Dealing with a stalled car that refuses to re-start
I have been driving in excess of forty years and recently I had to change from my normal choice of a manual transmission to a car that has an automatic gear box. I have just had surgery on my knee. I was finding it difficult to depress the clutch and decided to make the change before I antagonized the sore area any more than I already have done. I thought it would get better, but alas it only got progressively worse day by day.
I sold my old car for a good price as it had full main dealer service history and it had been well looked after during my eleven years of ownership. It really was sad to see it go but my health is more important than sentimental attachments to a lump of metal. The new car I found is three years old, it boasts excellent fuel economy and has the all-important automatic gear box. I found it to have a full service history that confirmed its very low mileage. It took some time to remember to only use one foot to drive the two peddled beast. I kept stamping my sore leg down as I approached a junction but only to find the imaginary pedal does not exist.
Once I eventually got used and accepted the new car, I wondered why all cars are not made with automatic gearboxes. They are so simple to drive and so pleasant in traffic jams, if I had cruise control I am sure I could easily nod off, on a long motorway journey.
I decided to go on a long journey and visit my daughter, she lives about sixty miles away and around half way I decided to pull over and have a break. I pulled off the motorway and stopped at the top of the slip road to allow a lorry to go past. As I did the car stalled, I pulled on the hand brake and attempted to re-start the stalled car. The car would not start, in fact all I had was the ignition light, battery light and eventually the oil light. All the electrics were in good condition, but I had nothing on the key. My stalled car was going nowhere!
After exhausting all my efforts to re-start the stalled car (or Er bilen gået i stå as we call it in Danish), I had to call the road side assistance (we Danes call them Autohjælp i hele Europa )company and have them send out a patrol car. I put on my hazard lights and when safe to do so, I rolled back on to the hard shoulder. After about an hour a patrol car appeared at the top of the roundabout and reversed down.
The patrol guy walked up to me and asked what the problem seemed to be. I told him as I drove up to the junction my car stalled and won’t re-start. He smiled at me and asked me to move the auto-gear selector in to the P position. As soon as he said it I felt warm and flush with embarrassment. My stalled car started immediately.
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