So I was thinking; none of my previous cars that had manual transmissions had a clutch inter-lock, meaning I didn't have to push in the clutch to start the engine. Has anyone attempted to disable our inter-locks? I spoke with one of the techs at Mini of Peabody (Massachussetts), and he said it is a magnetic switch, and shouldn't be a problem. Damned if I can find the little puppy.
This might sound like an off-the-wall request, but I remember the days when the consumer was assumed to be intelligent enough to not need protection from himself (i.e. to not start the car in gear).
Any thoughts on this?
Thanks,
Hegira

 

If that were still true, our cars would have auto-up function on the windows -- like they do in Europe . . . good thing we have Ian and his circuit

 

Good point!

 

Humans are the only (known Earthly) species that has a capability and apparent desire to "defeat" nature's law of "survival of the fittest." And so, we are also the only species that is likely to actually get less and less "fit" as time moves on. Humans are slowly destroying our species because we support the least "fit" among us, and by so doing, we defeat natural selection. For example, the auto-up windows that occasionally take out a stupid or slow-moving person are not allowed to here in the US, allowing those persons who might have fallen victim to the auto-up window to later (perhaps) contribute to the gene pool, and thus, raise the probability that he or she will bear or sire another (or, worse, MANY other) stupid person(s) in the next generation. No other species (on Earth, that we know of)does this. So, I ask you, which do you think is the "smartest" species on the planet?

 

No problem disabling the interlock as long as you are sure that your kid won't tell "MOM" when you drive over his foot. It is not just survival of the fittest, it is survival of the fittest's children. Perhaps his mom should have made a better choice of partners.

I would guess that I haven't started a car in gear more than 100 times. Probably only 3 times did it propel me into anything of significance. I wanted to learn how to stucco!

Oh, shoot, maybe an intelligent person wouldn't disable a safety device. Ah, no worry, I guess it is self correcting!

I drove a VW Microbus for years and only burst into flames occasionally. I only burst into flames once but, foolishly, had a fire extinguisher.

 

GREAT!! Thanks, Bluebonnet, you got my day started off with several good laughs!!

 

This is a story I want to hear!

 

From page 612-6 of the Bentley manual

Clutch switch

The clutch pedal position switch (arrow) is located on the
clutch master cylinder, under the left side dashboard, ahead
of the clutch pedal pushrod.

 

Went outside to check it out.
It's on the left side of the cylinder, with three wires
(?blue, brown, grey) coming off the switch.
A magnet held just so allowed me to get the starter to
run without pushing in the clutch.

part #7 on this diagram

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts...77&hg=21&fg=10

 

Thanks much!
That's exactly what I was trying to find.