okay i've search but i can't really find anything on this. theres only manual downshifting. i cant find anything on auto. my queston is is it going to hurt my tranny when i do this. and is it going to save gas or not?also putting it to nuetral at stop lights. does that hurt the tranny?

 

It accomplishes nothing, leave it alone.

 

While you can manually shift the automatic tranny, it really does not benefit you in any way. There are a few situations where it MIGHT help, but none have to do with performance.

Tell us why you want to manually downshift. I'm not trying to flame, just trying to understand your reasoning. This way we can tell you why it isn't to your benefit to do so.

For example, "I want to manually downshift to 2nd or 3rd gear on the highway so I have more available power to pass a car." This really won't help too much because if you want to speed past a car in an automatic, just floor the pedal. The car will automatically shift your car to the optimum gear based on current speed/rpm/load/throttle position/etc. Most of the time, flooring it will just downshift the car to the lowest possible gear anyway. Manually doing it just wastes your time.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by shamoo &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">While you can manually shift the automatic tranny, it really does not benefit you in any way. There are a few situations where it MIGHT help, but none have to do with performance.

Tell us why you want to manually downshift. I'm not trying to flame, just trying to understand your reasoning. This way we can tell you why it isn't to your benefit to do so.

For example, "I want to manually downshift to 2nd or 3rd gear on the highway so I have more available power to pass a car." This really won't help too much because if you want to speed past a car in an automatic, just floor the pedal. The car will automatically shift your car to the optimum gear based on current speed/rpm/load/throttle position/etc. Most of the time, flooring it will just downshift the car to the lowest possible gear anyway. Manually doing it just wastes your time.</TD></TR></TABLE>



dont downshift ur tranny.. it ***** it up.. my buddy blew his transmission from constant downshifting thinking it helped his accelleration when in actuallity the lower gears in automatic are for torque if u plan on towing something.. which in a honda is completely useless

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by turbotegy &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">thinking it helped his accelleration when in actuallity the lower gears in automatic are for torque</TD></TR></TABLE>

Huh? Is there supposed to be a difference or something? I won't go so far as to say it ***** it up, but it certainly puts more wear and tear on the clutch packs and fluid and everything.

 

The only reason why I downshift my chevy is for hill decent when I don't want to use my brakes. Other than that, your wasting time.

 

yeah i downshift b/c of out of no where stops. My ABS is kinda messed up and i hav to take it to a shop to fix it. but in the mean time can i down shift to slow down. I know its an auto and it will downshift when i floor it. but im downshifting for safety reasons. also with the nuetral thing i just dont want to keep my food on the brakes. also i heard that it waste gas using the brake. i know it not might be a lot of gas but everything counts.and my theory is that when i put it to nuetral and i stop it doesnt work as hard since theres nothing moving the car still.

 

any more info guys?

 

sounds like you've got a case of "shoulda bought a 5 spd."

putting it in neutral at a light will just get you rear-ended... brake lights are your friend.

and if you wanna downshift to save your brakes as you slow down feel free, but the auto tranny is happiest when you let it do it's thing. As lame as it is.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Hype Vtec &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">yeah i downshift b/c of out of no where stops. My ABS is kinda messed up and i hav to take it to a shop to fix it. but in the mean time can i down shift to slow down.</TD></TR></TABLE>
I assure you, your heavily worn or mangled brakes will still stop faster than downshifting an automatic transmission.

 

the same way, downshifting will hurt the CVT gearboxes when putting 'd' to 's' at high speeds to attain more power! right?
or does it work differently in CVT gearboxes ?

 

Listen to these guys they are right. You are not smarter than the Honda engineers so like you said give respect when respect is do. You don't have to down shift just start braking earlier than normal.

If you don't want to have your foot on the Brkpedal you definitely are crazy someone is going to rear end you. So instead of saving gas save your life your car and the helpless idiot that will smash you.

Peace and no disrespect intended

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Hype Vtec &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">yeah i downshift b/c of out of no where stops. My ABS is kinda messed up and i hav to take it to a shop to fix it. but in the mean time can i down shift to slow down. I know its an auto and it will downshift when i floor it. but im downshifting for safety reasons. also with the nuetral thing i just dont want to keep my food on the brakes. also i heard that it waste gas using the brake. i know it not might be a lot of gas but everything counts.and my theory is that when i put it to nuetral and i stop it doesnt work as hard since theres nothing moving the car still.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I don't understand your reasoning. What part of the ABS is "kinda messed up?" ABS kicks in when the sensors detect massive slowing down of the vehicle (so much that traction must have been lost in the process). Is your ABS malfunctioning during NORMAL braking? If so, STOP DRIVING YOUR CAR NOW! If not, ABS should only kick in during VERY HARD braking where traction is/has begun to be lost. I don't know about you, but in my over 10 years of driving, I've had ABS kick in about 5 times during normal driving. Road course/autocross doesn't count.

Braking doesn't waste gas per se. It only wastes gas because you are slowing down and then have to put extra load on your car to get it back up to speed. The actual act of slowing down/braking/having your brake lights turn on, doesn't use extra gas. If you want to be technical, there is slightly more electrical load on your alternator from your brake lights going on, and your vacuum pressure adjusting and the ECU having to make minute fuel adjustments, but the gas usage from this is negligible. You can have your brake lights on all day and you won't lose any gas mileage.

Your idea of shifting for "safety purposes" is not very good. I wouldn't do it. Swap to a manual if you really want the true 5-6-speed feel.

 

okay thanks guys. the only reason that i do have an automatic is b.c its a hand me down car. the car was my sister's car and then it was passed down to me. but not after it had been in 2 accidents and ABS light was on. she gave me it when it needed an oil change and i have to fix the damages and make it work. also the half moon gasket is blown so i need to replace it or else im going to be leaking oil like crazy.......fix ans sell thats my plan for now.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Hype Vtec &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">okay thanks guys. the only reason that i do have an automatic is b.c its a hand me down car. the car was my sister's car and then it was passed down to me. but not after it had been in 2 accidents and ABS light was on. she gave me it when it needed an oil change and i have to fix the damages and make it work. also the half moon gasket is blown so i need to replace it or else im going to be leaking oil like crazy.......fix ans sell thats my plan for now.</TD></TR></TABLE>

What is a "half moon gasket?"

If you plan to fix it and sell it, I would take care of the transmission and try not to do things to it that it wasn't designed for. If your ABS light is on, look at the first few posts of the Integra/Civic forum (whichever car you have). It will tell you how to check your ABS codes and you can determine what the problem is. After that, you can have it repaired without going through the trouble/price of having it diagnosed.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by BigJ5 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">The only reason why I downshift my chevy is for hill decent when I don't want to use my brakes. Other than that, your wasting time.</TD></TR></TABLE>

so you would rather take the chance of hurting your expensive tranny then use your 20$ brake pads? doesnt make sense

 

ahah its all good with the tranny i work in a motor sore. i sell JDM motors and trannies and rebuilt ones. its only 250 for me and other co-workers. well yeah its expensive but hey i rather downshift rather than hydro plane or skid b/c some *** cuts me off at a red light or some **** that happens with other drivers. so yeah mess up my tranny instead of getting into another car accident.

 

Wtf are you talking about? If you need to stop hard enough to lock up the tires, the transmission is not going to provide enough deceleration to slow you down. Fix your brakes and leave your transmission alone. I bet fixing the ABS will cost less than the transmission would, and you should be fixing it either way, so you may as well get it done. Sitting there and going "Uh oh, someone cut me off, time to select a lower gear in my automatic transmission and wait for it to downshift and hope it stops me in time" is going to get someone fucked up. Fix the problem, not the symptoms.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Hype Vtec &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">ahah its all good with the tranny i work in a motor sore. i sell JDM motors and trannies and rebuilt ones. its only 250 for me and other co-workers. well yeah its expensive but hey i rather downshift rather than hydro plane or skid b/c some *** cuts me off at a red light or some **** that happens with other drivers. so yeah mess up my tranny instead of getting into another car accident.</TD></TR></TABLE>

If the brakes are enough to get the tires to fully lock up, what good is engine braking going to do? You can't skid harder. I don't understand how downshifting your tranny works better than brakes when it comes to avoiding an accident.