Drove the quest for the first time :D

[NudeLobster]

got my license today, and drove the quest! LOVE IT. I can't drive it anywhere for a few more days, cause I need to get the groove of stick down again. I learned stick last summer, but never really learned coming from a stop. And that came back on me lol. Stalled the quest probably 15 times today, because I taught myself without my dad. Then I got him to come with me and it turns out I was basically dumping the clutch (although I thought I was going pretty slow), and not giving it enough gas resulting in stalling. Finally got it figured out, now I just need to work on it before i go into any real traffic, cause I don't want to roll back into someone! I felt like an idiot cause I stalled at a stop and had to wave a guy around me after I tried a few more times without success, and also wave a women through coming from my right

 

Took the car up to 5k on a larger road and it pulls nice and hard! The idle was a little rough at times, sometimes it would pur like a kitten at 1k, and sometimes it would bounce around between 200-500 before cutting out. I think that was from all my stalling and starting though, cause after my dad taught me how to come from a stop, there weren't any problems.

 

Took the car to the shop too. brakes needed to be bled and the brake fluid was really low (Im watching for a leak, or if it just didn't have any). Also, the tires were at over 40 PSI So we bled them to 32 and it went from driving like a 2x4, to driving like a car

 

Oil is fairly dirty so an oil change will come saturday, and the coolant is fairly low so that will also come saturday. The temp gauge wasn't working for a while, and while i was driving it decided to work I don't trust it though, so an after market temp gauge and A pillar mount are soon to come. Front tires are almost bald, so those will within a few weeks. Rear fuzions are fine though. Man, I love this damn thing

 

-Justin

[JAinsworth]

Congrats on the license and first drive. You really want to drive carefully on wet roads. They will kick the back end out fairly easy.

Jimmy

[NudeLobster]

will do, thanks for the tip

[Mazarin]

Good luck, and enjoy!

[D_Venable]

One trick I still us in my quest's on hills, make sure the handbrake works well first though, and use it when taking off to avoid rolling back, and slowly let it off as you feel the clutch engaging.

[Project83]

Congratulations on getting the car and license. Give it a couple months on the clutch and you won't even remember shifting when your not paying attention.

[movin on]

Congrats, I probably have drove my car just as far as you have drove yours with it running good. I can't wait to see what the 19c has in store for me.

[NudeLobster]

thanks guys! went out again to practice and ended up out by my highschool, so i picked up my girlfriend from school and drove her home (in rush hour on busy streets) and I was nervous but I did fine

 

My girlfriend was nervous as hell, but she was alright too. Only problem I had was an a** hole that insisted on riding my bumper at a light on a hill, so I had to play the brakes clutch and gas all at the same time. Got some space behind me, waiting for the light, and this guy gets on my bumper again

 

Anyways got past that with some shaky legs and a dry mouth but I drove fine besides that. Just need to get use to working all 3 pedals at a stop. It felt awesome to be driving the quest everywhere though

[Fanta]

Don't let some guy riding your a** pressure you into burning up your clutch or doing something stupid. If you roll back into him, he's at fault for being too close remember that.

 

Some sage advice - practice getting underway on a hill late at night with minimum traffic.

[Hoosierquest]

Awesome! Be carefull bud, rear wheel cars with new drivers can lead to trouble. Just use good common sense and Im sure youll be fine, but watch using alot of skinny pedel in corners etc especially when wet.

[patra_is_here]

what works well on a hill:

 

left foot on clutch

right foot on brake, but turn your foot a little sideways so half your foot can start pushing on the accelerator pedal. let off the clutch while giving it gas but still be on the brakes lightly. maybe practice this in the drive way.

[NudeLobster]

what works well on a hill:

 

left foot on clutch

right foot on brake, but turn your foot a little sideways so half your foot can start pushing on the accelerator pedal. let off the clutch while giving it gas but still be on the brakes lightly. maybe practice this in the drive way.

Thats exactly what I did. I just had a little trouble timing/balacing it so i didnt let off the brakes to early and roll back, but also so i didnt let off to late and engage the clutch at too high of an RPM. first try I got to about 3k RPM and had to let off cause i couldnt balance the brake to let off with out lurching. It didn't help that i wasn't going from the stop to open road though. I only had a few feet in front of me and a few inches behind me, so i had to really balance it so i didn't lunge forward into the guy in front of me. When the line started moving and i had space to move, I got out of there fine though. It was just being stuck between the two cars without much space that got me nervous. I was pretty calm and confident when I the line got moving and i was able to start down the road again.

 

I actually didn't burn the clutch bad that time either. I burned the clutch pretty bad on the way back, got stopped on a hill again by a train, and didn't get nervous or anything, just burnt the clutch a little.

 

I need to get use to the use of the Parking brake too, I went out to pull my car into the garage and did so without releasing the parking brake

 

I noticed as i came to a stop in the garage. I did that once with the jeep i had too, except with the jeep it was harder to notice because it was a foot brake, and ended up driving around town with the E brake on. That smelled... yum? haha my dad thought it was me burning the clutch, and kept yelling at me for riding the clutch, when in reality it was the e-brake lol

 

I think im taking a little to long to get the RPMs up and release the clutch though, giving too much time to roll back on inclines. I don't really know how to speed it up though, I mean i could get the RPMS up faster, but any faster on the clutch and it will lurch/shake. Is there a trick i'm missing? Other than that its just good old practice

 

-Justin

Edited March 10, 2010 by NudeLobster

[Killtodie]

Best way to learn stick is have friend who know stick sit next to you and tell you what and when you are doing something wrong.

 

otherwise you will never learn

 

 

also, poor quest having to start up 15 times in a single day

[NudeLobster]

yeah i felt bad lol, the quest started idling rough after like 10. My dad went with me earlier, which helped me stop with the stalling and helped me get my going from stops down, and he said I just need to practice and get faster with it so that i dont roll back into someone on an incline. I just don't know how to speed it up much more without it getting shaky, and he only said I need to practice thats all. So i'm hoping the speed with come with practice, but im going as fast as i can (or atleast as fast as i THINK i can) releasing the clutch...without dumping it or releasing to fast and shake/lunge/stall.

 

PS, what do your guys SQ's idle at? Mine idles at 1k after driving for a while, but when i start it up it fades from 800ish down to almost stalling and bouces back and forth, and even after sitting in the drive way revving to 3k a few times to warm it up, it wouldnt smooth out. Over the weekend in the garage it would idle at that 800ish point and steadily raise and sit at a smooth 1200. At first I thought it was idling rough cause of how many times I started it, but later in the day it was still doing that. It only stalled while idling once though.

Edited March 10, 2010 by NudeLobster

[boostdquest89]

Just sit at a stop, get used to where your "sweet spot" is in your clutch....once u can go RIGHT to that spot without any problem...you "got er' whipped"....lol

Shouldn't take long at all....kinda hard to explain other than that, once you learn it'll be second nature!

Good luck,

Chad-

[patra_is_here]

^^ find the sweet spots.

 

and, keep your foot on the brake until you feel the clutch starting to grab.

[Killtodie]

car shake when you start, less clutch, more gas

[Killtodie]

^^ find the sweet spots.

 

and, keep your foot on the brake until you feel the clutch starting to grab.

 

 

or if you are really downhill use a handbrake and let it go when you start a connection

[scott87star]

PS, what do your guys SQ's idle at? Mine idles at 1k after driving for a while, but when i start it up it fades from 800ish down to almost stalling and bouces back and forth, and even after sitting in the drive way revving to 3k a few times to warm it up, it wouldnt smooth out. Over the weekend in the garage it would idle at that 800ish point and steadily raise and sit at a smooth 1200. At first I thought it was idling rough cause of how many times I started it, but later in the day it was still doing that. It only stalled while idling once though.

 

If you haven't already you should download the FSM, it will help in troubleshooting these kinds of problems and give you the nomenclature we all use so you can understand the abbreviations. The idle is controlled by the ISC, monitored by the MPS and activated by the nose switch. Its that last one that makes it bounce or hunt back and forth. The nose switch tells the ECU that the throttle is closed so the ECU activates the idle program which is about two AFR points richer than the closed loop cruise. In closed loop cruise the O2 sensor is used to adjust the mixture and since it is an early narrow band setup only accurate at 14.7 AFR it constantly "hunts" from one side of that value to the other. If your nose switch isn't working the ECU keeps hunting and the idle is rough and variable. My car did that and it took me forever to figure it out, I tested the nose switch several times and it worked fine but I finally realized that the connection at the first connector by the throttle body wasn't always making contact. Once I cleaned it up with a nail file and stuck it back together it worked like it should. Valuable lesson: most older car problems are caused by dirty and/or corroded electronics.

 

Scott

[Fanta]

As for the handbrake being left on. Get into a routine of a "start up"

 

For me, it was always sit in the car, put it in N while holding the brake and pushing the clutch ( e-brake was up ).

Moved the shifter into 1st, 2nd, N

Start her up. Release E-brake.

Put car into 1st/R.

???

Profit.

[NudeLobster]

If you haven't already you should download the FSM, it will help in troubleshooting these kinds of problems and give you the nomenclature we all use so you can understand the abbreviations. The idle is controlled by the ISC, monitored by the MPS and activated by the nose switch. Its that last one that makes it bounce or hunt back and forth. The nose switch tells the ECU that the throttle is closed so the ECU activates the idle program which is about two AFR points richer than the closed loop cruise. In closed loop cruise the O2 sensor is used to adjust the mixture and since it is an early narrow band setup only accurate at 14.7 AFR it constantly "hunts" from one side of that value to the other. If your nose switch isn't working the ECU keeps hunting and the idle is rough and variable. My car did that and it took me forever to figure it out, I tested the nose switch several times and it worked fine but I finally realized that the connection at the first connector by the throttle body wasn't always making contact. Once I cleaned it up with a nail file and stuck it back together it worked like it should. Valuable lesson: most older car problems are caused by dirty and/or corroded electronics.

 

Scott

 

that was a big help man, thanks so much! Now I just need to find these nose switch contacts on the TB I understand how the idle works with the narrowband, but the ISC and MPS system went in one ear and out the other lol. Where would I find this FSM to download? sounds like something I actually want to read, my english teachers would be proud hahaha.

 

also fanta:

thanks for the advice do you guys leave your cars in 1st when parked? I left it in neutral with the E brake on and my dad said to always leave it in first as a precaution, so that's what i do now. I just need to get into the habit with the e-brake. shouldnt take long, I usually catch on fast. When I drove the slap shift BMW auto trans, I forced my self to clutch when i braked or shifted, so when i drove the quest today clutching was already second nature during brakeing and gear changes. never had to balance the clutch to get moving with the BMW though, so that was completely new to me today.

 

anyways, hopefully by the weekend I have everything smoothed out!

 

-Justin

[Fanta]

Yeah, I always leave it in first. See, if you park on a hill, it for some reason or another, your e-brake fails, the car being in 1st gear is a fail safe of sorts to stop the car from rolling.

[TheWormForEver]

Lol, got your DL and drove a Starion too? Ur a lucky man. Congrats!!!!

[NudeLobster]

yup, it was a good day

 

(as the great warrior poet Ice cube once said: If the day does not require an AK, it is good)

^If you know where thats from, then I like you. haha.

[strang3majik]

Try learning to drive a manual in a Mustang Cobra with a cable clutch connected to a centerforce dual friction...requiring nearly two feet to drive...lol

 

After learning to drive that one after stalling a few times...every car with a clutch is easy now.

 

Also...when stopped on a hill, oh, wait, there are no hills in southern FL...lol

 

 

and...whats wrong with your tires running at 40psi Handles a lot better in my opinion...loses traction quicker and wears a lot quicker, but, much more responsive...

 

also...they should idle at 750rpms...ish. A little higher when they're cold.