Morris Minor Owners Club

When you start your car, do you depress the clutch pedal to take some load off the battery?

Or does that put unnecessary wear on the thrust washers?

Unlike a lot of old motors I have owned, you will like me, find there is drag on the engine when you depress the clutch.
I start the car without the footwork, the engine spins faster that way.

Mostly depress the pedal but here to learn.

I never used to, then I learnt it's meant to be better to do so, so now I do

My modern car you have to depress clutch for start button to activate but I never do it on the Minor always start in neutral. There shouldn't be enough drag on gearbox to effect cranking .

There is no gain to be had in depressing the clutch for starting the engine.
There may have been a gain years ago when gearboxes used thicker oil but the standard 20/50 does not induce the same resistance.
Depressing the clutch pedal causes the carbon thrust to press against the thrust pad of the clutch cover which introduces loading and wear to the clutch carbon thrust. Pressing on the clutch also loads the crankshaft thrust bearings. So adding up the loading on the carbon thrust and crankshaft thrust bearings negates any gains made in depressing the clutch.
Personally I do not depress the clutch pedal when starting the engine.
Nor do I depress the clutch when going round corners which is a carry over from the days when cars did not have differentials.

I don’t know about other cars but my manual Mini, requires the clutch to be depressed before actually starting the car, something I don’t particularly like. Just realised Bill has covered this !

None of my Minors over the years have ever needed the clutch pedal depressed to start. They just fired up happily in neutral
I'm pretty sure the drivers handbook for these cars says nothing about depressing the clutch when starting.

Thanks folks, very interesting.

I'm going to stop doing it.

Yes, give your left leg a rest !

Fair point

FWIW if I depress the clutch on my 948cc Midget (Ie same engine give or take) It's more reluctant to start first thing. Always thought depressing the clutch made engines spin faster so more likely to start. On my Midget the engine does spin faster but doesn't catch as easily as when not depressing the clutch.

I've never pressed the clutch pedal down as the idea of loading thrust bearings with no oil pressure didn't go well with me.

Alan

I am guessing that the modern cars that need the clutch down before turning the key are made that way to stop people starting the car with a gear engaged.

Are people considered by the manufactures to be so stupid that they do not check to make sure the car is not in gear before starting. I was taught that you check that the car is not in gear before starting and still do.

Yes maybe, regarding the Mini, another preventative action would be to tackle the positioning of reverse and first gear, so easy to unintentionally select reverse, being so close together, and strange that you push the lever forward to go backwards !
Pity BMW didn’t copy the original Mini’s gearbox positioning.

I learnt of the depressing the clutch through a driving instructors' video on YouTube. What was said was that it takes load off the engine making it require less power from the battery to start.

In modern cars I suppose there's also the possibility (speculation) that depressing the clutch may also trigger some ECU response to disable certain electrical systems to remove load from the battery, in addition to the car not going anywhere if it's in gear.

philthehill wrote: ↑Mon Nov 25, 2024 9:23 am Are people considered by the manufactures to be so stupid that they do not check to make sure the car is not in gear before starting. I was taught that you check that the car is not in gear before starting and still do.

I'd be lying if I said I'd never accidentally started a car in gear.

Anyway, based on the threads replies I think it's likely safe to say, if you have a modern car you're probably fine starting with the clutch depressed (unless it's a conspiracy to get you to buy a new car once in a while!), and an old car like the Minor, not to do so.

philthehill wrote: ↑Mon Nov 25, 2024 9:23 am Are people considered by the manufactures to be so stupid that they do not check to make sure the car is not in gear before starting. I was taught that you check that the car is not in gear before starting and still do.

I think it's more to do with product liability in our blame culture, some have neutral start inhibitor, some press brake, especially automatics and many manuals push clutch.
My Mitsubishi for example needs clutch pressed and when you press start it's not direct like the moggy pull switch, it tells the ECU you want to start it then runs glowplugs based on temp then when ready cranks and starts.