretty nice getting in and knowing the car will start every single time I turn the key or push the button. At the same time, though, I won't pretend I don't still occasionally look back at some of my old starter issues with a little nostalgia.
I mean, back when I was in college, I rode a $2,500 Honda Shadow that was about the only thing I could afford at the time, and for whatever reason, it refused to start if it was colder than 40 degrees or so. Was it annoying? Absolutely. Did I look into what might have been the reason it wouldn't start when it was cold-ish out? Of course not. Fixing things costs money, and I didn't have "fixing things" money. So I did what any normal broke person would do and made sure I parked at the top of an incline all winter.
As long as I could build a little momentum, that bike would roll-start no problem. And as we all know, roll-starting is free, which costs less than figuring out why I needed to roll-start it all winter in the first place. Plus, in a way, it was kind of fun.
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A few years later, I found myself with another dead vehicle, although this time it was actually a car — an E39 BMW 5 Series. Thankfully, that car didn't have problems starting in cold weather, but it did have a problem starting if you forgot to turn off the headlights when you parked. That's to be expected, of course, and obviously, I'd never make such a dumb mistake. Except for the one time I did make that dumb mistake and ended up stuck in the parking lot of the cost-plus grocery store in Dahlonega, Georgia.
If it had been an automatic, who knows what I would have done, but since it was a manual, I had options. I couldn't roll-start it going forward, since there was a car parked in front of me, but there's no reason it shouldn't also work in reverse, right? So I befriended a guy in the parking lot, got the car rolling backward and, what do you know, she started right up. Thanks, parking lot savior guy.
What about you, though? What's your favorite story about starting a dead car? Did you also have to get creative with a roll-start? Did you break down in the middle of nowhere and have to wait multiple hours for someone to come along? Did you have to resort to some, uh, shall we say "non-OEM parts" to get going again? We want to hear your stories down in the comments.
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