Clutch Start Cancel Issue

The majority of the manuals I’ve owned didn’t prevent engaging the starter in gear, but every time I’ve done that was a scary oops. I don’t mind the modern safety measure except when I fail to push the clutch all the way to the floor and the starter hiccups.

 

Am I the only one who's bugged by the fact that when you use the CSC button, the light doesn't go off until the next time you start the engine? As others have said I use mine sometimes to start my truck without my having to be in the truck. A while back that meant that I drove for the next two hours with the amber light on the CSC switch on. A minor annoyance but still annoying, at least to me.

 

Having that CSC lighted switch stay on is stupid and serves no know purpose. I've been know to say that smart people often do and say stupid things; apparently it applies to well run car companies as well.

And no it does not bug me.

 

I've moved an FJ probably a total of 200 ft with the CSC in 4lo (blown engine)

I would never do it in anything but 4lo personally.

I typically move it, give it a break then finish the move.

I 100% use it for oil changes , but at least 2 customary wiggle checks are required of course.

 

No you are not!!!

 

I scratched my head pondering the CSC light operation question. It does not make sense... but it does not bother much.

Back in the day on friend's Toyota Trucks (early to mid 80's models) there was no CSC - BUT the starter operated in the same manner as there was no nanny-tech watching out for you. If you started anything in gear back then - it would lurch.

We had many trips to Baja back then. I used the starter to get us out of a pickle while traveling South more than a few times... once it kept us from abandoning a truck with a dead engine by cranking us forward for about 5km. AND this was NOT on 4Lo. (Tose trucks were light).

Try THAT maneuver in an automatic...

We planned to crank until the battery died, or the starter burned-up. We wanted to avoid having to push - or even walk in that heat. Had to get back (or at least closer to our starting point) off-road over steep hills and sand. We did stop a few times to let it cool a bit. But we were aiming to burn it in our effort to moving as far as we could close to a tow.

Long story short - we made it the whole way.

That starter should have been toast.
The truck got fixed (I do not recall what the issue was...) and the starter lasted several more years in that truck until I lost track of it.

 

22 Manual OR here that has never used the CSC ever (driven manual my whole life, but never had a vehicle that had this button previously). Noob question:

If you are stuck in the hairy situation that you do need to use it in... You're already in 4lo on an incline that rolling back is not optimal. I think I remember the manual stating that in order to use it, the truck needs to be off. So turn the truck off while in 4lo, press the CSC, turn the truck on in first gear without the use of the clutch pedal and it will start crawling?? Is that correct?

 

THis explains it pretty well:


https://www.youtube.com/embed/JD1jMD_J6pU?si=mnMfQj4uDoNsjoJV

 

Very informative. He did not specify what mode he was in (2hi, 4hi, 4lo). I suspect he did that in 2hi. Shutting the truck off and back on in 4lo won't make things wonky at all?

 

It does look like he was in high range, based on the idle speed he was moving at once the motor took over. It's intended for use in 4Lo though, which should put way less stress on the starter than high range. I've killed my truck while driving in 4Lo several times wheeling out in Moab, the truck stays in 4Lo once you restart it without issue. And yeah, truck needs to be off to use. I've used CSC to crawl up some pretty big ledges when I killed it, it works for sure. There's a lot of varied opinions on how hard it is on the starter, but I've read more stories of people abusing it and it handling it no problem than I have seen where it fried their starter (haven't seen one instance yet).

 

Much appreciated, thank you! Now I want to go try it just for the sake of doing it!