Especially for us in the cold belt, the best way for starting the car is to push in the clutch first, THEN hit the starter. Even if the trans is in neutral, there is still a bunch of gears you are trying to turn over, in addition to the engine. And remember, the trans is full of 80W90. Otherwise known as molasses.
  Having lived most of my life with borderline starters, batteries, ignition set-ups, etc., ANYTHING that lessens the load on those items is the way to go. And even if all of your equipment is in perfect shape, why make it work harder than it needs to? I want my stuff to last as long as possible.
  Do your vehicle a favor. Start it with the clutch disengaged.

Keith Ovregaard <kovregaard@COMCAST.NET> wrote:
  Why not just step on the clutch pedal before starting? Or put it in
neutral?

On Jan 2, 2007, at 4:23 PM, Automatic digest processor wrote:

> On 1/2/07, Anthony Egeln wrote:
>>
>> The problem was personal.......cranking the starter with it still in
>> gear. We went through several starters in short order until we
>> figured out
>> the problem. Haven't needed a starter since.
>> Anthony