Proton698

Hello everyone;

Hoping to get to know you all well over the next few months. I just purchased a 2008 Honda Civic SI and i love it. It has 252 km's on it so yeah been careful and taking it as easy as possible.

I have driven automatic my whole life just recently selling my 2007 Cobalt SS. Since I'm new to driving vehicles with standard transmissions i wish to get "pointers" to preserve the life of my vehicle and my clutch specifically.

Yes i have stalled it numerous times taking it back home from the dealership and found it to be embarrasing. Besides the starter wear any other componenents ay be affected? I am getting better it's been a few days now and my launches are much smoother but working on smoothing the transition between my shifts. The stalls undue damage? The smoother shifts i'm gonna attribute to easing off the clutch slower right?

I'm not gonna lie i have noticed a smell (Not intense) coming from the engine compartment only on a couple of occasions leading me to beleive that I infact may have placed some undue wear on the clutch. Could it be the clutch or possibly with it being a new engine just other parts such as belts, valves, rubbers and hoses?

Since i am new to standard transmissions on delivery at the dealership the salesman demonstrated to me affective use of the clutch. The first as an example with the vehicle in first gear and the clutch depressed to the floor if i ease off on it it will gradually move me forward and the same applies if i place the vehicle into reverse and release the clutch slowly it will move me back. I'm gonna guess that if your on an incline (Saying backing up out of your garage at home) it prob would be better just to stay in neutral and alleviate undo wear on the clutch? I have used the clutch when backing up and have noticed the sound of gearing and i guess i can see some undue wear of repeating this whenever backing up.

In an automatic transmission vehicle when creeping into traffic i use to just move up and wait for traffic to clear before i accelerated and cleared the intersection. Is it acceptable to use the clutch to "Creep" into traffic along with the brake? Once traffic clears then ease off the clutch at the same time apply gas to approx 2000 rpms ease off completly off the clutch and clear the intersection? I guess i just can't see a better way of creeping forward and the biggest thing that scares me is stalling in an intersection. Any other feed back or pointers on this?

I know about riding the clutch and avoiding that as much as possible by keeping my foot off to the side on the "dead Pedal". I'm still not very good at gearing down and a lot of occasions what i do is as an example when coming to a stop sign or red light i brake in gear until i am about to stop go into neutral (without depressing the clutch) coast and complete the stop is this acceptable or any other pointers that can be added?

K i know we dont want to "burn the Clutch" however i guess its safe to say that when launching our vehicle from 1st gear and applying RPM's their has to be some wear on the clutch and i'm guessing that when a service department looks at it it their would have to be an "Acceptable wear" threshold that would have to be applied.

I've been avoiding hills as much as possible for the time being but require to practice this evolution as well. I know the emergency brake can assist with roll backs when applying RPMS and easing off the clutch as i ended up having to do this when parked on a downhill in a shopping centre to avoid rolling onto a concrete pillar and catching my front lip on it.

I guess as a final concern and maybe something i should have looked into more before purchasing the vehicle i have read alot about the "3rd Gear Problem". When does this become an issue? How will i know it is affecting me? From what i undersonda tand people are having issues (grinding) when going into third gear or at times it will just pop out does this affect all of the Honda Civic SI's or has Honda addressed this issue with vehicles currently sitting on the lot?

I know this is alot of information in one post and I'm hoping not to get totally flamed for this but i guess the saying goes a stupid question is the one that you never ask. I sound like a total newb (and yeah to standard transmissions I am) but been drivin for 24 years with no accidents and would like to keep it that way LOL.

As well i have some instruction from some family on the principles of driving standard so not totally green. I appreciate your time and look forward to spending as much time as possible on these forums.

If anyone is interested in a look at the new ride here are a couple of photo bucket links.

http://i531.photobucket.com/al...9.jpg

http://i531.photobucket.com/al...6.jpg

Thanks

K5^

Welcome to HT

As for your questions regarding clutch wear, you really shouldn't worry too much about that, as you are still learning how to drive a manual gearbox. Besides, you need to break in the car, and that also means the clutch. As you gain more and more experience by daily driving, you'll learn how much throttle to and clutch to balance the car out without thinking about it. That burning scent you smell are just the internal workings in and aound the car that are getting broken in. Hope this helps a bit.

Proton698

Briefly...... Thanks K5^ kind of feeling that too but you know what its like with a new car and all cant get over the wonderous "new Cr" cmell indise

ChargedSI

It takes a little time to learn driving a stick. The one thing you must learn not to get into the habit of doing, is riding the clutch between shifts. Doing this will cause undue wear on the clutch disc.

The smell could be a few things. The Catalytic converter will smell a little when it heats up for the first time, as will the exhaust system.

Enjoy your ride.

jdmeg9

drive-by-wire is probably the worse thing to start out driving a stick on just my .02 i have a prelude that is a stick and a acura type-s that is a stick so i am constantly having to adjust my driving habits with the diff cars. good luck and i know in time you will learn to love your car

sea08civicsi

I'm also a 2008 Civic Si owner. However, I have driven a manual previously. At this point, it seems to me that you have to get the rpm's up between shifting or it can be a bit jerky.

rhennin

Key overall thing to focus on is being smooth with the engagement of the clutch and making sure that when you up shift and down shift that the engine rpm is roughly where it needs to be when you reengage the clutch. (i.e. engage the clutch by the time the engine rpms fall to desired speed when upshifting and reving the engine to desired rpms when down shifting).

Almost all the wear on a clutch should be a result of getting the car moving from a stop. The rest should be very minimal as you can rev match when engaging the clutch as I suggested.

Eventually, it might be a wise decision to look into heel-toe downshifting. This takes LOTS of practice, but when done effectively can be used to slow the car down and more smoothly downshift if you need to have more power available etc... There are tons of videos showing how to do this, but the best is to literally practice practice practice. This also can help to save excessive wear by riding the brakes when trying to slow down. Again though, I would suggest working on the basics first before moving on to this.

Honda clutches are notorious for being light and easy to modulate, so you're fortunate in this regard. Keep practicing and you'll get better. We all have to learn somehow.

ajpturbopittsburgh

I wouldn't recommend making a habit of using the clutch too much to slow the car down unless you are on a track. It's cheaper to replace brake pads then clutch discs. If you rev match then it's not so bad to use the tranny to brake with, but most people don't do that.

And it's a misconception that down shifting effectively slows the car down faster. The only reason you heel toe down shift it to get the car in the proper gear for corner exit and you need to rev match so you don't shock the driveline during clutch re-engagement which can put the car in a spin if you are re-engaging the clutch mid corner.

If you watch the test drivers while they are doing braking test, they put the manual transmission cars in nuetral and don't downshift while braking. If you keep the car in gear while braking you have to slow the engine's momentum down as well in addition to the vehicle's mass.....Alot of people think think it's better to run down through the gear's as they decelerate to achieve maximum braking.

Si87

Welcome!!

The smell might be you burning the clutch a bit, its no big deal, I did it on my first car. That car btw taught two people how to drive stick and when i sold it (12 years old, 215,000km) it was still on its original clutch, so don't worry about it, you gotta learn and the car can handle it.

You can absolutely use the clutch to creep forward, otherwise you can't do it. So as long as you aren't riding it and you are using the dead pedal you'll be ok.

Finally, when coming to a light or a complete stop, 95% of the time I go into neutral, just find it easier myself and I am a lazy stick driver.

That should put your worries to rest!

B16Drag

nice resurrection...