Pushing a stalled car while it's in drive

[KrillBee]

The other day a woman's car was on the side of the road. I pulled over to help her push it. She was really close to a service station so I just wanted to help her push it there. She had told me the transmission was broke, but we later found out that the car had simply overheated. The vehicle was in drive and she was giving it gas while 2 of us pushed. Her giving it gas didn't seem to do much.

I later felt stupid because I realized that had she shifted the car into neutral it would have probably been a lot easier to push it to the service station. Is this true, that pushing a car in neutral is a lot easier than pushing it while it's in drive? How is it even possible to push it while it's in drive, because you are fighting the pistons, right?

 

[EightySix Four]

Originally posted by: KrillBee
The other day a woman's car was on the side of the road. I pulled over to help her push it. She was really close to a service station so I just wanted to help her push it there. She had told me the transmission was broke, but we later found out that the car had simply overheated. The vehicle was in drive and she was giving it gas while 2 of us pushed. Her giving it gas didn't seem to do much.

I later felt stupid because I realized that had she shifted the car into neutral it would have probably been a lot easier to push it to the service station. Is this true, that pushing a car in neutral is a lot easier than pushing it while it's in drive? How is it even possible to push it while it's in drive, because you are fighting the pistons, right?

Yes, in neutral the motor would be disconnected from the wheels and the car would move "freely". In fact I'm surprised you could push the car in drive. Pushing the gas pedal was pointless and did nothing at all.

 

[LTC8K6]

Little difference with an automatic, I'd think.

You wouldn't be pushing fast enough for the TC to do anything. So drive should be about the same as neutral.

 

[Mide]

I'd leave it in N

 

[brblx]

uh. if the trans wasn't trashed, how did she rev it in gear without anything happening?

 

[CurseTheSky]

Originally posted by: brblx
uh. if the trans wasn't trashed, how did she rev it in gear without anything happening?

Unless the car was off (it overheated?). I was thinking the same thing, and I can't tell from the description of what was going on.

If the car was off, pushing the gas pedal does nothing, and they probably made it a lot harder on you by keeping it in drive.

If the car was on, the selector was indeed in drive, and pressing the gas pedal did nothing (other than freely rev the engine) her transmission is screwed, one way or another.

 

[LTC8K6]

A conventional auto can roll backwards while in drive with the engine running, so I doubt that being in drive made any difference when pushing it.

 

[KrillBee]

Originally posted by: CurseTheSky

Originally posted by: brblx
uh. if the trans wasn't trashed, how did she rev it in gear without anything happening?

Unless the car was off (it overheated?). I was thinking the same thing, and I can't tell from the description of what was going on.

If the car was off, pushing the gas pedal does nothing, and they probably made it a lot harder on you by keeping it in drive.

If the car was on, the selector was indeed in drive, and pressing the gas pedal did nothing (other than freely rev the engine) her transmission is screwed, one way or another.

Her car was definately on, and reving the engine made a noise but didnt do anything more.

 

[herm0016]

hold on a sec... lets think about this story....

car is running and over heated
car is in gear
car is not moving while reving the overheated engine while in gear?????
you pushed the car, while running, reving it up, overheated, in gear?????????

::head asplode::

I think the OP is missing something here

 

[halik]

Originally posted by: LTC8K6
Little difference with an automatic, I'd think.

You wouldn't be pushing fast enough for the TC to do anything. So drive should be about the same as neutral.

You're still spinning the fluid around, so there should be a lot more resistance.

 

[Jeff7181]

Originally posted by: herm0016
hold on a sec... lets think about this story....

car stalled on side of road
car is running and over heated
car is in gear
car is not moving while reving the overheated engine while in gear?????
you pushed the car, while running, reving it up, overheated, in gear?????????

::head asplode::

I think the OP is missing something here

Fixed, and even more confusion added.

 

[Jahee]

You sure it wasn't in neutral?

 

[Squisher]

Pushing a car in drive is very hard. The couple of times it's happened to me, my friends and I didn't get 12 inches without someone saying wtf is going on and we figured it out.

However, with a trans not functioning properly it is possible you were unintentionally in neutral anyway.

 

[KrillBee]

Originally posted by: Jahee
You sure it wasn't in neutral?

The transmission had to have been broke or something. I cant think of any other explanation. I think the driver of the car was confused and giving me false information. But I did hear the engine running and when she rev'd it, nothing happened.

All I know is that it was a lot of work and my knee is still sore from pushing. I will remember to check with the driver to make sure that it is in neutral next time.

 

[mizzou]

Yes, you want to put it in neutral. I saw a smaller guy trying to push a small civic/accord off of an onramp on the highway to the side but he was struggling with it intensly. I pulled off the road, made sure it was safe (the car was STILL in the lane of traffic! very dangerous!) and went up to the drivers window, immediately said "POP IT IN NEUTRAL AND STEER TO THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE ROAD", I ran to the back of the car and helped the poor bastard push it off the road, he was a sitting duck otherwise.

They could both barely speak english but were obviously thankful for the help

$EDIT$, w/ car in neutral, we easily pushed it off the freeway ramp, so unless her boyfriend/brother was incredibly weak it was impossible to budge the thing while in drive. Hell, she could have had it in park for all I know lol