Is it bad to manually shift auto's? like from 1 to 2 to d3 to d4. My friend tells me it messes up the tranny .. but somebody else told me its not bad at all.
Anyone know if it hurts the car in any way?
Is there a right / wrong way to do it, like letting go of the gas when shifting or something?
Also is it bad to downshift?
Thanks

 

Just leave it in D4 EXCEPT:

D3 when decending a steep grade
2 when starting out in slippery conditions (ice) to prevent wheel spin
( or a REALLY steep grade, usually no more than 25MPH)

 

That doesn't answer my question ..

 

explanation?

 

Why? You want it to sound like you have a manual not that you got the cat-back?

I actually have no explanation as to what might happen, all I know is how to use it properly.

It may not hurt...

 

No i dont want it to "sound" like a manual.
I wanna be able to control the timing of the shifts when I want to and I want to be able to downshift.. But if its hurting the car of course I do not want to do it.

 

I understand, but the ECU is programmed to shift at the optimum points..Partial throttle, for fuel economy, FULL throttle..max HP and exceleration.

 

I don't think that manually upshifting is terrible for a transmission. Downshifting on the other hand can shorten the life of your trans over time.... It could place too much strain on the tranny which definitely isn't good if it's an older car.

When you ruin the automatic, buy a car with a manual transmission...

My $.02

 

It definitely is not programmed for max HP and acceleration ..

 

OK. I have offered all the "help" to you on this subject I can.

Just shift it as you like.

 

Need more info first.
Appreciate the input though, thanks alot.

 

I dont think it will kill your AT any faster then say punching on the gas real hard and forcing it to downshift that way. I beleve when you move the gear selector, your just opening and closing certan hydrulic valves that are normally opened and closed automatically by the ECU. The only way youll probably do major damage would be putting it in reverse while your still moving foward, or driving at a high speed at D4, and dropping it down to 2 or 1. Although ive read somewhere that an AT wont shift into a gear if the engine will be redlined in that gear. Im not about to test that out on my tranny though.

 

Well... What's the difference you downshifting the car or the auto doing it for you? And what's the difference between you holding the car in gear to redline or slamming the gas and making the auto do it for you? Granted, any of these will cause some wear and tear on your tranny, but I see no difference in the amount of wear and tear between shifting "manually" or letting the auto do its work (assuming the auto redlines and downshifts the same amount of times as you would of manually done it). Just don't bounce it off the redline and get some money for gas b/c you will definently be guzzling it.

To launch with an auto, stick it into 1, hold the brake, lightly push on the gas until the brakes can't hold it... Then when you want to go, slam on gas (make sure your tires grip of course) and get foot off brake at same time. Someone once told me to get off the gas as you shift from 1 to 2, but I don't know the point of this since it would make sense to just keep the gas going...

 

There is no "1" on a Honda.

 

I think that is with the Seq. Sport Shifts only... But I could be mistaken... I too am not willing to try that on my tranny.

 

"L", whatever... He knew what I meant.

 

No, I dont think he did. The lowest I have seen is "2" and your post would be incorrect, because then you would be STARTING in second, and that would not be good for dragracing.

 

My 4DR 94 LS has D4, D3, 2, and 1. I think civics dont have a 1st on the gear selector.

 

Hmm..Cool.Thanks.

 

Another thing i should add that makes me think manually changing the gears wont do much more damage then stomping on the gas is the slight delay between selecting a gear, and when it actually shifts. I beleve the ECU is still in control of everything. Your selecting a certan gear just tells the ECU not to shift out of that gear. I have had my center console pulled out before, and there is a decent sized bundle of wires running into that gear selector, but i beleve there is still a mechanial link between the selector and the tranny via a cable simmlar to the accelerator cable.

 

manually shifting an auto doesn't work.
a lot of ppl claim it is faster but it isn't.

if u mash the pedal to the metal it will shift at redline already.

when talking about downshifting it doesn't help either. if you dare, when going at 60mph down it into 2... i'm seroius. guess what? it'll go into 2 but u will notice that nothing has changed. why? because it's still in 4. it won't change itself down to 2 until u are at about 35.

with automatics, the computer is pretty much in control, u'r not.

 

...but why would you want to shift an automatic transmission as if it were a manual transmission?

 

thanks for all the responses guys.
first, yes i do have a 1. secondly, i put it down to 2 while in 4 (by mistake) once and it did not shift to 2 (thank god).
And I know you can't compare to a manual tranny, but manually shifting the auto does in fact help acceleration. Aside from my personal experience with it, just think about it. The engine peaks power at high rpms, therefore letting the revs go up higher should help acceleration. Isn't that common sense? Or am i just being ignorant ..
In any case, the feel of the car when shifting manually is the same as the feel of the auto doing it for me so it really doesn't seem like its damaging at all ... downshifting is different of course.
Agh.. I wish somebody knew exactly how an auto tranny worked so I could get a definitive answer..

 

ok i think i speak for alot of people when i say, just get a damn manual and if you dont have the chance to then just drive the damn thing in D4 so that way you can have the car take you to work to make money so u can save for a MANUAL! thats what i am doing, modding an auto is ok but it has its limits so just be careful in what you are doing!!!!!! lol i think no one else should have responded after TEKEN SAYED "YES" LOL!


[Modified by 2kGSboi, 11:53 PM 1/28/2002]

 

I've done something terrible once to my auto tranny car. It was not an integra, but still. It damaged the tranny so much that I had to replace the whole damn tranny a few months later which cost around $1200.

Basically, I was slowing down, and instead of putting it on N, I accidentally pushed it all the way to R. (I always shifted to N when not moving or slowing down because the car vibrated annoyingly when in D) The engine stalled, needed a moment to start the engine. After that the tranny was slipping.

The tranny was probably going already, but the Reverse while going forward definitely added damage.