Manual transmission in low...

S

SuzukiGS750EZ

Joined
Dec 30, 2008
Messages
4,563
So my girlfriend just got her license. i was telling her the other day how low gear is used for going up steep hills, or going down hills to save wear on the brakes. It's an automatic. 2003 toyota corolla. Anyways, i put the car in low and had her go up the hill, she started out going slow, i then concentrated on the road. She apparently got on the gas and the car sounded like it was revving high. So i put it in second, waited until the car dropped into second, then put it into drive. Do you think it did any damage? It was maybe 10 seconds or so. Just wondering, it isn't our car!
 
No, the vehicle has a rev limiter and will not allow you to "over do it"
 
thats what i thought but i didnt know because it sounded like the car was going to wind out, and keep going! And i didnt know if my panicked shifting did anyting lol
 
SuzukiGS750EZ said:
So my girlfriend just got her license. i was telling her the other day how low gear is used for going up steep hills, or going down hills to save wear on the brakes. It's an automatic. 2003 toyota corolla. Anyways, i put the car in low and had her go up the hill, she started out going slow, i then concentrated on the road. She apparently got on the gas and the car sounded like it was revving high. So i put it in second, waited until the car dropped into second, then put it into drive. Do you think it did any damage? It was maybe 10 seconds or so. Just wondering, it isn't our car!
Click to expand...

Probably not. If you rev to high it just cuts out the engine to stop the pistons blowing through the head.

With an automatic the only time I would ever consider putting it into "Low" or 1, 2 gear is when I know I'm going to need it. That would be very steep uphills, or muddy / rocky / unstable terrain conditions. I would never put the car into 1 / 2 even 3 going down hill to "save wear on brakes."

I'm not sure when the last time you checked was, but transmissions cost a whole hell of a lot more then brake pads.

If you want to engine brake, get a manual and learn to drive. Automatics teach you nothing about how the engine is actually working. Getting a feel for it is much easier in a manual.
 
Josh K said:
Probably not. If you rev to high it just cuts out the engine to stop the pistons blowing through the head.

With an automatic the only time I would ever consider putting it into "Low" or 1, 2 gear is when I know I'm going to need it. That would be very steep uphills, or muddy / rocky / unstable terrain conditions. I would never put the car into 1 / 2 even 3 going down hill to "save wear on brakes."

I'm not sure when the last time you checked was, but transmissions cost a whole hell of a lot more then brake pads.

If you want to engine brake, get a manual and learn to drive. Automatics teach you nothing about how the engine is actually working. Getting a feel for it is much easier in a manual.
Click to expand...

We've tried manual, she's going to stick with an auto :-) she doesnt like standard.
 
SuzukiGS750EZ said:
We've tried manual, she's going to stick with an auto :-) she doesnt like standard.
Click to expand...

Honestly I think the standard transmission is an love it or hate it thing. I know people that profess to not mind, and they drive automatics.

After driving two standard transmission cars I don't think I'll ever go back. Granted now I don't drive but if (when) I do again it won't be an automatic.
 
So all in all, nothing happened to the transmission for the 10 seconds it was in first? I don't even know what it hit on the tach, just by sound id guess it was around 3 grand.
 
SuzukiGS750EZ said:
So all in all, nothing happened to the transmission for the 10 seconds it was in first? I don't even know what it hit on the tach, just by sound id guess it was around 3 grand.
Click to expand...

You could drive around all day at 3k in first, that's normal speeds.

I used to hit 6k before I even thought about shifting. No wonder I burned through my first car in nine months. :D
 
Going uphill in an automatic I generally leave it in high and let the vehicle decide when it needs to shift. I do sometimes hit the overdrive lockout button if the car is shifting repeatedly in-and-out of OD.

Downhill in the car, again I don't mess with it.
But the truck really likes to take off on downhills, on account of the weight perhaps, so I do downshift on steep low-speed downhills as not to ride the brake all the way down. On the interstate it's never necessary. I wish the truck was a manual...

No, I don't think you need to worry about ten seconds of low gear in a modern Camry. ;)

I used to hit 6k before I even thought about shifting. No wonder I burned through my first car in nine months.
Click to expand...
The Honda redlines at 9,000 rpm. It's perfectly acceptable to make every shift at 8500 or more. In fact she likes it. :D Except you'll find yourself doing 90mph in third gear...

We've tried manual, she's going to stick with an auto :-) she doesnt like standard.
Click to expand...
Still, it's something worth learning.
 
Bob W said:
The Honda redlines at 9,000 rpm. It's perfectly acceptable to make every shift at 8500 or more. In fact she likes it. :D Except you'll find yourself doing 90mph in third gear...
Click to expand...

My Civic (first car) cut out at ~7.2k.

Bob W said:
Except you'll find yourself doing 90mph in third gear...
Click to expand...

Been there, done that, have the busted car to prove it. :) Putting the shift point at 6.5 I hit 31 in 1st, 62 in 2nd, 92 in 3rd, 110 in 4th, and 5th cuts out the engine.

I hated driving that lawnmower of a car. Except for the standard trans. That bit was fun. Everything else was sluggish.
 
+1 for a manual, I hate autos.

You have so much more control of the vehicle and it keeps your awareness higher because you always need to do something. I personally feel it should be a requirement in drivers training that you know how to operate a manual vehicle.

About your car, Factory motors are only putting out about 75% of full performance so messing them up is much harder than you think.
 
I've driven just about every transmission in the game (including pneumatic lenco boxes, a box I am running in my next project) and even with hills and such why on earth would you need to drop it to low? you can leave it in drive and it will do the same job, only time I've needed low was for towing or going through flood waters. In any normal driving situation, including high inclined roads I've never needed to take it out of drive.

I like auto, I like manual but I love a well setup tiptronic box...last year I did a custom electronic paddle shift on a Supra. :)

Regards,
Your average gasser/gear head.
 
for 99% of the population who drive automatic trans, there is no need to ever drive in anything but "D"...the very few occasions you may want to put it into Low or 2nd i won't talk about cuz it's not worth the typing effort; the 1% know when to do it...

you want to shift, get a manual trans...i drive both; primarily manual...but when i do use the auto it is a relief not to be shifting, especially in bumper to bumper traffic...
 
How fast was she going in low/1st gear? I have a jeep with a 5 speed manual transmission and I would never go any faster then 10 or 15 mph starting out from a stop sign, light or whatnot, before I'm shifting into second gear.

Same thing goes for downshifting, I would never downshift into 1st gear at any speed other than a full stop. In fact if you downshift to rapidly you can actually chirp the tires on dry pavement or go into a skid on wet or snowy roads. Slowing the vehicles wheels faster than the motor or transmission isn't a good thing to save hundred dollar brakes on a thousand dollar transmission.
 
Agree with pilot, as for damage? If you had it, you would already know it.

I have accidently miss-shifted in the quarter mile twice and using DSMlink seen my RPMs hit 9500 on a stock engine 96 eclipse with a FP BT28 back in early 2000. Still runs, dam fine too, back in 2004 I ran a 12.18@116. I want to start working on it again, but I have my money going to other investments right now... like survival preps and my house. Food, water, chem gear. knives, Guns, ammo, knowledge, solar power, wood burning stove, etc. But soon I want to tear her apart any try for a mid to low 10 using a GT35R and a decently built engine. With how craptastic everything is going, doubt I will ever be able to do it, but I hope too.
 
SuzukiGS750EZ said:
So my girlfriend just got her license. i was telling her the other day how low gear is used for going up steep hills, or going down hills to save wear on the brakes. It's an automatic. 2003 toyota corolla. Anyways, i put the car in low and had her go up the hill, she started out going slow, i then concentrated on the road. She apparently got on the gas and the car sounded like it was revving high. So i put it in second, waited until the car dropped into second, then put it into drive. Do you think it did any damage? It was maybe 10 seconds or so. Just wondering, it isn't our car!
Click to expand...

:foot: You may be well intentioned but, apparently poorly informed. When you say "hill", how steep and how long? I've driven 100K+ miles some years and the only time I needed to downshift was in a pickup loaded very heavily with a trailer that had no brakes out West in a long 8 degree downhill stretch .... :eek:

If your car is really underpowered and "hunting" between gears, locking out OverDrive is about as far as anyone needs to go.

Regarding "saving wear and tear on the brakes", it is really a false sense of economy. Front brakes on an import car are pretty cheap if you replace the pads when they are worn out (if you let things get into the discs/calipers all bets are off). Wear and tear running your engine at redline is a lot more expensive.

The good news is that ~10 seconds at redline in a sound engine isn't destructive - at worst just a brief high wear run like you would see at a drag strip.
 
Just a heads up, ff the revs were induced by hitting the gas, the rev limiter will kick in. You can however exceed this limit mechanically by shifting into too low of a gear when moving too fast. A rev limiter is an electronic feature that won't do you any good in that case.
 
Sid Post said:
If your car is really underpowered and "hunting" between gears, locking out OverDrive is about as far as anyone needs to go.
Click to expand...

Depends on the car and the tranny. There are some 4 speed autos that hunt for the right gear on windy hills. Setting it in 3, or even 2 on a really nasty grade can be worth it.
 
STAGE 2 said:
Depends on the car and the tranny. There are some 4 speed autos that hunt for the right gear on windy hills. Setting it in 3, or even 2 on a really nasty grade can be worth it.
Click to expand...

What car today comes with a four speed trans?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top