Remote start on a manual?

[QueBert]

I'm getting a new car in a few weeks and wasn't considering the manual as it gets worse gas mileage than the automatic, and I don't even know how to drive stick. A friend offered to let me use his car to learn stick. I thought about it and it might be more fun, and something new. I was looking into a Viper alarm. Manual start does intrigue me, but I'm not sure how I feel about leaving a car in neutral and using the parking break. I Googled this and pretty much every thread seems full of posts that contradict each other. I don't know enough to figure it out on my own, and I don't recognize the posters so I don't know who to listen to. I'm always on these poking around so I have a good idea who's who here.

So I'm looking for feedback from anyone who has some insight, on a few other forums people were bringing up the neutral with only the e break after a long hard drive's bad. But they weren't going into detail why. I live in So Cal so I don't have a need for it, but it's something I've never had lol. I'm specifically looking at the 5204, the 2 way is something I like.

 

[Zap]

Friend of mine has remote start on his manual transmission Cavalier. He's had it for over a decade, and to my knowledge has never had a problem because of it.

 

[phucheneh]

I've driven stickshifts for years and I've never left one in gear.

If the parking brake actually fails, yes, having the car in gear will keep it from rolling away.

Unless you're on a very steep hill. Which is most people's justification for leaving it in gear. In that case, it's just going to spin the engine. Hooray...it's rolling away more slowly.

A better strategy is to actually keep your parking brake in working condition. Which is not hard, despite the opposite impression one generally gets from the number of used cars with worthless e-brakes.

 

[thirdeye]

As long as it's installed properly and the neutral safety wire is properly tapped, you'll be fine. I had a Viper 5901 in my 09 STI and if it was in gear and I tried to start it, it would simply return an error on the fob and not start.

 

[SpatiallyAware]

I've driven stickshifts for years and I've never left one in gear.

If the parking brake actually fails, yes, having the car in gear will keep it from rolling away.

Unless you're on a very steep hill. Which is most people's justification for leaving it in gear. In that case, it's just going to spin the engine. Hooray...it's rolling away more slowly.

A better strategy is to actually keep your parking brake in working condition. Which is not hard, despite the opposite impression one generally gets from the number of used cars with worthless e-brakes.

That's a bad habit.. I've read a couple of stories about someone getting lightly bumped while parked on a slight hill, and it was enough to get the wheels moving even with the parking brake on.



To the OP. Around my area no one will installed a remote start on a manual, even with the interlock switch. I can definitely see the appeal, but personally I wouldn't do it. Too much risk of a valet or shop bumping the remote start, or interlock switch failing.

 

[iamwiz82]

I always leave it in gear and the brake set. Can't be too careful.

 

[Fritzo]

I always leave it in gear and the brake set. Can't be too careful.

I do that too

My BMW has the cold weather package on it, and the seats heat up instantly. I also keep it garaged, so never really had a use for remote starters. I would never remember to leave it in neutral anyway.

 

[NutBucket]

As long as it's installed properly and the neutral safety wire is properly tapped, you'll be fine. I had a Viper 5901 in my 09 STI and if it was in gear and I tried to start it, it would simply return an error on the fob and not start.

Basically this. Most MT cars with cruise control have a neutral safety signal.

 

[z1ggy]

Have had a MT for 6 yrs. Have a remote starter, too. Always left the car in neutral w the E brake up...Never had any issues. If it is winter and I am parked on a big hill I will put it in gear and hopefully just not use my remote start. Also, turning the wheels the proper way so if it does roll away... You will roll into the curb and not into the road.

 

[SearchMaster]

I know a guy who had a remote starter on his manual car about a decade ago. I guess it didn't have a neutral check on it...anyway he always left it in neutral obviously. One day he was cleaning his car and accidentally knocked the car into gear. The next time he remote started it and I guess that gave it enough momentum to move it forward - right over a 10 foot drop into an adjacent parking lot at his apartment complex. Dumbass.

 

[SpongeBob]

I always leave it in neutral with the e-brake on. Its pretty flat in detroit but on the rare occasion i've had to park on a hill, i've curbed the wheels. I've never had to park on a hill that didn't have a curb, but if i did, i guess i'd leave it in gear in that instance.

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

I've driven stickshifts for years and I've never left one in gear.

If the parking brake actually fails, yes, having the car in gear will keep it from rolling away.

Unless you're on a very steep hill. Which is most people's justification for leaving it in gear. In that case, it's just going to spin the engine. Hooray...it's rolling away more slowly.

A better strategy is to actually keep your parking brake in working condition. Which is not hard, despite the opposite impression one generally gets from the number of used cars with worthless e-brakes.

I have driven stick for 26 years and would never leave a car with a manual parked in neutral on anything other than a completely level surface. Even then I leave it in gear. Personally I habitually leave the car in first on level or uphill surfaces, and reverse if it's pointed downhill. Realistically if it's in first gear or reverse, though, the car will not roll.

 

[JackBurton]

I have driven stick for 26 years and would never leave a car with a manual parked in neutral on anything other than a completely level surface. Even then I leave it in gear. Personally I habitually leave the car in first on level or uphill surfaces, and reverse if it's pointed downhill. Realistically if it's in first gear or reverse, though, the car will not roll.

Yep, same with me.

 

[QueBert]

Thanks for all the replies guys, I thought about it and I should probably wait for my friend to teach me then test drive the car before I make a decision on getting the manual. This tread turned out like most I found on Google, I guess it's more preference than anything.

 

[JulesMaximus]

So I'm looking for feedback from anyone who has some insight, on a few other forums people were bringing up the neutral with only the e break after a long hard drive's bad.

Not really sure what they're on about with that. So, they don't set the parking brake but they leave it in neutral? Or they park it in gear without the parking brake?

I've owned manual transmission cars for stretches of 10 years at a time and put hundreds of thousands of miles on them. Always parked in gear with the e-brake/parking brake engaged. I always use the parking brake on my automatic cars too... just a habit formed from years of driving sticks I guess.

My first car was a SAAB 99 and you couldn't remove the key from the ignition unless the transmission was in reverse. Good habits were formed from owning that car when I was learning how to drive.

You should always park a car in a low gear with the parking brake on. Reverse is preferred but 1st gear is fine too.

I always park my bikes in gear too but apparently I'm in the minority among motorcyclists in this practice.

Parking brake=Emergency brake (not sure why there are two different terms for the same thing).

I would never park a car in neutral and since you live in SoCal you really have zero need for remote starting. I've never had a car with it, never felt like I needed or wanted it either.

 

[bigi]

No prob. Had one on my MT Protege for 6 years.
It had 2 level security I believe, so to arm it I had to be in neutral and parking brake on.

It helped many, many times during winter times....

 

[QueBert]

No prob. Had one on my MT Protege for 6 years.
It had 2 level security I believe, so to arm it I had to be in neutral and parking brake on.

It helped many, many times during winter times....

Hummm, now that you mention it the alarm I'm looking at has climate control, and it gets up to 115+ in the summer here. 10 minutes of remote start with the AC blasting would be lovely. Now I just need to look into how that works, this car I'm getting has all analog temp gauges.

 

[thedarkwolf]

Unless you're on a very steep hill. Which is most people's justification for leaving it in gear. In that case, it's just going to spin the engine. Hooray...it's rolling away more slowly.

It takes a very VERY HOLY SHIT steep hill to get a car rolling while parked in 1st gear. Well at least any car I've bothered to try it on just for shits and giggles has never rolled while parked in 1st gear no matter how steep the hill was. Yes I always actually park in gear with the parking brake on.

 

[Scarpozzi]

I'm not a fan of remote start on a straight shift for the same reasons you are hesitant. You'll always wonder when you hit the button if it's in gear or not. If the system has a way to tie into your transmission and detect whether or not it's in neutral, that might help....

I'd probably just choose between a manual and remote start and not shoot for both.

 

[QueBert]

I'm not a fan of remote start on a straight shift for the same reasons you are hesitant. You'll always wonder when you hit the button if it's in gear or not. If the system has a way to tie into your transmission and detect whether or not it's in neutral, that might help....

I'd probably just choose between a manual and remote start and not shoot for both.

This unit has a process you have to go thru to be able to use the remote start, and the car has to be in neutral or it won't engage. I'm not sure about all of then, but I know this one comes with a sensor of some sort for manuals. So I don't think I could accidently do anything. But you gave me something I definitely need to research.

I also need to research how hard is it to install them yourself, apparently Viper doesn't give detailed instructions as they want a certified dealer to install them. Only problem is the closest one that does Viper told me they won't install one I bought off Ebay due to gray area, and the retail on this sucker is HIGH. It's $150 on Amazon and about $299 + installation at the store. I believe Best Buy will install the Amazon one if I pay them, but I wouldn't trust their people with a 20 year old bucket

 

[Fritzo]

I'm not a fan of remote start on a straight shift for the same reasons you are hesitant. You'll always wonder when you hit the button if it's in gear or not. If the system has a way to tie into your transmission and detect whether or not it's in neutral, that might help....

I'd probably just choose between a manual and remote start and not shoot for both.

They do. There's an interlock switch that won't allow the car to start unless it's in neutral.

If you bypassed that, it would be a pretty cool death machine. Just wait for someone you hate to walk in front of the car, press the button, and BAM!

 

[Murloc]

I always park in gear and driving teachers instruct people to do so here.

A car in the first gear won't start rolling by itself even on a steep hill and pointing downwards, but you should always use the hand brake too in case something breaks (highly unlikely).
If you don't want to stress the transmission you could pull the hand brake first, but if you inserted the first when the vehicle was already stopped then this means it's not properly in gear. If the hand brake gives in it will most likely insert itself and stop, but it's better not to risk it.

On flat surfaces you don't have to use the hand brake but I prefer to do so, it's safer.

Starting a car without using the ignition is doable only on steep hills and in a high gear otherwise it won't start moving at all. Unless you give it a push, that's why you have to use the hand brake and point the wheels towards the curb too, in case someone rear ends the parked car. If you park in neutral and the hand brake breaks the car will be like a shopping cart down a hill. That's why you have to insert the gear.

 

[phucheneh]

I have but one rebuttal to offer to all you gear-leaver-inners:

Bah.

 

[ballmode]

I have keyless start on my manual wrx. Don't use it much

 

[Midwayman]

I always leave it in gear and the brake set. Can't be too careful.

And the wheels turned to the curb. I wonder if people who don't have ever lived in an area with hills?