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emc
03-15-2005, 11:28 AM
So i got my 3 this past saturday, its awesome and by far the funnest car I\\\'ve ever driven! But . . . I had a little disaster Monday morning trying to start it!

So, i\\\'ve read a whole bunch of posts here about how the 3 has troubles starting on cold days (keep this in mind)

I got into the car on my way to school downtown in rushhour . . . and tried to start it. It wouldn\\\'t go. I tried honestly probably 10 times in a matter of 45 minutes freaking out and FREEZING in my poor little red 3. I even tried letting it sit on accessory setting for a few minutes before starting it, some of you said that worked, and nothing was working.

I would hear a click in the engine if i just put in the keys and turned to start, but heard nothing when i turned it to start from acc setting.

So . . . knowing that alot of you guys had probs starting in the winter, i decided to call roadside assistance! haha by this time i wasn\\\'t going to leave my baby in the driveway as i take the TTC to school no way. So I called westowne service they told me to call roadside and to get it towed in to see what the problem was, so i did, and the tow came to my house, really quickly i was surprised!

so anyways . . . the tow driver got in my 3 pressed down the clutch and IT STARTED! OMG apparently i wasn\\\'t pressing THE CLUTCH DOWN HARD ENOUGH!!!

I had been starting it the same as i was that morning all weekend and it was fine . . . so maybe clutch is different on colder days?! haha anyways to sum it all up i learned my lesson, and i\\\'ll now press the clutch ALL THE WAY when i\\\'m starting it.

felt pretty stupid to make the tow come to my house just to press down the clutch :p
HAHAHAHA

-RJ3-
03-15-2005, 11:40 AM
You should also check if maybe your winter mats is causing your clutch to not depress all the way. I had to adjust my winter ugs since they are always in my way.


Damn your topic seemed as if you blew your tranny. Glad that wasn\'t the case:p

Dr Butcher
03-15-2005, 11:42 AM
LOL, nice!

When you need to fill the gas tank there\'s a lever that will pop the fuel door. It\'s not stuck! :p

emc
03-15-2005, 11:47 AM
LOL good tip :p

I\'ll remember that forsure lol!!

emc
03-15-2005, 11:48 AM
Winter mats, ya i just put them in the night before the disaster . . . that was most likely one of the problems!

phew glad i didn\'t blow the tranny, wow!

TheProfessor
03-15-2005, 01:28 PM
Originally posted by -RJ3-
Damn your topic seemed as if you blew your tranny. Glad that wasn\'t the case:p

That\'s what I thought too.....when I started reading the post though I knew it was just a clutch issue.

majic
03-15-2005, 05:21 PM
Originally posted by Dr Butcher


LOL, nice!

When you need to fill the gas tank there\'s a lever that will pop the fuel door. It\'s not stuck! :p

it might be stuck when it\'s cold and it\'s frozen over.. just take your trusty shell easy pay and get the ice off ;)

man.. i thought you were doing some crazy shifting pattern when i saw the topic..

1-2-3-4-5-Rally ;)

hehehe.. (saw it somewhere on m3f)

emc
03-15-2005, 08:25 PM
Originally posted by majic
man.. i thought you were doing some crazy shifting pattern when i saw the topic..

1-2-3-4-5-Rally ;)

lol no crazy rally shifting skills yet! working on it though ;) kinda is a misleading subject, but it was a disaster for me! hahaha

majic
03-15-2005, 08:28 PM
Originally posted by emc



Originally posted by majic
man.. i thought you were doing some crazy shifting pattern when i saw the topic..

1-2-3-4-5-Rally ;)

lol no crazy rally shifting skills yet! working on it though ;) kinda is a misleading subject, but it was a disaster for me! hahaha

umm read more closely..

1-2-3-4-5-Rally

I hope the tranny survives :D :D :D

emc
03-15-2005, 08:39 PM
ya thats what i said!? heehee

lol still working on the 5-R gonna get it to work one of these days :p

im at work and trying to slack before someone sees me! haha so yah . . . i didn\'t catch that one! lol

majic
03-15-2005, 08:42 PM
Originally posted by emc

lol still working on the 5-R gonna get it to work one of these days :p



actually mazda3 has a nice \'safety\' feature where if you want to downshift from 5 to 4 you CANNOT put it in R UNLESS you go into neutral first.. try is standing still.. put it in 5th with the clutch in pull it straight into R, it won\'t go unless you fiddle with it or go to N first :)

PlatMS6
03-15-2005, 09:07 PM
lol by the title of the thread, it sounded as if the tranny was a gonner :p

black305
03-15-2005, 11:53 PM
glad to hear your tranny\'s not messed up
have you tried moving the seat forward?? :p

majic
03-16-2005, 12:00 AM
Originally posted by black305


glad to hear your tranny\'s not messed up
have you tried moving the seat forward?? :p


poor erin..

oooor.. you can use that lever to \'pump\' your seat down.. ;) :p

or maybe trade it in for an ATX? :p

black305
03-16-2005, 01:00 AM
that\'s ok, i respect emc for puttin\' it out here on the forum for all to see (and poke fun at).

emc
03-16-2005, 09:02 AM
:p

ya the seat is in a good position, i don\'t wanna move it up or else i\'ll look like one of those little old ladies who hug their steering wheels!

I also like to poke fun at myself cause all in all it was the girliest thing i\'ve done with the car so far! hahaha

bbbuuuuttt, i\'ve got it down now, the clutch and all :p

ATV . . . hmm sounds promising hahaha

Whos ur dadd
03-16-2005, 09:22 AM
The clutch thing is a problem with me since I have non-OEM winter mats. The mat does not sit flush with the floor since the shape is wrong. So when you press the clutch down, it bumps into the mat and the upgraded OEM clutch pedal sometimes pops off. Quite annoying. I\'m going to glue that sucker down with some adhesive. Nobody plays with Daddy like that, nobody!

Do all cars require that the clutch be depressed ALL THE WAY DOWN before you can start the engine? I believe that with BMWs some people put some bolt in the clutch arm so it travels just the right amount for a clutch shift, resulting in quicker shifts. Doesn\'t seem like we could do this with our cars.

emc
03-16-2005, 11:16 AM
The cars that i have driven or just turned on (lol) in the past that happened to be standard, I don\'t remember ever having to push the clutch down as much as I have to with my 3 . . .

And my dad also thought it was weird that i even had to press it to turn it on in the first place . . . although that last manual he drove was probably back in the 70\'s . . . :p

bubba1983
03-18-2005, 05:54 PM
aaaaaaaaaaand, dun dun dun.....



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