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Manually shifting an Auto

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Old May 5, 2004, 06:23 AM
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Manually shifting an Auto

I have heard everyone say something different on this topic. So if it safe for the car or not?

I have an auto and a lot of times when starting from a light or while autocrossing i use my other gears... will this cause problems?? Or is this healthy for the car. I am not redlining the car or anything, just shifting through from a start.
Old May 5, 2004, 06:34 AM
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truthfullly its a great idea while autocrossing...but its not good for our car...
Old May 5, 2004, 06:53 AM
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umm..ive done it too, but i wouldnt recommend it. i cant picture it being good for your car and honestly i dont notice much difference in acceleration.
Old May 5, 2004, 09:48 AM
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also another thing is last weekend i meet up with some fellow evom member and me and another guy try to test out which one is fast in the long run...the 03 oz auto or the manual
while i also manual shift....now it had rained out and the road was wet and for some reason i had a better run than him both times...
Old May 5, 2004, 09:56 AM
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i'm not too sure with the lancer. people on the site have said that its not good for the car. the only experience i've had/seen is my buddy's thunderbird. he use to manual shift his auto all the time. well time passed, and he completely blew out his 3rd gear. the car would stall going from 2nd to 4th (jumping 3rd gear completely). he didnt really care because he was looking for a new car anyways but....... in the end he had to get it fixed (lost his job so he had to keep the car while he went job hunting again). anyways his brother also manual shift his mustang..... he recently stopped because of what happend to his brother, but he mentioned to me that his auto tranny was starting to act up a little. nothing major, but every once in a while it kind of jerks hard.
Old May 6, 2004, 04:00 PM
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Manually shifting an auto is fine with drag racing. As long as you are shifting up. Downshifting in an auto is what will kill your trans.
Old May 6, 2004, 04:09 PM
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brian has it right. it is the downshifting that smokes the banks and such.

upshift is good.
Old May 11, 2004, 06:49 AM
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cool that is what i thought, i know that by shifting gears it limits how high a gear it will go in and let me shift at a higher rpm then the car normally would...but since there is no clutch there is no way for me to downshift without bogging the car and slowly killing the gears since there is nothing to help with the shifting of gears....yea!!! as long as nothing serious happens i am cool
Old May 11, 2004, 06:53 AM
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I leave mine in 3rd unless I go on the freeway. Tried second gear, but I blow thru it too quickly. But then again I redline the SHlT out of my car.
Old May 18, 2004, 04:03 PM
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I did this technique alot with my old 1995 Galant A/T. It was fun and it in a sense provided a better feel of power but little by little it was killing the tranny. IF you are using it and manually putting the gears at a high RPM constantly you are killing each gear and every other part associated...simply the A/T are designed for that much stress. Within about a year 1/2 I killed the tranny due manually shifting and the problematic issues of the cooling lines of 94-98 Galants clogging up causing the tranny to operate at very high heat...which is the enemy of any transmission.
Old May 18, 2004, 04:18 PM
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Yep, I killed my Trans Am tranny by doing that in the canyons.
Old May 18, 2004, 04:23 PM
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i smoked the tranny in my 240 volvo wagon by neutral drop into reverse then straight into D, while it smoked the tires i guess that wasnt good for the tranny hahahah
Old May 18, 2004, 04:32 PM
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so is it bad that I accelerate to red line while in drive?
Old May 18, 2004, 04:49 PM
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bad for your engine? naw, you could push it higher than that if the rev limiter was different.

bad for your gas mileage? you betcha
Old May 27, 2004, 06:56 PM
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Yeah, don't worry about manually shifting. Also, if somebody says 'just run in in 3rd the whole time', I don't believe it. Our tranny can keep up fairly well, so I had a better time leaving it in drive than anything else. Though, I suggest adding air filter, hyperground and the like (all valid for stock class) to boost your midrange torque, which should help keep it goin'


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