Ok to shift gears manually with an A4?

[PrtyBrd94]

but what i'm asking is. why is it bad to downshift without throttle. i'm just curious.

[Fusion]

I'm wondering the same thing PrtyBrd is to. WHY you go up that high all the time while driving....?

[V6Maniac]

Ok, I have a question. Some of my friends tell me to shift manually when I race. I told them my car will go to redline just by putting it in drive but they insisted the 1 - 4 in drive is different than manually putting it in 1 2 d [d]. Is that true or is there really no difference?

[PrtyBrd94]

I've noticed a difference. 1 - 2 isn't any different, but after that, you can hold the gears longer and the shifts are harder. at least in my car. i could wrong. [img]smile.gif[/img] hope this helped.

[Silver_Bullit]

Whats faster to keep your car in D or OD, when your going around 60 to 100? But if I am messing with someone go 60 or more I like it in OD cause it has alot of kick to it. I got into an argument about this question and would love for someone to answer it for me.

[99Camaro99]

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by PrtyBrd94:
but what i'm asking is. why is it bad to downshift without throttle. i'm just curious.<hr></blockquote>

don't ya feel the car buck real hard when you do that? That would mean it's bad. If you want to bring it down slowly from say 2,500RPMs like that...fine...just give it the gas...downshift it manually...and then gradually let off the gas. It's similar to riding on the highway and letting off the gas. If you're like me...you're doing 90MPH@3000RPMs so you let off the gas and it's still riding down nice and slow through the gears...so Dom...what's the problem...it's just being done in a different gear than the OD.

[ May 27, 2002: Message edited by: 99Camaro99 ]</p>

[DominusEtDeusNatus]

If you guys want to manually shift your trans, it's fine with me. [img]smile.gif[/img] Just don't be telling everyone to do it. It's one thing to cause harm to your own car, but another to say to someone else that it's ok. If you want to look cool like you have a manual, then why did you buy an auto in the first place? With a shift kit, the trans downshifts very fast. You don't press the gas and wait wait. Your trans must be messed up from all those downshifts you did. Even my no shift kit trans takes less then a second. You will not downshift any faster. The moment I hit WOT, it's already in lower gear. When I had a slipping trans it did shift slow. So you must have ruined it will all those manual downshifts. Time for a rebuild. Then you'll see how a trans is supposed to shift like. [img]smile.gif[/img]

What's the reason for doing this?

[C.Palmer]

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Whats faster to keep your car in D or OD, when your going around 60 to 100? But if I am messing with someone go 60 or more I like it in OD cause it has alot of kick to it. I got into an argument about this question and would love for someone to answer it for me.<hr></blockquote>

OD= fuel economy. It's an oversized gear your car will go into to drop RPM's and increase mileage. If you're racing, it should be off. With this in mind, take your car out on the road and hold a steady speed of about 40-50 and turn OD on and off and watch your RPM gauge. when you switch into OD, RPM's should drop and the car will feel a bit more sluggish. I've never driven an auto V6 f-body before.. just a 30th ani Z28, dodge avenger, eclipse, sebring, 99' 3.2TL, and trucks. OD is the same basic concept in all cars... SAVE GAS.

[RaVeN1469]

Well I like to work my *****. My car redlines at 40 and 80ish 1st and 2nd respectivley. If I'm running into a good turn thats below 40 I'll drop it into 1st even at 4k (decided to check the rpm's when I downshift and they barely hit over 4), but I'll give it gas so it's a rather smooth transition. That way you've got instant acceleration at any second all the way through the turn and your pushing hard out of the turn and have more than enough momentum into 2nd. My tranny is probably a little more abused than it should be but I love it. I love having a nice roaring smooth down shift from any speed. Yeah when I started doing it the downshifts were jerky and probably causeing damage, but even though I know absolutley nothing about trannies I think that if you do it right theres minimal damage. I think that what would be causing damage is the weight and momentum of the car putting pressure on the drivetrain and engine going the wrong way and running at high rpms (torques everything the opposite way). If you downshift you'll notice that your engine runs at certain rpm range between no gas and full throttle in a specific gear. If you can give it the right amount of gas to drop it into the upper portion of that range then slowly let off I would assume theres little damage if any at all. I know really nothing of how parts work this is just my assumption so if you don't agree with it then good for you cause I have no way of backing this up.

[ May 27, 2002: Message edited by: RaVeN1469 ]

[ May 29, 2002: Message edited by: RaVeN1469 ]</p>

[Bird_Of_Prey]

I have to agree with Dom on this. Manually downshifting an automatic trans is not good. Let your PCM do it's job, which is to save your trans and engine from catastrophic failure. When you manually downshift, your building much more heat in the trans if you use it as an engine brake. HEAT is what kills most transmissions!!!!! The cooler you can run your trans, the longer it will last, same thing with switching the fluid on a regular basis. Remember, HEAT IS VERY BAD FOR TRANSMISSIONS. You all knows what happens when you overheat an engine, well the same principle applies to transmissions.

Tom

[RaVeN1469]

How often should you change tranny fluid? I'm actually thinking of a tranny cooler due to how much I screw with it.

[99Camaro99]

Bird of Prey and Raven both serve valid points. I do what Raven does with the downshifting for instant power...but I won't downshift it if I know the car will hit 5K RPMs :eek:

I DON'T SEE A PROBLEM DOING THIS UP TO A CERTAIN RPM BECAUSE if you're travelling in OD on the highway at say 90MPH (3,000RPMs) and you let off the gas, that's doing the same as say...keeping the car in 2nd at 45MPH (3,000RPMs) and then letting off the gas. Now why is the second example bad and not the first. Someone please answer this.

[F1GT]

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by PrtyBrd94:
How about hittin the gas, then shifting right after that. It seems to be quicker, and plus, you can hold the gear long and get a jump off the shifts. I don't see what it hurts as long as you're not hittin 1st at 60. If you know how to drive a manual (working the rpms and everything), then I can't think of why it would hurt. anything for more speed and lower times.<hr></blockquote>

Might as well go for a neutral drop... :rolleyes:

[F1GT]

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by 99Camaro99:
you guys don't worry about it...AS LONG AS you give it WOT or something close to it while downshifting the car manually, you won't have a problem. Downshifting it WITHOUT giving it throttle IS BAD. The highest RPMs I'll ever let it ride down from is 2,500RPMs...and that's usually in a parking lot cuz it draws attention to me and it makes that gurggling, "backfire-type" sound that the old V8s make. [img]smile.gif[/img] <hr></blockquote>

Okay, so when I'm going down the hill I'll be sure to romp on the gas before I downshift.
:rolleyes:
When you guys go to repair your trannies, you will know why they are called autos. You are basically killing your clutch discs.

[PrtyBrd94]

How about before coming on here and puttin up your little rolly eyed smiley face, you explain your comments? that would be much more helpful. thanks.