Sometimes I get the urge to skip a gear or two. Is there anything wrong with this practice?

1-3-5 or 1-2-3-6

 

Once in a while is fine, like going into 6th from fourth after the rpm's and speed are plenty high, but to make it a "practice" is not too good. Maybe an automatic would have suited you better?

 

Skip shifting will not hurt your car if practiced correctly. In fact my 99 Z28 had a built in skip shift which made me shift from 1st to 4th if the conditions were optimum. Just make sure you wind the rpms up high enough not to bog the engine down in the next gear. In the long run you will get better gas milieage. (or at least that was the case with the Z28).

 

I just picked this car up Saturday (August 14th). My Honda was an automatic. I really like the control over the car with the manual. Sometimes I don't need to run through every single gear. I had a friend with me the other day and he said that he didn't think it was good to skip gears. I don't see how it could possibly hurt the tranny. Of course I don't let the engine bog down. I don't skip a gear every time I drive my car, just sometimes get the urge.

So far, I have 1 yes and 1 no

 

I do it all the time actually from fourth to 6th because I get up to speed so quick (especially on on-ramps) that I can just cruise after that. So thats my answer. I dont think it will hurt anything ... I should probably use 5th more though ... whats everyone else think?

 

It seems like the difference in RPM requirements (for the lack of a better term) is so small between 5th and 6th gears that skipping 5th gear would be okay.. A couple times I'll get on a highway in 4th gear and forget to upshift to 5th or 6th because the engine just isn't sweating the 4500 RPMs!

Since 1st and 2nd gear have a lot more tourque behind them though (the difference in RPM requirements is a lot greater..), I'd be cautious about skipping second gear.



-Steve

 

That's pretty much what I was thinking.

 

There is nothing wrong with skipping gears as long as you do not over rev or under rev (lug) the engine. I normally skip gears, it should enhance the life of the clutch. I even will skip gears down shifting if I have used the brakes enough aproaching a light, then the light goes green, I can easily drop from 4th to 2nd accelerate through the light. This engine has a nice flat torque curve, so there is sufficient torque in almost any gear.

The only thing I worry about is going into 6th and missing and hitting reverse, so I normally go to 5th then 6th. I know there is a lock out to prevent going into reverse, but I would hate to have it not work once

 

I skip gears all the time. What on earth could it hurt?

3rd - 6th.
5th - 2nd
1st - 3rd
etc

 

Maybe your wallet when your engine goes on strike!

-Steve

 

There is nothing inherently wrong with short shifting (the 'technical' term for skipping gears).

Your car doesn't 'know' what gear you were in before you shift into the next one.

The only potential drawback is minor additional wear on the hub selector or synchros from having to match a larger difference in RPM. If you blip the throttle to match revs, there is no drawback at all to going 3-6 or 6-3.

On the 6MT, the car holds the RPM for the next higher gear for a second as a matter of course, so you may have to wait a second for it to drop even lower. Even if you don't match revs when you shift, the amount of wear you would get from the occasional short shift is negligible.

 

I used to double clutch to "trick" the syncros into thinking I shifted 4-5-6 when I went 4-6.

Seemed to help, but I'm not sure if it was just in my head.

 

how would any harm be done?

Its not like I'm loading the engine or anything and a shift from 2nd to 4th is only natural. Sometime 2nd to 5th if I'm on an exit ramp.

 

As I stated above:

The only potential drawback is minor additional wear on the hub selector and/or synchros from having to match a larger difference in RPM.

A five-speed transmission applies one of five different gear ratios to the input shaft to produce a different rpm value at the output shaft.

A synchro's purpose is to allow the collar and the gear to make frictional contact before the dog teeth make contact. This lets the collar and the gear synchronize their speeds before the teeth need to engage. The hub selector and synchros get the two shafts to spin at the same speed so they engage each other properly. They allow you to simply shift gears without matching revs, because the shafts spin at the same speed. If you didn't have synchros, you would have to double clutch and match revs or you would grind your transmission up.

If you are going to shift from 1-2, the revs will drop from 6500 to 4000 RPM, for example, so if you don't match revs, the synchros and hub selector have to make up that difference in shaft rotation speed. If you shift 1-3 and go from 6500 to 2500, they have to do more work.

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/transmission.htm

 

Skipping gears from any to any while downshifting or upshifting is harmless if and only if matched with the proper RPM. If you are getting jerks, your RPM is not right. I do skip all the time on my 6MT.

 

These are the answers I hoped to hear...I didn't think there was any problem, just wanted to see what you thought.

04TLMan- I wouldn't worry about hitting reverse going from 4th gear to 6th- I don't think it's at all possible.

 

 

As you can tell, Steve, we are all dying to know just what it is that would make your engine go on strike . . .

Can you tell us what you were thinking?

Were you thinking?

 

In my TL I regularly shift 1-2-4-6, skipping 3rd & 5th and my car isn't over-revved nor does it bog.
I figure in the long run you'll save wear and tear on both the clutch and engine.

I've skipped gears in my last two sticks and driven them 160k+ and 150k+ miles on the original cluthes and both were still running well when I sold them.

 

You can go up and down any gear as long as you stay under redline while going down and enough torque to pull the car when going up. If you want to smooth things out then rev match or double clutch if not then let the syncros do the work - it's there for a reason.

1-3-5 or 1-2-3-6 is totally acceptable if you're getting off the line hard enough for the rpm to stay up while going from 1-3. Otherwise the engine will be under-torque and will make funny noise that could be bad for the engine.

 

the TL has an anti-reverse lock when the car is moving forward.

 

Skipping gears is fine as long as you don't lug the engine. In fact, the Corvette 6-speed forces a 1-4 shift unless you are depressing the go-pedal a certain amount.

 

there is absolutely NOTHING wrong with skipping gears, I agree w/ those who think the same. It's absurd to think otherwise.

 

Although I'm late to this discussion, I feel the same as many of the above posters. It is fine, as long as it is done appropriately (joganjani's description was perfect, if it was smooth...then it is probably ok...jerking or horrible sounds of a lugging engine is a pretty good indicator you are doing it wrong or at the wrong time).

Happy shifting!

 

Actually, the technical term is skip-shifting. Short shifting refers to driving in a spirited manner adn runnign through the gears very quickly, sometimes only doing a quick stab of the clutch while shifting very quickly.

 

I skip gears occasionally.....the reason you have 6 gears is so that you can always have a gear to suit your driving conditions....6 gears gives you more range than 4 so there is always a gear that will give you the "optimum" RPM range. Just because you have 6 gears doesn't mean you have to use them each time....but..don't lug the engine.....I often skip second gear, and sometimes go from 4th directly to 6 providing I've taken 4h to a sufficient RPM not to lug 6. I can't imagine this hurting the transmissiion.....actually...it might even save wear and tear on the clutch. If I'm wrong.....someone please tell me so......that's what this forum is all about.

 

It is not correct that there is a "best" gear for every speed. You also have to factor in what you want to *do*. Anybody driving down the highway, economically in sixth gear, knows that the best gear for power is a lower gear -- usually a lot lower.

Similarly, if you want to accelerate like the dickens to a specific speed, then your last shift will be from a power gear to an economy gear -- which is probably two or more gears away on a close ratio gearbox.

 

I'm late to the discussion, but I'll add my experience:

I drove a 1986 Integra from 1992-2004, from 65k to 244k miles. Regularly shifted 1-2-3-5. Replaced clutch ONE time in those 179k miles. My engine never went on strike.

 

I completely agree.