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My Car Goes By Itself.

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Tilly2 | 19:01 Wed 23rd Jan 2013 | Motoring
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I have a Vauxhall Zafira Estate. It's now one year old.

I have noticed that when trying to drive really slowly in the icy side streets it seems to go by itself. If I take my foot off the clutch and the accelerator, it just keeps going. It scares me to death. It stops if I put the break on but I don't feel in control of the speed. I suspect it's something to do with the automatic choke. Am I activating it in some way?

(I know, I know, this is a really dumb lady's question. All the blokes will be going 'Oh, for goodness sake......................' I can't ask my husband about it because he doesn't drive and won't have a clue.)
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My car does the same I presume that you mean it just about crawls forward on it's own, if you are talking about say 2mph 3mph that is acceptable. I think you will find most modern cars will do this as they seem to have a faster idling speed now.
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I, wouldn't describe it as crawling. It feels faster than that when you actually feel out of control.
If you're still in Drive or first gear, it will move forward at idle speed, except upslope.
Well you could be sliding.

But that aside, did you have it in neutral ? If not then possibly the choke is feeding a rich enough mixture to turn the wheels slowly.
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It was in first gear, not neutral. Perhaps I'm being too cautious. It's just that I have a horrible 'S'bend to drive round before I get on to the main road and it is shockingly icy . I don't want to break in case I skid, I just want the car to travel at the speed my foot pressure tells it to. It seems to have a mind of it's own.
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There you go then. Low speed was the option to stalling.

Even when you go slow you still need to use all 3 pedals in much the same way as you do at other times. Take it easy.
If you press the clutch when accelerating you have disengaged the gears....v.dangerous.
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Thank you all. I obviously need to get used to it going by itself. How long would it take to warm up methyl? Or is that like asking, how long is a piece of string?
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Thank you, methyl. All your assumptions were correct by the way. I tend turn on the engine, turn on the heated rear window and mirror thingy, de-ice the windscreen, get in and drive away. That's the problem I suppose. I need to leave it a bit longer. I'll try that tomorrow.

Thanks to all of you for not treating me like a silly woman.
The car is Aquaplaning Tilly, there is Ice between your tyres & the road surface, If possible when braking, use your handbrake lightly to slow yourself down.
Aquaplaning?
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Now, you're confusing me!
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all automatics do this
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I thought you could only aquaplane at speeds over 60mph in the heavy rain or standing water.

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