On 96 3.2tl do you have to press down on the shift knob when switching gears? The only reason I ask is because I am able to switch gears without pushing the knob down except from Reverse to Park and I don't want to do anything I shouldn't.

 

I have a 97 2.5 and I only have to press to go R<->P and 2->1. Don't worry though, going to D3 or N won't hurt anything. In my car you can throw it into R at 50MPH and nothing will happen. Gotta love computers

 

It's like that on purpose to allow quick changes between D4, D3, and N. It's also to prevent you from downshifting to 1 by accident, or shifting into reverse by accident. You'll see it says "push ^" with an arrow or something. It works very well if you want to start in 1, and shift through yourself to 2, 3, and finally 4. It's not quite sport shift since it only limits the top gear you go into, but if you do this, you can even hit the fuel cutoff in every gear (not like i've tried it! okay maybe I have)

I'm guessing the 3.2 is the same as the 2.5.

 

You have hit the fuel cutoff in 4th? I've only hit it in 1st, 2nd, 3rd (all times trying to slow down nice and fast). Go from 4th to 2nd when you are up around 80mph, pair it with the brakes, you feel like your gonna go through the windshield.

 

pardon the question but fuel cutoff.....can anyone explain this?

 

Thanks for the info everyone. I truely appreciate it

 

Fuel cutoff is rev limiter. Prevents damage from the engine from over-revving by cutting off the fuel supply.

 

Yeah, but it doesn't limit the physical movement of the engine by downshifting too far at too high a speed.....so watch out when playing with the tranny like that! But yeah, dropping even one gear can REALLY help slow you down. I would hesitate to be doing this all the time though as our tranny's were not meant to be used as sport shift style ones.

 

Yeah, don't be too harsh on these trannies, they are meant to be smooth and reliable but not "paddle shift" tough, dont push 'em