Is it easy to misshift on the TSX 6 speed tranny?
#1
Racer
Thread Starter
Is it easy to misshift on the TSX 6 speed tranny?
It seems there is a lot of resistance when you move the stick from left to right but easy snicks into the gear. I have never shifted fast in this car because i am still pretty amateur. anybody else almost have this problem while stretching the TSX's muscles?
#6
Racer
Thread Starter
weird, once i was at a full stop and i couldn't go into 1st gear like it was locked out" AT A FULL STOP"? so i kept jiggling the stick around and it finally let me get into gear, anybody have that problem?
#7
Senior Moderator
Originally Posted by Un-Kut
weird, once i was at a full stop and i couldn't go into 1st gear like it was locked out" AT A FULL STOP"? so i kept jiggling the stick around and it finally let me get into gear, anybody have that problem?
Ya. As your tranny gets worked in, going into 1st will become easier. But sometimes you will get a "teeth on teeth" situation. I posted about this a while ago.
http://www.acura-tsx.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6818
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#8
Photography Nerd
You might also want to change your grip on the knob when you are shifting between gears. This is going to be tough for me to explain in text so bare with me here...
Upshifting
1-2: Palm facing you, pull down and left
2-3: Palm facing passenger, push up and right
3-4: Pam facing the back of the car, pull straight back
4-5: Palm facing passenger, push up and right
5-6: Palm facing passenger, pull down and right
Downshifting
6-5: Palm facing passenger, push up and right
5-4: Palm facing passenger, pull down and left
4-3: Palm facing front of car, push straight forward
3-2: Palm facing you, pull down and left
2-1: Palm facing you, push up and left
If you make every shift like this, even in daily driving, it will become engrained into your muscle memory and you'll be able to shift with confidence under pressure.
The hand position will help "block out" the wrong gears so you don't accidentally pull a money shift!
Upshifting
1-2: Palm facing you, pull down and left
2-3: Palm facing passenger, push up and right
3-4: Pam facing the back of the car, pull straight back
4-5: Palm facing passenger, push up and right
5-6: Palm facing passenger, pull down and right
Downshifting
6-5: Palm facing passenger, push up and right
5-4: Palm facing passenger, pull down and left
4-3: Palm facing front of car, push straight forward
3-2: Palm facing you, pull down and left
2-1: Palm facing you, push up and left
If you make every shift like this, even in daily driving, it will become engrained into your muscle memory and you'll be able to shift with confidence under pressure.
The hand position will help "block out" the wrong gears so you don't accidentally pull a money shift!
#9
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Originally Posted by fdl
Ya. As your tranny gets worked in, going into 1st will become easier. But sometimes you will get a "teeth on teeth" situation. I posted about this a while ago.
http://www.acura-tsx.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6818
http://www.acura-tsx.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6818
#10
Senior Moderator
Originally Posted by Dan Martin
You might also want to change your grip on the knob when you are shifting between gears. This is going to be tough for me to explain in text so bare with me here...
Upshifting
1-2: Palm facing you, pull down and left
Upshifting
1-2: Palm facing you, pull down and left
I find that a straight down (palm facing back of car) 1-2 is smoothest.
#12
Photography Nerd
Originally Posted by fdl
I find that a straight down (palm facing back of car) 1-2 is smoothest.
#13
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Originally Posted by xizor
Honda's are very very hard to shift into first when you're moving. happens in my accord, tsx and friend's prelude, but there's little if any reason to shift into first when moving anyways. i wouldn't worry about it being hard, its there to protect your gears.
#14
Senior Moderator
Originally Posted by Dan Martin
The motion is mostly a straight pull back. The palm facing you and slight pressure to the left is to prevent an accidental 1-4 shift.
#15
Shifting is pretty easy, just build up time before you start shifting fast so you don't do a 4-3 on hard acceleration. Took some time for me to get the 5-6 down because I was gun-shy since I kept thinking 6th was reverse. No longer a problem though. Good thing about the notchy gearbox is that it provides a good feel and thunk when you are in a gear and if it doesn't feel right- for the love of humanity do not let the clutch out!
#18
nader-tsx
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Quick question guys, I've had my manual trans tsx for about 2 months now and I still have a bit of trouble with the initial take off after a stop. At first I would try to find the friction point, then give it some gas to take off. This resulted in numerous stalls the first couple weeks. Then I started giving it gas, then lifting off the clutch and sort of riding the clutch so to say. This is a little better I've found 'cause I don't stall, but it can be a shaky start and lots of rattle noise. I think the rattle occurs when I don't give it enough gas so its struggling to get started.
Just wondering what you guys do off the line to get the smoothest start.
Just wondering what you guys do off the line to get the smoothest start.
#19
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I've found with my TSX - only 7k miles thus far - that you just give it more throttle than you may be used to. The DBW seems to make a big difference compared to all the other manual trannies I've driven my whole life (I did have an automatic hand-me-down when I was in college - that was a sad couple years).
I learned on a '77 Fiat 124 Spyder and an '83 Jeep Renegade, both very different from each other. The Fiat was forgiving but the clutch pedal was really long. The box itself was, well, horrid. The Jeep had a normal pedal but wicked short engagement way up high, which made for some crazy starts with all the torque. The 4-on-the-floor was of course god-awful. Then I moved to my '91 Accord Coupe which was super easy. When I sold it to get my TSX it had 206k miles and the original clutch.
I learned on a '77 Fiat 124 Spyder and an '83 Jeep Renegade, both very different from each other. The Fiat was forgiving but the clutch pedal was really long. The box itself was, well, horrid. The Jeep had a normal pedal but wicked short engagement way up high, which made for some crazy starts with all the torque. The 4-on-the-floor was of course god-awful. Then I moved to my '91 Accord Coupe which was super easy. When I sold it to get my TSX it had 206k miles and the original clutch.
#20
Originally Posted by nader-tsx
....but it can be a shaky start and lots of rattle noise. I think the rattle occurs when I don't give it enough gas so its struggling to get started......
#21
Photography Nerd
Unfortunately, describing how to drive a manual car is kind of like telling someone how to ride a bike. It's very difficult to describe in words but it sounds like you're starting to get the hang of it. Don't worry about wearing out the clutch. If you worry, it will only make you drive worse.
It sounds like you just need to give it a little more gas when you're letting out the clutch. I usually rev to 1500 or 2000 rpm as I let the clutch out. Practice adding throttle at the friction point to smooth things out.
If you still don't have it figured out, I highly recommend taking a half day class at a driving school that specializes in teaching on manuals. There's a great school in the Toronto area called Shifters but there must be a similar school in your area.
Edit: Clutch beat me to the "riding a bike" annalogy.
It sounds like you just need to give it a little more gas when you're letting out the clutch. I usually rev to 1500 or 2000 rpm as I let the clutch out. Practice adding throttle at the friction point to smooth things out.
If you still don't have it figured out, I highly recommend taking a half day class at a driving school that specializes in teaching on manuals. There's a great school in the Toronto area called Shifters but there must be a similar school in your area.
Edit: Clutch beat me to the "riding a bike" annalogy.
#22
nader-tsx
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Thanks for all the info guys. Yeah I think I was just not giving it enough gas (I tried to keep the tach at around 1000 rpm when letting the clutch go) I noticed it was smoother using more gas, but was afraid it was bad for the clutch. But seems like you need to give it around 2k rpm off the start so I'll jus keep that in mind.
#23
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Originally Posted by nader-tsx
Thanks for all the info guys. Yeah I think I was just not giving it enough gas (I tried to keep the tach at around 1000 rpm when letting the clutch go) I noticed it was smoother using more gas, but was afraid it was bad for the clutch. But seems like you need to give it around 2k rpm off the start so I'll jus keep that in mind.
i think it's not a "need". when in traffic, i want to start slow... so as i slowly let the clutch out, i keep it at around only 750rpm, and feels no jerky and it was smooth. therefore i believe there is no requirement that you have to give it 2000 always. if you give 2000, you can let go of the clutch faster (smoothly of course), but for 750 like i did, you have to let go of it slower (in order to not stall and smooth). so IMO, you let your clutch too fast, that's why when you give too few gas, it will jerk.
my personal belief in this whole thing during my experience: more gas you give, faster you can let go of your clutch .. less gas, slower motion of clutch releasing... this is for acheiving the smoothness i desire...
please correct me if i am wrong as i would obviously want to learn the right way for the long-term benefits for my car and my future driving experience..
#24
Photography Nerd
Sounds like you've got it figured out wingwing. You're right, it's not always 2000 rpm and it definitely depends on how fast you release the clutch. While I was picking up lunch today I paid attention to how I get rolling. I'm only on the clutch for a second or so and it's always a constant motion of releasing the clutch and adding throttle. The clutch pedal is never stopped in one place.
For normal city driving I rarely go over 1500rpm for the launch but if I'm going up hill i might take it to 2000.
For normal city driving I rarely go over 1500rpm for the launch but if I'm going up hill i might take it to 2000.
#25
6th gear to 2nd gear???hahha
I know this is not good thing to say but i might give some info to yall. When i first bought the car....hahaha i was racing with an accord going around 80...couldnt see if it was v6 or not. I was at 6th gear and trying to shift down to 4th and got caught in 2th gear and as soon as i let go of the clutch for a quick half sec. god dang...i thought that was it...my brand new TSX but nothing appeared to be wrong. I gotta give it to ACURA...they make their car strong. I know this is dumb that i didnt learn my lesson but i did it again 6th to 2nd for the second time . Still, driving like a champ...nothing wrong with the tranny. That was months ago haha..i dont do it anymore though.
#26
Senior Moderator
Originally Posted by nguyenzpry
I know this is not good thing to say but i might give some info to yall. When i first bought the car....hahaha i was racing with an accord going around 80...couldnt see if it was v6 or not. I was at 6th gear and trying to shift down to 4th and got caught in 2th gear and as soon as i let go of the clutch for a quick half sec. god dang...i thought that was it...my brand new TSX but nothing appeared to be wrong. I gotta give it to ACURA...they make their car strong. I know this is dumb that i didnt learn my lesson but i did it again 6th to 2nd for the second time . Still, driving like a champ...nothing wrong with the tranny. That was months ago haha..i dont do it anymore though.
Did you see how high your rpms went?
#29
Originally Posted by fdl
The only shift you might want to be a little careful with is 5-6. A lazy shift might put you into 4th, which isnt that big of a deal anyways.
Downshifts into 4th strike me as most likely one's to miss in the TSX. If I was doing this blind in a 6-speed I think I would just briefly release the shifter after pulling it out of 5th or 5th so that it automatically centers between the 3rd gear and 4th gear gates and then pull straight down.
#32
Photography Nerd
The only time I can ever see a reason to skip 5th is if you were cruising in 6th but suddenly you needed to accelerate in a hurry.
For cornering you want to do all the braking and downshifting before you enter the corner so that you can maximize lateral grip. If you were coming up to a corner in 6th you would brake and downshift down to 5th then to 4th as the revs allow. That way you can hold a constant throttle position through the corner (neither accelerating or braking) and be in the right gear at the apex of the corner for accelerating out of it.
For cornering you want to do all the braking and downshifting before you enter the corner so that you can maximize lateral grip. If you were coming up to a corner in 6th you would brake and downshift down to 5th then to 4th as the revs allow. That way you can hold a constant throttle position through the corner (neither accelerating or braking) and be in the right gear at the apex of the corner for accelerating out of it.
#33
I was trying to go to 4th not 2nd ....but you know i was trying to shift quick and didnt pay attention..got caught in 2nd at 80mph the RPM went all the way past the red section past the 9x.
#35
Originally Posted by fdl
Did you see how high your rpms went?
#36
Originally Posted by Dan Martin
Do yourself a favor and go to 5th before 4th.
When I'm crusing in 6th on city streets, then come up to a corner, a few yards before the corner, I engine brake in 4th (let car slow down as I setp on the brake), then get into third as I accelerate away from the corner.
If I try to shift into 5th the RPM's will be so low that shifting into that gear before 4th would not do any good.
#37
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Originally Posted by loxllxol
Is this bad for your tranny or somethin?
.
.
#38
Originally Posted by loxllxol
Is this bad for your tranny or somethin?
When I'm crusing in 6th on city streets, then come up to a corner, a few yards before the corner, I engine brake in 4th (let car slow down as I setp on the brake), then get into third as I accelerate away from the corner.
If I try to shift into 5th the RPM's will be so low that shifting into that gear before 4th would not do any good.
When I'm crusing in 6th on city streets, then come up to a corner, a few yards before the corner, I engine brake in 4th (let car slow down as I setp on the brake), then get into third as I accelerate away from the corner.
If I try to shift into 5th the RPM's will be so low that shifting into that gear before 4th would not do any good.
#40
If you want to shift from 6th to 4th, you don't need to pull the lever to the left. Just push it up into the neutral zone then pull it straight down. Let the centering mechanism do the work for you otherwise you'll force yourself to make an error.
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