‘It’s a push to start now’: Hapless handymen fit their car with a new radio, and somehow break the laws of mechanics in the process

In the age of YouTube tutorials, it’s not uncommon for people to dive headfirst into projects with a “can-do” attitude. However, things don’t always unfold according to plan.

TikTok user Nate (@nate.fromcarolina) and his buddy, Raleigh, documented their misadventures in a video that has since gone viral. The dynamic duo, masters of DIY (or so they thought), spent a whopping 7 hours attempting to fit a new radio into their car’s dashboard. Seven hours! That’s longer than it takes to watch two Lord of the Rings movies.

After their marathon installation session, Nate and Raleigh were ready to bask in the glory of their accomplishment. They sat in the front seats, eager to experience the fruits of their labor. However, as Nate turned the key in the ignition, the car seemed to express its “disdain” for its new electronic companion. Instead of the engine roaring to life like a majestic lion, something peculiar happened.

Nate, in a fit of laughter tinged with existential dread, exclaimed, “Why does my clutch work the starter?”

Somehow, he had inadvertently given the car’s anatomy a surreal makeover. The clutch pedal, typically responsible for engaging and disengaging the transmission, had taken on a new role as the conductor of the starter motor symphony. Raleigh, powerless to rein in his amusement at the absurdity of the situation, executed a tactical retreat and bailed from the vehicle, perhaps to dodge any further mechanical pandemonium or to avoid asphyxiating from his own laughter. As expected…he burst into a fit of laughter that he had to clutch the windshield for dear life.

The TikTok community wasted no time in chiming in with their knee-jerk reactions. Some users couldn’t resist highlighting the painfully self-evident: If it takes you 7 hours to wrangle a radio into submission, you might want to re-evaluate your DIY delusions of grandeur. Others chimed in with their own tales of garage misadventures that began as “easy-peasy” jobs but snowballed into Homeric odysseys of trial and error. One user finally asked: Did the radio actually work? That was the whole point of this endeavor, wasn’t it? We can only hope that after rewiring the car’s nervous system, the radio at least had the decency to play some tunes.

But what exactly went wrong? One user put forth a plausible explanation, positing that Nate and Raleigh had somehow jury-rigged constant power to the starter circuit.

In a normal car, the starter motor is responsible for turning over the engine, allowing it to start. The clutch pedal, on the other hand, is used to disengage the transmission from the engine, allowing for smooth gear changes. These two systems are meant to work independently. However, in Nate and Raleigh’s case, by somehow routing constant power to the starter circuit, they’ve made it so that the starter is always ready to go. The only thing holding it back is the clutch safety switch, which is designed to prevent the starter from engaging when the clutch pedal is not depressed.

But hey, let’s give credit where credit is due! At least our intrepid duo didn’t elevate their DIY prowess to the level of this TikToker who nearly performed an impromptu engine-ectomy on their car. Nor did they start yanking wires with the reckless abandon of a trapeze artist on a caffeine bender.