Today, we’ll tell you how to jump the starter solenoid with a screwdriver and will also answer the most common questions people ask about this way of starting a car.
Decided to double dip my just the tip for you all today because this information may help someone in a bind. I know it's helped me.
The article above explains how to use a screwdriver to engage your starter when you're in a bind and can get you home, or to a shop, or parts house where you need to be asap!
You can also use this method to test your starter and see if it's bad, the video below is showing you what the above linked article is telling you but the starter is on the ground. It's definitely not the best video but best I could find in the rush I'm in today and will give you a better picture of what's going on I hope!
Oh, one more thing, if any of this is unclear please feel free to ask! Admittedly I made this in a rush and only had time for a quick glance at the content. Sorry!
Here’s a funny story. I knew a guy that used to start his full sized dodge pickup this way.
Let me introduce you to Ron. Ron had been a bodybuilder and personal trainer in a past life, but was now painting apartments. He wore a lot of Native American jewelry and stuff, and would tell anyone that would listen that he was Native American. Despite being a dark skinned very Italian man.
One morning after being out all night drinking in strip clubs. He walks out to his truck still hungover and grabs a long miniroller handle, and jumps the starter. His truck roars to life, but Ron had forgotten one minor detail. Last night when he drove home drunk. He parked his truck and left it in first gear.
The truck instantly lurched forward knocking him down. It then rolls him up under the truck so his knees are against his chest and back to the ground, and the truck dies.
This probably would have killed lesser men, but not Ron. He used his immense strength to push this pickup truck backwards while in first gear. Probably actually just sliding it back since it was parked in the grass.
He gets up takes it out of gear and cranks it again. He then drives himself to the hospital to find out he had ruptured 2 disks, broken some ribs, and 1 of the ribs had punctured his lung.
Until recently he was the only person I’d ever known to run over themselves with their own vehicle.
I also have a story about him spending the night with a friend, and jamming his boner into the friends wife’s Vaseline. Then blaming someone else for the hole in tub while eating breakfast with his friends family, but this probably isn’t the place for that story.
You can add me to the "ran over themselves with their own vehicle" club, but, in my defense, I was just a little kid. Maybe not technically able to be in the club because it was my parent's car, not mine, but I still claim it.
That absolutely counts! After all, if a billionaire gets all their money when young, they are still a billionaire.
You know, I said until recently Ron was the only person I knew. Well, about 3 weeks ago my partner came home and told me they’d been in a minor wreck. Essentially they got in the car, and started it. Put it in reverse and realized they couldn’t find their phone. So, naturally they jumped out, and the open door knocked them down, and the front tire ran over their leg.
What an awesome story! That story serves as a great cautionary tale too, most of us wouldn't be as fortunate as Ron in that situation. Thanks for sharing!
This is what I like to do. I’m old, and not the brightest bulb. But, I am full of stories about myself or someone I’ve known making total mess of things. I call it my old man wisdom.
Also, just to make Ron even more ridiculous. Imagine nightwolf from mortal kombat. Now imagine that guy but with the accent and attitude of Andrew Dice Clay. That dude was a trip.
Story time... Behind a house that I shared years ago, the owner had an old car parked for many months. I got board one day and used this trick to start it. (Can't remember how I got around the need for a key, because the doors were locked.) Ran it for a while, impressed my roommates, then turned it off.