StandardShift.com

We'll classify your battery in one of three states: Working : can start the car, even if it's a struggle. Poor : Capable of powering the electricals, but not starting the engine. Kaput : Indistinguishable from a disconnect battery. Regardless of your ignition system bump starting will usually work i...

Not going to go into too much detail here. This actually happened back in May of this year. The way I remember it I came to a stop in traffic, I swear I remember hearing tires skidding, and suddenly my car shook really violently. My first thought was I stalled my car for some reason. That's just my ...

Okay, get this. There's construction way up ahead so traffic half a kilometer back is alternating between crawling forward and stopped for a minute. That includes me. Annoying but whatever. Guy in front of me wants to turn left at the upcoming light which is maybe half a city block away, but no sign...

(All distances/speeds in kilometers) Okay, so I now drive a 60 kilometer,~50 minute trip into work, and a matching distance home. Not great, but it's a living. I'm also averaging about 40 miles/gallon (~varying between 5.6 and 5.9 L/100km) so I don't mind too much. It's mostly country roads where th...

This one actually happened around a year ago but I still find it funny. There's a tiny small intersection in town not far from where I live. I was driving to stay with family over the weekend and bringing a coworker home at the same time since we were going to the same city (hour long trip). Light t...

A little vibration in tune to the engine isn't anything to be concerned about. Mine vibrates like that with the force of an electric massaging machine set on Low. But it's something you can feel, rather than see since it's shaking at a pretty high frequency. Your use of "shaking" rather th...

Maybe, but I'm also a learning machine and don't approve of the machine altering its own operation over time.

This test is best done on a highway onramp, or maybe on the highway in safe conditions. Have it in 3rd or higher gear with the engine doing at least 2500 RPMs. I leave it to you to set up the scenario. Your foot must be clear off the clutch pedal as usual. Now floor the gas pedal. Possibility #1: Th...

But doesn't the same argument hold when downshifting in an automatic?

Shift according to conditions. If you're going for fuel economy and are on a flat or downhill road, shift at a low RPM. If you need mad acceleration, are hauling a load or climbing a hill, shift at higher RPMs. I normally shift in the general 2500 area except for some situations like highway onramps...

These happened a while ago - three stupid people (two drivers, one pedestrian) in a single trip. The first was on a 100 km/hr road. Gas cover was open and screw-on plug hanging free. I tried honking to get their attention but to no avail. They exited and I could do nothing. The second braked for a r...

Deleting an account doesn't normally delete posts from the disk, but it may cause the posts to be masked when the database tries to do a cross-reference on the owner and fails. This is why you don't want to delete accounts anyways. At best you suddenly turn into an unregistered guest user. At worst ...

A few years ago I drove (short distances) in steel-toe&plate work boots. Didn't like it and would just put on some thin-souled runners for driving. And recently I've taken to driving with no shoe on my left foot for all the clutch work (sock only). I feel I have much better control if I can feel...

Yeah, it bites.

What really sucks is that it's inconsistent. Sure a 3 second (minimizing clutch wear) sucks, but when it suddenly becomes 1.5 seconds when you hop in the next time - that's what annoys me. The learning curve is jagged.

I think the subject says it all, but even the tach hang is inconsistent. Some days when I'm shifting, the RPMs start to drop quickly and do so at a good rate. Other days when I clutch in the RPMs hang or the engine even revs a bit when the weight of the car is removed from it and then the RPMs casua...