A few quick questions...

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cairo
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A few quick questions...

Post by cairo »

Just signed up to this very helpful site today and have a few questions...

1) Do u have to hit the clutch when shutting the engine off?

2)What gear should the car be in when u park it and turn the engine off?

3) Can u down shift two gears at once.. ie can u go from 4 straight to 2?

Thanks for any responses...

from a a new driver trying to make her way:(
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wannabe
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Re: A few quick questions...

Post by wannabe »

cairo wrote:Just signed up to this very helpful site today and have a few questions...

1) Do u have to hit the clutch when shutting the engine off?

2)What gear should the car be in when u park it and turn the engine off?

3) Can u down shift two gears at once.. ie can u go from 4 straight to 2?

Thanks for any responses...

from a a new driver trying to make her way:(

wow...another female :) join the club!

1: afaik (i dont' drive stick YET) you don't have to. to start, yes.

2: first.

3: yes.
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comingbackdown
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Re: A few quick questions...

Post by comingbackdown »

cairo wrote:Just signed up to this very helpful site today and have a few questions...

1) Do u have to hit the clutch when shutting the engine off?

2)What gear should the car be in when u park it and turn the engine off?

3) Can u down shift two gears at once.. ie can u go from 4 straight to 2?

Thanks for any responses...

from a a new driver trying to make her way:(
1. Read below:
Come to a stop with the clutch in,
Engage handbrake,
Turn off engine.

Release clutch in selected parking gear.

2. If I'm on dead flat ground, I park in 3rd, since my centering springs are loose on the
1-2 side from always being in 1st. If it's an uphill and I'm facing the hill, 1st. if I'm on a hill facing downhill, reverse. There are some cars (watkins' Saab 9-3) that force you to be in a certain gear to even take the key out, and that's alright. He's stuck in reverse though, but that's still alright.

3. Yes, but rev-matching is recommended. If you're just starting to learn, my advice would be to brake down to idle and then downshift if it's for corners. If it's passing, I'd play with rev-matching a bit. It'll save your clutch, and eventually, you'll wind up like me. I rev-match all my downshifts, and nobody even notices 85% of the time. :D

Welcome to the forum. :)
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cairo
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Re: A few quick questions...

Post by cairo »

Thanks for the reply comingbackdown!!! Very informative... but wats rev-matching?
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Re: A few quick questions...

Post by comingbackdown »

cairo wrote:Thanks for the reply comingbackdown!!! Very informative... but wats rev-matching?
When you downshift, you have an engine and input shaft that are spinning at a different rate than what they'd be in a lower gear at the same rpms. They'll be spinning slower in high gear in relation to the layshaft/output shaft.

Rev matching uses the throttle to raise RPMs to match this speed, thus eliminating a good deal of synchro wear, making downshifts smoother (if executed correctly) and providing you with something neat to do. If you go check out the video section, you'll find some videos relevant to the subject.
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cairo
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Re: A few quick questions...

Post by cairo »

Thank you once again...

I will certainly check the video sections. Still learning to navigate this site! :lol:
watkins
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Re: A few quick questions...

Post by watkins »

In regards to question 1. You dont have to. But if youre coming to a stop to shut it off, youll already be in gear with the clutch down to avoid stalling, or you will be in neutral so it just doesnt matter.

As for starting, the same can apply, depending on the car. My friend just got a 2004 Subaru Baja. In gear the car will beep at you, reminding you to clutch in to start. If youre in neutral you can just start the car. My car doesnt have this feature, but the principles are the same. In gear, hit the clutch. A good habit is to always start on the clutch however, so you never forget. Considering you should always park in gear anyways, Youll catch on pretty quickly.
cairo
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Re: A few quick questions...

Post by cairo »

watkins wrote:In regards to question 1. You dont have to. But if youre coming to a stop to shut it off, youll already be in gear with the clutch down to avoid stalling, or you will be in neutral so it just doesnt matter.

As for starting, the same can apply, depending on the car. My friend just got a 2004 Subaru Baja. In gear the car will beep at you, reminding you to clutch in to start. If youre in neutral you can just start the car. My car doesnt have this feature, but the principles are the same. In gear, hit the clutch. A good habit is to always start on the clutch however, so you never forget. Considering you should always park in gear anyways, Youll catch on pretty quickly.
In gear meaning gear 1-5 and R, and not Neutral right?

Pardon my ignorance:(
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Re: A few quick questions...

Post by wannabe »

yes, in gear meaning 1-6 :P and R
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Nervous
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Re: A few quick questions...

Post by Nervous »

cairo wrote:Just signed up to this very helpful site today and have a few questions...

1) Do u have to hit the clutch when shutting the engine off?

2)What gear should the car be in when u park it and turn the engine off?

3) Can u down shift two gears at once.. ie can u go from 4 straight to 2?

Thanks for any responses...

from a a new driver trying to make her way:(
Seems like people already answered this question, but I'll just throw in my 2 cents 8)

1)Personally, when I'm about to shut off the car, I'll use the foot brake until I'm completely stopped, then shift to Neutral, and engage the parking brake. I then turn off the car, still with my foot on the foot brake, then shift into the appropriate gear for that grade.

2)Already been said, but if the car is on flat level ground, park it in 1st. If the car is facing down hill, park in R, and if facing up hill, park in first. AND PLEASE, ALWAYS REMEMBER TO SHIFT INTO NEUTRAL BEFORE TURNING THE CAR ON! Only the clutch has to be depressed to turn on, and alot of new people, which you seem to be, will just leave it in gear, and then depress the clutch, turn on the car, and drop the clutch and you'll lurch forward/backward and stall. I mean, it doesn't do much damage to your car, but if you're near another car and/or light pole, you'll have a pretty dent. Just keep it in mind.

3)Yep, you can skip gears if you want, some people call it block shifting. But yea, listen to what everyone else said, and remember to rev-match. I personally don't wait to drop to idle unless I'm planning on stopping soon. Basically what rev-matching is, you're going 30 in 4th at 2500RPM, then you decide to drop to 2nd, well at that instant, imagine going 30 in 2nd. You'd probably be at like 5000RPM or something. Just tap the gas when you're shifting through neutral/while your foot is pressing down on the clutch to bring the RPM's to roughly 5000RPM, then glide that clutch back down. You'll avoid the shaking and jumping.

Hope I helped, and welcome to the site!

Edit: Even though you have the option of parking in 1-6, you want to park in 1/2, unless necessary, as in comingbackdowns situation. Reason behind this is basically engine compression/ratio's, I won't get too much into it. But yea, park in either 1/2 or of course, R.
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Re: A few quick questions...

Post by Prodigal Son »

cairo wrote: 1) Do u have to hit the clutch when shutting the engine off?

2)What gear should the car be in when u park it and turn the engine off?

3) Can u down shift two gears at once.. ie can u go from 4 straight to 2?
1. No. But as others have pointed out, you will almost certainly already have the clutch depressed when you come to a stop, to avoid stalling. However, if you had shifted to neutral and released the clutch while slowing down, and then came to a stop with the car in neutral and the clutch pedal out, you would not have to depress the clutch before shutting off the engine.

2. Whatever gear you were in when you came to a stop should be perfectly fine. Technically, the highest ratio gear -- usually reverse -- has the most power to hold the car. In practice, though, any gear will do in most situations. The simplest way to park is to brake in gear until the revs drop below about 1000, then depress the clutch, brake to a stop, set the hand brake, and turn off the engine.

3. Yes. It is known as block shifting and it is quite normal. You choose whatever gear is right for what you want to do next, and that is not always the next gear in order, up or down. For instance, if you are approaching a street corner and you are cruising in 5th. You brake down to cornering speed, then shift to the gear you will need to be in to exit the corner, usually 2nd. In a case like this, you do not need to rev match, though is is certainly not a bad thing to do. A situation in which you would be well advise to rev match is this: you are following a slow car on a two lane road. You are cruising in 5th at 40mph. You see a short passing zone ahead, so you want to accelerate quickly. You down shift to 3rd to get maximum acceleration. For this shift you want to rev match, because if you don't, you will get a lot of engine braking, which you obviously don't want when you are trying to accelerate. As a rule of thumb, when you slow down and then down shift, rev-matching is nice, but optional; when you down shift without first slowing down, you really should rev match.

And, incidentally, you do not need to shift to neutral before turning your car on (though it will certainly not do any harm). All you need to do is start it, shift to first, and drive off. The only reason you would shift it to neutral was if you wanted to warm up the car. But you are not supposed to warm up a modern car, so there is not reason to shift to neutral before starting. Just make sure that the first thing you do when stopping is to firmly set the hand brake and the last thing you do before moving is to release the hand brake.
Just some guy on the Internet. Heed with care.
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Re: A few quick questions...

Post by watkins »

Nervous wrote:AND PLEASE, ALWAYS REMEMBER TO SHIFT INTO NEUTRAL BEFORE TURNING THE CAR ON!
No. Not every car lets you do that, so its not a good habbit to get into. Or at least its not an important one. Get used to pressing down the clutch, turn it on, then feel free to put it in neutral if for any reason you plan to sit there. Otherwise, youre already on the clutch and ready to either move off as is, or at the very least prepared to shift into the correct gear (1st / R). Good form is to get anything done that can be before starting the car, such as buckling seatbelts or connecting your iPod to the jack or whatever it may be.
Nervous wrote:Only the clutch has to be depressed to turn on, and alot of new people, which you seem to be, will just leave it in gear, and then depress the clutch, turn on the car, and drop the clutch and you'll lurch forward/backward and stall. I mean, it doesn't do much damage to your car, but if you're near another car and/or light pole, you'll have a pretty dent. Just keep it in mind
To continue, my car cannot be shifted out of reverse once the engine is shut off and the key has been removed. I would have to turn the key to ON, shift to neutral, then crank it. A waste of time. I can also start the car without pressing the clutch. Overall, best for is to always press the clutch in when starting a manual to ensure the car will not stall and buck into a nearby object. Shifting to neutral for any reason when first turning on the car is almost always a wasteful thing to do for whatever reason.
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Re: A few quick questions...

Post by AHTOXA »

I always park in gear (1st or reverse) and with the handbrake up. When I start the car I clutch in, crank, put into neutral. The reason is that I wait for RPMs to drop to idle before moving. This takes 15 seconds or so - plenty of time to circulate oil in the engine.
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Re: A few quick questions...

Post by jomotopia »

welcome to the site. :D looks like the questions have been pretty well covered.
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