Carjacking

[Bus Driver]

One of the larger cities in my general area has what appears to be daily carjackings. And probably many are not reported in the news that I see/hear. Will I be the victim of such? Probably not, but it is possible. Sometimes I drive my 6-in-the-floor Red Rocket, as the wife calls it. Cranking it obviously requires flooring the clutch pedal for the starter to engage electrically. Some carjackers may not know that.
But if they insist that I drive, there is another trick I discovered. Flooring the gas pedal before and while cranking lets the starter and engine spin merrily, but it does not run. Just like pulling the starter rod on a Cub with the ignition OFF. Must confuse the computer about the fuel mixture. Could be a useful trick if it works for your vehicle.

[Jim Becker]

Flooring the gas pedal before and while cranking lets the starter and engine spin merrily, but it does not run.

When TBI first started showing up on cars, a lot (all?) ECMs were programmed to interpret cranking with a fully floored accelerator as an attempt to clear a flooded condition. In other words, don't squirt any more fuel in. An engine that isn't flooded won't start tht way.

I just went out and tried it on my '12 Cruze. It evidently isn't that simple any more. It isn't clear just what the behavior is. Coming in cold, it started floored. After it had just started, it would not start floored but did after I released the switch and hit it second time. It appears there is still some flood-clearing logic, but it isn't clear just when it shuts off the fuel. All these combinations were tried with the clutch on the floor through the whole sequence.

Related story, a number of years back I had a Cadillac with a manual shift. At the end of getting serviced by a genuine Cadillac dealer, they sent a gofer to get my car. After what seemed like an eternity, the gofer came walking back. I think at that point they did the unthinkable and let me get the car from their controlled lot myself. A few days later I was back for the inevitable rework. After getting serviced, the same gofer started out to get my car. I called him back and told him it was a manual shift car and they needed to send someone that could drive it. He replied that it was OK, he knew how to drive it now. That wasn't exactly reassuring. I always assumed he didn't know to hold the clutch down when starting it.

[indy61]

I'm confused. Should I keep an eye on the clutch pedal or the gas pedal when carjacking, or both. Maybe I should just drive.

[Roy47]

Bus driver, I must live too far out in the country. When I read the title I thought you were going to tell us about some fancy new floor jack you just bought.
If you drive old cars like mine most respectful thieves would leave you a tip on the seat if they broke in. Also a big mean looking dog that likes to ride seems to help a lot.
Roy