Push To Start

[wilto]

Hi guys, 1st post!

So I traded in my 2007 Pathfinder for a 2012 Altima 6 months ago and love the car so far except one thing......

Push To Start

There have been no actual mechanical problems with it, but I hate it.

I live in Florida so May to September is 100F + and inside the car is even hotter, often I have the kids (toddlers) and I know it sounds pathetic but getting in the car, sitting in the seat, foot on brake, push to start with 2 kids hanging onto me is a pain in the behind.

I miss just reaching in with a key and bam engine on, ac on, car is cooling while I get the kiddos in.

If we had a remote ignition start key that would be awesome but is there a mod for disabling the requirement for the brake pedal to be depressed?

[AlexN09]

Once in a while I reach in and press the brake with my hand but I realize the inconvenience with kids/stuff in your hands.

[AlexN09]

If it bothered me enough I would ground the brake signal to the push to start button so when you pushed the button it would think the brake was depressed.

[Hussain]

what I sometimes do is stick one foot in and press on the brake pedal and reach over and push the start button with my hand. It's a slightly awkward position but works.

If it bothered me enough I would ground the brake signal to the push to start button so when you pushed the button it would think the brake was depressed.

this sounds pretty cool too. I've never seen it implemented though.

[AlexN09]

The more I've looked into it I realize it's a little more complicated. I've been trying to think of a way.

[wilto]

I wish I had the know how when it comes to auto electrics to do the above oh well

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[kscott]

I did a similar thing with my clutch pedal. On MT cars the push-to-start makes you press both the brake and the clutch. My mod uses the button on the dash as a fake clutch, but you still have to press the brake. It would be possible to do similar to this but use the extra button to simulate pressing the brake on a CVT car. You'd need to have some extra button to press, so that the car can detect whether you want to actually start it, or just go to ignition-on or accessories while keeping the engine stopped.

If you're going to be reaching in the window to start the car, better be sure that the CVT gear selector lockout is always properly adjusted so the car doesn't start if it's in gear.

[AlexN09]

I did a similar thing with my clutch pedal. On MT cars the push-to-start makes you press both the brake and the clutch. My mod uses the button on the dash as a fake clutch, but you still have to press the brake. It would be possible to do similar to this but use the extra button to simulate pressing the brake on a CVT car. You'd need to have some extra button to press, so that the car can detect whether you want to actually start it, or just go to ignition-on or accessories while keeping the engine stopped.

If you're going to be reaching in the window to start the car, better be sure that the CVT gear selector lockout is always properly adjusted so the car doesn't start if it's in gear.

Nice!! This was exactly what my idea was but I was trying to figure out a way to use the push to start button as the switch to avoid installing an exterior switch as well. The problem here is that if you ground the brake pedal with a switch like yours than the brake lights actually turn on as if you're pressing the pedal. Unless you wanna drive around with your brake lights on all of the time you would have to only use the switch while turning on the car and then switch back off once you were driving around. One option would be a switch with a spring inside that only made contact with your finger on it so you could just press both at the same time to start the car. I just think it would be awesome and convenient to just press the PTS button once and ..... oh wait a sec then you couldn't cycle between ACC and ignition. Well dang I guess you just need another switch for the brake pedal.

[AlexN09]

Actually I just thought of something else too.. What if you grounded the brake line to the push to start button through a relay or other delayed circuitry device so that if you held down the PTS button it would start the car but if you just pushed it once it would cycle like normal? Cool I bet that I could figure that out!

[kscott]

One option would be a switch with a spring inside that only made contact with your finger on it so you could just press both at the same time to start the car.

That's how I did my mod. Although it looks like a rocker switch, it's momentary and you have to hold it while you press the push-to-start. So on my car it takes two hands to start if you're using the fake clutch button.

Another interesting little quirk - on the factory push-to-start switch, you can just jab it and instantly let go, and it continues to run the starter motor long enough until it actually starts. But on the clutch switch, if you let go before it's actually started, it instantly cuts off the starter motor. I expect the brake pedal would work similarly to the clutch (don't know for sure, though).

Actually I just thought of something else too.. What if you grounded the brake line to the push to start button through a relay or other delayed circuitry device so that if you held down the PTS button it would start the car but if you just pushed it once it would cycle like normal?

The problem with that is that the delay (whatever you use to decide between actual starting and ign/acc/off) needs to be known before (or at least at the same instant as) the actual pushing the PTS button.

I did a quick bit of looking around in the FSM (2009 QR25 sedan) and it looks like the brake pedal has two switches on it. One of them (connector E37) has 2 wires and is just for the cruise control. The other (connector E38) and has 4 wires on a CVT car (but only 2 wires on a MT car). Pins 1 and 2 of E38 are what get connected together to turn on the brake lights and also let you start the engine. Those pins have a red wire and a light-green wire. Pin 1 (red wire) gets battery power through fuse #7 on the interior fuse panel (10a, "stop lamp").
The extra 2 wires on E38 are for the CVT shift lockout (those wires are green w/ red stripe and red w/ white stripe).

[AlexN09]

Hey thanks for that info! I'm pretty sure that a normally off switch would be easy to install. I noticed that there is definitely a small window of time after you press the PTS button that you can still apply the brake and start the car. If you wait too long to apply the brake then it just turns on ACC power. I'm thinking that a regular 12 volt relay might provide just enough delay to start the car and still differentiate between start and acc power. Idk, gonna test it out though.

[08versailles]

I'd love to see how this turns out. My wife starts the car from the psgr side with snow brush on the brake pedal!