Hey guys who ever got a manual tl
i got a 2007 TLS when do you guys switch gears like when you go 40mph are you on 4th or 5th gear or when going 30 4th or 3rd

 

it all depends on how u drivin... just because ur doin 40 doesnt mean u HAVE 2 b in 4th/5th gear listen 2 ur engine, it lets u kno

i could b doin 20 and in 3rd, just depends if u r in a downhill or a suburb type of street

 

for me there isnt a preset on when exactly I shift, I base it all on the sound of the engine

 

there u go... thats how it is

 

I will watch the RPMs sometimes. If I'm not in a hurry, I will keep the RPM's below 2500 for the sake of gas. If I'm trying to get somewhere, I will spin it up. 30mph - 3rd gear, 40mph - 4th gear is stuff for people who are learning to drive a standard. It is easy for them. For the pros, they take the feel of the engine, the environment, speed, and timing into consideration on deciding when to shift.

 

I've been driving my TL for a while now...
I don't know when I shift.. it all just comes second nature to me now.
I suppose it just depends on driving habits along with road/traffic conditions.

When I'm doing spirited driving... I like to shift fast and punch the gas so I can hear the intake =]

 

To save gas, on a flat road, I would be doing 5 or even 6th gear going 40 MPH. However, going uphill, our car barely has the necessary torque to last in 5th gear going 40mpg.

 

for a beginner I would say shift between 2 and 3k RPM's to save gas and 3 to 5k RPM's when in a hurry, once you've had the vehicle for a while you will notice the engine sound and shift accordinly...one word of advise as I've read on this board more than once, be carefull when downshifting, especially between 5th to fourth, you don't go into 2nd and it will be "adios" engine...

 

Nice to know. I almost made that mistake on an accident avoidance maneuver one day shortly after I got my TL.

 

redline every gear....oops lol..... i mean around 3000rpm is a good switching point. i think they tell u that in the manual as well.

 

The sound of the engine will tell you about what RPM are at. On this motor you should be shifting only relative to how fast you want to accelerate. You must learn what the maximum speed (MPH) is in each respective gear (1-2-3-4-5-6) so that when you need the most acceleration at any speed you can know which gear is the minimum gear you can go to without over revving the motor. The J series motors are amazing as far as reliability goes. I have been beating on mine for 110,000 miles with a supercharger. I shift at redline at least once every time I drive it. The motor begs to be revved and you should not be scared to do it so long as you change the oil regularly. It is actually good practice to take your motor to redline every once in a while. It keeps things clear and the high temps associated with max RPM help remove deposits.

Bottom line is that you should keep the motor at less than 3500 RPM if you want to save as much gas as possible. If you don’t care about gas, learn the max MPH for each respective gear and when you want to accelerate like hell shift to the lowest gear whose max MPH (relative to redline(RPM)) is above your current speed (MPH). You will learn where the meat (torque) is in the RPM range and it is not always best to go to the lowest gear possible for max acceleration, sometimes it is better to go to the gear above it. You need to know about what the max is in each gear off the top of your head. In time it will become natural to you from all your senses mainly hearing the motor and knowing how fast you are going and what gear you are in. You should automatically know what gear you are in at any time just from hearing the car and knowing how fast you are going without actually looking at the speedometer. This car has a motor that you should not be afraid to enjoy. You cannot break it unless you over rev it. Also, if you want the synchronizers in the trans to last forever, do not slam the stick from one gear to another as fast as you can. Change gears smoothly. Let the motor do what it does with the gas pedal. The only reason to slam the stick between gears is to improve ET's at the drag strip, in a race, or evasive maneuvering. Hope that helps.

 

I try to keep it over 2,000 as a minimum

 

This is true. During any shift (upshifts in this discussion), the synchronizers have to work to match the speed of the gears connected to the input and lay shafts. All of this has mass and therefore, inertia which the synchros, acting like little clutches, try to equalize their speeds for a proper completion of the shift.

Also, if you do not know how to properly downshift, keep that to an absolute minimum since that is one of the two biggest causes of shortened clutch life.

 

Another thing is I never downshift to slow down the car. The reason is because it is a LOT easier to replace the brakes vs. the clutch. I see guys do it all the time like they are driving a truck or something. If you have Brembos up front, let 'em do their job.

 

This won't hurt your clutch if you know how to do it correctly. In fact starting off from a stop is harder on your clutch than a proper downshift.. quite a bit so.

 

^^^^ALL TRUE and GOOD POINTS

If you are going to be down-shifting to lower gears for more acceleration you MUST learn how to REV MATCH the engine to the gear you want to go too. Just as when you up-shift, you let the rpm's fall a bit before you dump the clutch in the next gear, you need to rev the engine higher before dumping the clutch when going to a lower gear.

Just as I said you need to know the max MPH for each gear at redline you need to know at about what RPM the engine will be at if you dump the clutch in ANY gear at ANY speed (MPH). Say you were cruising at 40mph in 4th gear at about 2,350rpm and wanted to down-shift to 2nd: press clutch, select 2nd gear(firmly but not forcefully), rev the engine steadily to about 4,600rpm (because we know at 40mph the engine should be at about 2/3's of redline since 60mph is about redline in 2nd), dump clutch, peg the accelerator to the floor and hold on. Instead of trying to hold the engine at a specific RPM before dumping the clutch you can just floor it and as the tachometer sweeps up to 4600rpm dump the clutch. The second method is quicker if you need the gear and max acceleration IMEDIATLY but it is harder on the drive terrain. You should know the more time you spend feathering the clutch between engaged and disengaged the quicker you wear out the clutch and the hotter you make it.

Just keep in mind that using the same logic as above if you were cruising at 100 mph in 4th gear at about 5,900rpm and down-shifted to 2nd and dumped the clutch you would end up at about with the motor at about 11,600rpm but the engine would never get there because it would come through the hood and out the bottom of the car before it ever got near 11,000rpm I am sure you understand that but sometimes it helps to have it laid out like that.

Do not be afraid to rev the piss out of the motor. I would not recommend it, but you can put the car in neutral, floor the accelerator, and bounce the tachometer on the rev limiter for twenty minutes and do zero noticeable harm to the engine. I have seen it done many times. I have never done it to my car and recommend you do not, but you can. While shifting I have hit the rev limiter so many times I can’t remember, in the hundreds if not thousands, for sure.

So I guess my answer to your original question is to drive the car however you want too. It really does not matter if you cruise around in any gear but I would not drive everywhere in only 2nd and 1st gear if I knew I was not going to need to go over 60mph or need to accelerate quickly. You would be wearing out the synchronizers, trans components, and getting horrible gas mileage. The lower the cruising RPM's the better the gas mileage. Shifting below 3-4K RPM and staying out of the throttle is a great way to get good fuel economy but often I want to accelerate much quicker so I go higher, sometimes much higher.

 

This is also VERY important! Do not use your engine and trans as a BRAKE system. This is not a racing transmission. It is ok to let off the gas in fourth down a hill but if at 70mph on the interstate going down a mountain I would not make a habit of downshifting to 3rd and staying there onlyy using the throttle to deccel and accel. If you want the trans to last a long time use the brake pedal and let the brakes do their job! As stated above they are much cheaper to replace.


True but RC51Ryder was talking about the effects of what is called TRANS BRAKING not CORRECTLY DOWN-SHIFTING as you are. Down-shifting while rev-matching correctly is harmless to a clutch.

 

Rev-matching alone, while certainly better than what most due, does not complete the picture. In order to perform a proper downshift, you need to double clutch so that you spin my the lay shaft gears as well.

The braking that RC51Ryder refers to is engine braking. Done in a normal fashion (as in not high RPM operation), this is not going to cause any problems. Of course, we're not talking road racing here. Where I see most people make mistakes is downshifting at an engine speed that will put the engine in a very high RPM range in the selected lower gear and no throttle is given. This creates tremendous manifold and cylinder vacuum and of course, it done incorrectly, puts a lot of stress on the clutch.

The transmission will not suffer from this as long as the shifts were made correctly. If made in error, there will be increased wear to the synchronizers.

 

Maybe not but I won't make a habit out of it. That is what the brakes are for. If I'm on a downgrade that is long enough for me to start thinking about my brakes overheating then sure, I will use the engine to assist with keeping the car at a constant speed but on normal everyday streets, I won't do it. The argument could be made that you should keep the car in the gear that would enable you to accelerate out of a situation if the need arises but to me, that goes along with reading your environment and scanning 5 seconds ahead to identify and assess possible trouble. The guys who ride motorcycles know what I am talking about.

 

I am still learning...

 

It takes time. The more you drive, the more you will know. You will master it in no time.

 

i been driving manual for 5 years so i got alot of experience
just want to know when you guys shift because because people tell me different things

 

I couldn't agree more with this. The only time you might want to consider keeping the tranny in a lower gear than normal is if you anticipate needing to use the increased torque in the immediate future. Or, of course, if you just are feeling a little squirrelly (heh, heh).

I also agree with your basic premise which I read to be that one should avoid downshifting in the higher RPM ranges just to obtain some engine braking as a normal driving habit.