I don't know ANYBODY who DOESN'T leave their manual tranny car OR truck in a gear when parked. IT IS ONLY COMMON SENSE.

 

BTW, runaway cars are NOT urban legends


I never suggest installing autostarts on any car (especially on manuals), but if yer gunna do it, get a system like Clifford's that keeps the engine running after you pull the key and shuts it down and arms itself after you leave the car, which pretty much gaurantees that the car is in neutral when it's armed....


Still, I wouldn't recommend doing it....




Rick

 

The cruise is connected to the clutch switch so if you use the clutch while changing gears it will disengage the cruise. But if you pull it into neutral without using the clutch the cruise will stay engaged and the engine will race.

 

Maybe not, but there's never been a runaway car that was remote started while a properly adjusted parking brake was engaged. It just doesn't happen. It is possible for a cheap remote starter (that doesn't disengage if the engine doesn't start) to continue turning the starter and move a car without the brake applied. But that's just dumb - the owner is at fault not the remote starter.

That's a big improvement over the older safety systems. You used to have to go through a special sequence that included pushing a "set" button when shutting off the car so that the remote starter would activate the next time. With that Clifford system all you have to do is turn off the key in neutral and get out - pretty slick!

 

I leave mine in neutral all the time. Of course my parking brake works very well.

 

Wow.... I was waiting to see someone in here speak from KNOWLEDGE!

The ONLY ALARM SPECIFICALLY MADE FOR MANUAL CARS were the advantgaurd 4, (which had the 2nd or 3rd I cant remember generation intellistart built in)

I personally waited 3 years for this alarm to be made..... The day I bought my car I had it dropped off to get the alarm installed...... the place (a clifford dealer for 15 years at the time) had never done a remote start on a manual before..... so they FLEW OUT THE CLIFFORD REP from southern cali. just to oversee the install ....... sad news is they discontinued it 1 1/2-2 years later (when the advantgaurd 5 was released)

These alarms arent for the faint at heart..... the labor to install these are more than alarm itself.

Here's what i like about the alarm:

I hit a small sequence on the remote after I park the car (motor is still running)... when I take the keys out- the motor is still running, then I arm the alarm just like anyone else would do, and the car shuts itself off............

One down side, due to idiots that leave remote started manuals in gear in years past:

If someone sets off my alarm.... the car wont remote start anymore because the alarm doesnt know if the ca was put in gear at that time- Its a nice fail safe I guess..... anyway IF you get the opportunity to buy a used one (highly unlikely.... but stranger things have happened) and you like the idea of remote start.... this is the ONLY way to go........

and before I get flamed from the real smart guys on this topic: The Advantgaurd series is NOT AN ALARM, its a security system (big difference actually)

 

Yeah, Clifford was the only system I knew that worked like that, but it still wasn't perfectly foolproof


There still isn't a direct safety link that tells the brain whether or not the shifter is actually in neutral or in gear....


Lets say you left your kid or your dog in the car while you went shopping for groceries and you went through the arming sequence...


If they happened to accidently pop the shifter into gear while the system was armed and ready to go, the system will still try to start the car


The same can me said if you had a convertible with the top down or simply left your windows open and someone reached in and popped it into gear while you were away


I know, it's highly unlikely, but these are just possibilities that have to be taken into account when dealing with systems like these....


I've seen a few runaways in my time, but they were mainly on shop grounds where the installers didn't take the proper precautions


I've also had a customer who had a system installed on his brand new 95 Lincoln Towncar and didn't know how to operate it...

He came in for an oil change and decided to take the key out while the car was on the lift cause the alarm kept sounding off at the slightest shake...

Every few minutes, he'd have to disarm it, only to have it automagically re-arm itself


One time when he tried to disarm it, he somehow managed to start the engine AFTER the oil had already been drained


My mechanic didn't know wtf to do, so he lowered the lift and tried inserting the key and turning it off, but the motor still wouldn't shut down


He yelled for me from across the shop and I just ran over and stomped on the brake pedal and it immediately shut down, but the damage had already been done and the brand new motor had a severe knock


The owner actually tried to sue us for the damages, but it was thrown out cause he never informed us about his autostart....

Ford also voided his warranty cause the alarm was an aftermarket install...

Funny thing is, he actually came back to us to install a new engine even after he tried to sue


Anyhoo, all of the risks aside, my main reason for not liking autostart systems isn't just for safety, but for the sake of the engine...


Prolonged idling (especially during initial startup) is one of the worst things you can do to a motor


I guess I'm a bit old school on this, but whenever I start a cold motor, I let her idle for no more than 30 second just to get the oil to circulate, then I drive it at no more than 1/4 throttle without engine braking until it's up to operating tempurature

And when I say operating temp, I don't mean just the coolant, but the oil itself...

Most people go by the temp gauge and think it's ok, but they don't realize the coolant will get up to temperature much faster than the oil

 

Hmmm funny you mention this.... I dont know about other clifford alarms... but the Advantgaurd 4 (or atleast mine) came with a secondary interior proximty sensor (it might have been the "omni" sensor I cant remember)....

I left my ball python in the car while running in the store one night, and did exactly what you described above..... only to hear my alarm go off because my snake decided to wake up and move around...... My point is if someone/something is left on the inside once they move, the secondary prox sensor will pick it up and the alarm will go off..... Not trying to come off like an *** or have a pissing match with you either.... I know of you from back in the day over at LS1.com, and have a good deal of respect for you....... just wanted to state my real world experience thats all...... Obviously there was SOMETHING wrong with that design... because they yanked it after a little over a year.