Trouble Shifting Into Second Gear

BosnianLanos · Post by **BosnianLanos** » Thu Feb 23, 2006 12:19 am

No, don't worry, everything is excellent with the transmission in the new Lanos, I'm just a complete idiot when it comes to driving it.

I've had 25 minutes of practice on a manual transmission in my whole life and I was out on the road almost immediately after I bought the car.

I finally got the whole "give it gas and let the clutch out slowly" deal when starting, until that was mastered, traffic was a nightmare full of jerks, stutters, and plenty of stalls. Now that that is solved, On to second gear!

Shifting into third, fourth, and fifth is very smooth, even for a pure novice such as myself, but shifting into second defeats me. I try to shift out of first into second as smoothly as possible, but regardless of my best intentions, the car ends up being jerky and sloppy and quite comical. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong. I'm fully depressing the clutch and letting up on the gas as (I think) should be done, but it is futile. I've heard people saying "match the engine speed to the road speed" but that means nothing to me.

Does anyone have any pointers on how to properly shift so that my car doesn't rattle to pieces?

This is the most n00btastic question ever, but thanks!

Audacity Racing · Post by **Audacity Racing** » Thu Feb 23, 2006 12:37 am

blip the throttle when you shift, see if that helps out. i've never driven a sport tranny, so no idea where the shift points are

MMamdouh · Post by **MMamdouh** » Thu Feb 23, 2006 12:41 am

it means to let the engine rev as fast as it is supposed to when the 2nd gear is engaged so that if you pop the clutch the car doesn't jump firward or brake... you won't get this except by practicing it more and more.

whats with the manual tranny anyways?? i thought your woo was an auto

MMamdouh

daewoomofo · Post by **daewoomofo** » Thu Feb 23, 2006 12:42 am

his sport is a manual, 4 door an auto.

lanos2001 · Post by **lanos2001** » Thu Feb 23, 2006 12:44 am

well are you talking about shifting from 1st to 2nd? or downshifting from like 4th to 2nd in like a turn?

either way goin into 2nd from 1st should be easy. only thing i can think about is your either just not giving enough gas or too much. you just really have to play with it. and a rule of thumb i go by when down shifting is like you said to match the gear with speed. well not exactly really. say your goin like 45 in 4th gear and turning onto another road and slow down to about 25 or so just shift it into third.

you know what basically if your downshifting heres the list that i go by in my head.

1st gear- only when your at a complete stop

2nd gear- below 20mph

3rd gear- 20mph-35mph

4th gear- well this is just to pick up speed on highways really as long as its under like 80mph.

5th gear- can't downshift to this.

hope this helps and of course give or take about 5mph either way. just whatever your comfortable with.

nick

BosnianLanos · Post by **BosnianLanos** » Thu Feb 23, 2006 12:44 am

As in, depress clutch, shift to second, tap throttle, and let back on the clutch?

I really need a tach in this car. The 1.6L is an inherently loud engine, so @ 3500 RPM it sounds like 6000. I've been driving without my radio to be able to hear the engine.

MMamdouh · Post by **MMamdouh** » Thu Feb 23, 2006 12:51 am

it is more in how fast you let go the clutch... if you did it too fast with the wrong engine RPM then the car will stutter a bit, practice more and you will get it.

when did you get a lanos sport?? did you get the red one you showed us??

MMamdouh

JohnnyC · Post by **JohnnyC** » Thu Feb 23, 2006 12:52 am

Ahhh... fear not... Everyone has to learn and it's good you're asking questions. Let's see if I can explain how I drive my stick (which might not be the best way but it's worked for me and I've never ruined a transmission yet).

When I'm starting off in first I just touch on the gas slightly just enough to raise the rpms a hair... I then slowly let out the clutch to 'feel' for when it begins to grab. When I start to feel it grabbing I give a little more gas to help it start moving as I'm continuing to release the clutch until it's fully released (I always try to at least lift my foot off the clutch so I'm not burning it out by riding on it all the time).

So I'm smoothly picking up speed in first for a few seconds. The engine RPMs are getting higher and higher until it's a nice steady purr... I then let off the gas a bit while I press in the clutch in (the amount varies but I don't usually hit the bottom of the clutch)... I then let the clutch out while I try to (as your friends said) match the RPM's of the engine with how fast I should be going with it in second... This usually results in a smooth transition to second gear. Let's see if I can explain what I mean by matching the RPM's...

My brain now does most of this without me thinking about it, so explaining it is kinda hard. More or less I have a general feel for each of the gears and what speed I would be using them at. All of the gears have a bit of overlap and depending on if I need a cruising gear or a acceleration gear, I choose accordingly. If I'm going from first to second and I'm going around 10mph, I know that second gear is going to be pretty low in the rpm's in second gear at 10mph so I don't need the rpms of the engine to be very high when I'm letting out the clutch in second. If I match the RPM's to the speed I'm going, there is no jerking motion at all. It's easier to match in 3rd, 4th, and 5th because the overlap of those gears is much greater then from 1st to 2nd.

I think most of your sputtering is from giving too much gas and raising the RPM's too high between 1st and 2nd. Reduce the amount of gas you're giving it and then clutch in, drop into second, and clutch out while applying the gas. You shouldn't be giving it extra gas until your foot is completely off the clutch.

A very good habit to have when you drive a stick is to keep your foot off the clutch unless you need it there. I usually rest mine on the floor so I'm not burning out my clutch by resting my foot on it all the time.

Don't worry though... you'll get a good feel for driving a stick really soon and your driving will be smooth as silk before long.

I hope this helps a bit... It's kinda hard for me to explain something that I do almost unconsciously.

BosnianLanos · Post by **BosnianLanos** » Thu Feb 23, 2006 12:58 am

Thanks a lot, that makes much more sense than what my friends told me. I will try it out tomorrow, hopefully with good results.

Slammed · Post by **Slammed** » Thu Feb 23, 2006 4:19 am

Also make sure you arent going into 4th !! I mean that is also what it sounds like your saying LOL