Manual transmission questions

[SupraAddict]

I've been driving stick for 4 years now, ever since I begun on my parent's 03' Accord and I have a couple of questions regarding driving manual:

1. What is the heel-to-toe technique? (please excuse if I'm butchering the terminology)

2. What are some no-no's for breaking in a new (2011-2012) manual transmission?
2.a I heard from someone that you have to drive the first thousand miles without revving over 3000 RPM's. Is this true and why?

3. What is the best way to approach a stoplight?
3.a I've experimented with putting the car in neutral and coasting up to the light, downshifting from 5 to 4th to 3rd etc. and lastly, holding in the clutch petal and braking when I get near the light. I know neutral is unsafe as the car is out of gear, but is it necessary to downshift to approach a light or stopsign instead of using the clutch pedal only, and which saves more gas?

4. Does stalling the car hurt it and how?
4.a Does popping the clutch hurt the car and how?
4.b How does shifting without the clutch hurt the car?

5. What kind of driving can prolong the transmission/ what really tears it up?

6. What is the double-clutching method?

[theholycow]

All of your questions are answered here every day. You should probably read a little here. However, here are the answers again:

1. What is the heel-to-toe technique? (please excuse if I'm butchering the terminology)

Heel-toe is using one foot to operate two pedals. It can be done many different ways depending on your pedals and your feet. I like to straddle the brake and accelerator with the sides of my foot.

A lot of people like to use their heel on the accelerator and toe on the brake, but my foot doesn't twist in that direction. For cars whose accelerator and brake are far apart, I use my heel on the brake and toe on the accelerator.

It is done any time you might want to operate all three pedals at once. Common scenarios include racing, where you need to brake aggressively as you enter a turn while simultaneously rev-matching a shift, and steep hill launches.

2. What are some no-no's for breaking in a new (2011-2012) manual transmission?

If you smell a severe clutch burning smell (smells just like brakes burning), give it a rest. Other than that, enjoy it.

2.a I heard from someone that you have to drive the first thousand miles without revving over 3000 RPM's. Is this true and why?

That has nothing to do with manual transmissions, that's just that person's strategy for breaking in the engine. There are a variety of engine break-in strategies, each with some decent reasoning behind them. As far as I can tell it really doesn't matter, although I suspect it mattered 50 years ago when engines weren't built as well as they are now.

3. What is the best way to approach a stoplight?
3.a I've experimented with putting the car in neutral and coasting up to the light, downshifting from 5 to 4th to 3rd etc. and lastly, holding in the clutch petal and braking when I get near the light. I know neutral is unsafe as the car is out of gear, but is it necessary to downshift to approach a light or stopsign instead of using the clutch pedal only, and which saves more gas?

Neutral coasting is not unsafe for a decent driver. If it is unsafe for you, there is a fundamental problem with your driving and if you MUST drive you should be in an automatic.

Coasting (neutral or declutched, either way) may or may not save fuel, depending on how willingly your car's computer will engage DFCO (Deceleration Fuel Cut Off).

You should do whatever makes you comfortable. Downshifting a gear at a time is fine. Staying in a gear until you are forced to declutch/shift is fine. Neutral or declutched coasting is fine.

4. Does stalling the car hurt it and how?

No.

4.a Does popping the clutch hurt the car and how?

Yes. It puts huge amounts of shock force through your entire drivetrain.

4.b How does shifting without the clutch hurt the car?

Done inaccurately, it forces your transmission's synchronizers to do the work that the clutch or you should have done. They aren't meant for that job and will wear out very quickly. Done accurately, which takes practice and skill, it ought to be ok, although it's more appropriately done on unsynchronized transmissions (as found in large commercial trucks).

5. What kind of driving can prolong the transmission/ what really tears it up?

If you want to pick nits, you can double-clutch every shift perfectly and practice perfect launching...however, the transmission is designed to last as long as the rest of the car for people who do NOT go to all that effort. What tears it up is hard abuse, like someone who wishes he was racing would do. No-lift shifting, clutch popping, shoving it into gear too fast for the synchronizer, etc.

6. What is the double-clutching method?

It is when you shift to neutral, engage the clutch, rev-match, and then shift to your gear. It does the work that the synchronizer would normally do. It is one of the most common things we discuss here, so feel free to read up on it in more detail.

What do you drive now? You imply that you have a new car.

[AHTOXA]

Welcome!

1 - Heel-Toe is used to similtaneously control throttle and brake with your right foot. The terminology was derived from the practive of putting the ball of your foot on the brake, while giving throttle with your heel. Many people, including myself, find that rolling your foot is easier. The ball of my foot is on the brake, however the ankle is rolled to the right to stab the throttle with the side of the foot/little toe.

This technique is useful in racing applications when in order to save time and be in the right gear before the turn, you are downshifting while braking, thus spending as much time as possible accelerating. Many here, myself included heel-toe in daily applications, such as slowing down for a hard right and downshifting before the turn. Necessary? No. Fun and sometimes useful skill? Yes.

2. There aren't any no-no's that wouldn't be common sense, like revving this piss out of the engine and trans withing first 10 miles of the odo cycle. To my knowledge, procedures aren't much different as related to earlier transmissions withing many recent decades. Manual gearboxes really haven't changed much with time.

3. From the front.
3a. On a serious note. If I know the light won't be changing for a bit (I saw it turn red) or I'm not certain because I'm not familiar with this light's timing, I will approach the light in whatever gear I'm currently in - normally highest. Once the revs are down to about 1200 or so, I'll clutch in and cost in neutral the rest of the way. If I'm anticipating the light to change as I'm approaching it, I'll usually block downshift to be in the right gear while pulling up. If it doesn't switch, then I'll clutch in once revs fall close to or just above 1k rpms and coast the rest of the way. Approaching in gear until RPMs fall to around 1200 or so will generally save more gas. THis is dependant on your particular vehicle and how it manages DFCO (deceleration fuel cutoff). When slowing down in gear, generally speaking, most cars will have the injjectors turned off above 1200 RPMs. THis is a wide rule of thumb, but proved somewhat reliably.

4. Stalling the car does not hurt it, but you cannot take that to extreme. If you keep stalling your car 50 times a day for years, you might have something that will wear out faster, like a starter, because of the restarts. Nothing proven - just logic.

4a. Yes, depending on variables, such as torque applied. Generally when people refer to "popping" the clutch, that usually involves doing so at moderate engine speeds, say above 2500 RPMs. When this happens, a lot of torque is applied to the drivetrain through the clutch in a short period of time. You keep forcing something, and in time something will give. You may experience axle/CV join breakage, driveshaft/ujoint wear, clutch wear, control arm bushing play - you name it. Anything that's a part of the drivetrain will be put under additional stress. Will it break tomorrow? Probably not, but it's possible.

5. What prologs it is casual driving, well-timed shifts, good rev-matching technique and lack of abuse overall. What will tear it up is clutchless shifting (shifting with no clutch will wear synchros), poor rev-matching - this is questionable. Modern syncromesh transmissions are generally made well enough to be durable and syncros will do their job. I had a friend that couldn't rev match to save his life and wouldn't even attempt it. Car went 50k miles before sold and nothing surfaced during that time. Other abuse will wear items and parts quicker, however not necessarily "tear it up", depeding how you abuse it, of course.

6. Double clutching is used with either an upshift or a downshift. For an upshift, you clutch in, leave current gear, clutch out, clutch back in and get into the next, clutch out. For downshifts, you will clutch in, leave current gear, clutch out, blip the throttle to match rpms for next gear, clutch in, go into desired gear and clutch out again. This action of plipping the RMPs between gears helps the syncros to do their jobs of mathing internal trans components' speed better so next gear can be engaged easier. This is also done when syncros are worn and gears are 'grinding' upon engagement.

With enthusiasts like us, if you can do an accurate sequential double-clutch heel-toe from highest gear into 1st fairly consistently while eating a cheeseburger and rearranging your position because the midget in the footwell accidentally bit your testicle, you have your standardshift mancard. Just kidding - enjoy your stay.

[AHTOXA]

I wrote all that out to be beaten by Mr. Cheesetits by 4 mnutes!

[Rope-Pusher]

Pay no attention to either of those two men behind the curtain!

[kayubassist]

Is jerky shift between 1st and 2nd due to poor clutch work considered dumping/popping the clutch?

Are mild shift shocks and occasional clunks between all gears considered non-rev matched shifts?

Should I be worried about them?

[AHTOXA]

The answer to all 3 is no. From what I gather, op was referring to dropping thee clutch at takeoff.

[six]

Regarding #2a, it is pretty widely accepted these days that engine break-in is no longer necessary. Modern engines are built to very exact tolerances, rendering the "baby it for 3000 miles" adage as a relic of decades past. Drive normally from the get-go; it is actually beneficial to drive throughout the rev-range of the engine in the beginning. Just don't go to extremes.

[theholycow]

Is jerky shift between 1st and 2nd due to poor clutch work considered dumping/popping the clutch?

Are mild shift shocks and occasional clunks between all gears considered non-rev matched shifts?

Should I be worried about them?

Popping the clutch: Clutch pedal on floor, slide foot off sideways, and clutch pedal pops up with no control

Dumping the clutch: Clutch pedal on floor, foot comes up fast but with some control; this is the fastest controlled clutch work you can do and is done when you have good reason to do something mildly abusive, like jumping out into difficult traffic.

Shift shocks and clunks: Often the result of a non-rev-matched shift, but not the definition of non-rev-matched shift.

Rev-matching is simply explained technically as follows: Matching the engine crankshaft speed (RPM as displayed on tachometer) to the RPM of the transmission input shaft (RPM not measured anywhere but you could calculate it with a gear calculator).

However, that's not a very useful explanation for anyone who needs to ask that question, so here is the practical application. Let's say you've just downshifted and you saw your tachometer jump up and felt the car jerk. The next time, you try to avoid that jerk by blipping the throttle during the shift (while the clutch pedal is down); you blip it just enough so the tachometer jumps to its destination before you let up the clutch pedal. As you release the clutch pedal, the tachometer stays pretty steady. That was a good rev-match.

[SupraAddict]

All of your questions are answered here every day. You should probably read a little here. However, here are the answers again:

What do you drive now? You imply that you have a new car.

Yeah, I've got a 2010 Corolla S. Before that I had a 99' Passat which someone added a short-throw shifter among other things. I absolutely loved it that V6...

With enthusiasts like us, if you can do an accurate sequential double-clutch heel-toe from highest gear into 1st fairly consistently while eating a cheeseburger and rearranging your position because the midget in the footwell accidentally bit your testicle, you have your standardshift mancard. :lol: Just kidding - enjoy your stay.

I'm having fun just picturing that nice piece of imagery. :)

Alright, a couple more questions:

1. When I put the car in reverse, I use mainly just the clutch to back it up, and no gas pedal. Is this okay for the car?

2. Engine braking is when you downshift without matching the RPM's, right?

[theholycow]

Backing up like that is normal and is fine.

Engine braking is when you are in gear and the engine is slowing the car down. This happens pretty much any time you're in gear with your foot off the accelerator. When done on purpose, one generally does it in a low gear to get more engine braking. It is most useful on long descents, like going down a mountain, where the grade is steady and your brakes could heat up a little. It can be done with automatics just as easily as with manuals.

A non-rev-matched downshift will result in engine braking, but is otherwise unrelated. You can rev-match your downshift nicely and then use engine braking; I recommend this if you plan to do some engine braking.

The non-rev-matched downshift introduces what I call "clutch braking", which I made up (and I'm sure many people have made up before me, but none of us has successfully coined it into common usage), where the clutch itself acts as a brake.

[Squint]

I had the opportunity to buy a Corolla S a couple of years ago and didn't because the time wasn't right. How do you like it?

[SupraAddict]

I had the opportunity to buy a Corolla S a couple of years ago and didn't because the time wasn't right. How do you like it?

It doesn't have much power and the standard shift knob that it comes with is laughable, but the transmission is very crisp and responsive as well as a huge area of engagement for the clutch. My friend who has little to no experience driving manual said it's the easy to learn.... right before she stalled it a couple of times at an intersection...

Honestly though, it's growing on me. the accessories are excellent and the transmission is good, though it isn't as fun as my VW. The one drawback is that the people at Toyota had the clock as an afterthought and placed it right above the shifter. Here, let me find a pic...