Shifting in Auto

[ekay1]

Hey guys, i was flicking through the manual last night and came across the section which had info about driving etc. I saw a section which said that you could switch from " 1 to 2 to D3 to D" ( since i drive Auto :o ) and was wondering if i could drive it in the sense of a manual car. I did not want to attempt this, JUST incase something stuffed up the mechanism. For example, shifting from gear 1 to 2 then to D3 then to D without stopping the car. Would this be safe?

[GSi_PSi]

if it says it in the manual why not, just dont do it too much i guess

[act_gooner]

People do this a lot, I don't really know why though, doesn't make that much of a difference.

[shadou]

... it is safe, pointless but safe. the gearing is mainly designed for towing or going uphills which will require more torque from a lower gear.
If something stuffed up whilst doing it, I'd probably think you were in one gear red lining the crap out of it

[na-118]

b&m hammer shift yo

[ekay1]

Yeah, i tried it out just then, it isnt that smooth either which is a shame and downshifting stuffs up the gears i think. judging by the sound, isnt a good idea. I wasnt redline shifting, shifted at around 3-4k and it was alright... but isnt as great as i was expecting it to be. Thanks guys

[beeza]

haha yeah Timmy (ekcoupe) was doing the same thing - All the time.

So he sold his auto and bought a manual :)

Best soulution!

OR

Just leave it in D and concentrate on ya lines,like me hehehe

[kccord]

Just, please just don't try to make it 'sound' a manual by backing off your accelerator pedal before it shifts like some kids do.

[cheapdouchebag]

Just, please just don't try to make it 'sound' a manual by backing off your accelerator pedal before it shifts like some kids do.

hey! i do that rofls in my civic sedan but not so much anymore cause ive got a manual to drive nows LOLOL

[ekay1]

Just, please just don't try to make it 'sound' a manual by backing off your accelerator pedal before it shifts like some kids do.

I was planning to use it for fun purposes.....

[Bulbasaur]

i herd getting a manual shiftboot on an auto makes you go faster aswell :o http://www.ozhonda.com/forum/showthread.php?78768-D.I.Y.-Shift-Boot-on-AUTO-CIVIC-FD&highlight=diy+shift+boot

[viinnh]

Yeah, i tried it out just then, it isnt that smooth either which is a shame and downshifting stuffs up the gears i think. judging by the sound, isnt a good idea. I wasnt redline shifting, shifted at around 3-4k and it was alright... but isnt as great as i was expecting it to be. Thanks guys

did you let go of the gas pedal ? you needa do that to make it smooth LOL

[SajadEG]

a guy that lives near me drives like that in his holden...dont know why you would want it to sound manual, i lol everytime i see it happen

[aero]

Yeah, i tried it out just then, it isnt that smooth either which is a shame and downshifting stuffs up the gears i think. judging by the sound, isnt a good idea. I wasnt redline shifting, shifted at around 3-4k and it was alright... but isnt as great as i was expecting it to be. Thanks guys

were u doing this in ur FD? ive only just recently started mucking around with the auto gears in mine... trying to see if it makes any difference in the 0-100km time lol. it gets boring in an auto car. my manual licence is going to waste lol! but i was given the car from my parents, so it'll do until i can scrape up a decent amount of money for my own vehicle.

[Bludger]

whats the point?

seriously fail subject.

[ekcoupe]

haha yeah Timmy (ekcoupe) was doing the same thing - All the time.

So he sold his auto and bought a manual :)

Best soulution!

OR

Just leave it in D and concentrate on ya lines,like me hehehe

Yes!! i was doing it for a few months, don't know why lol, but it didnt do any damage an it should be fine;)

[ekay1]

i herd getting a manual shiftboot on an auto makes you go faster aswell :o http://www.ozhonda.com/forum/showthread.php?78768-D.I.Y.-Shift-Boot-on-AUTO-CIVIC-FD&highlight=diy+shift+boot
AHahah, im gonna try this one day!!

did you let go of the gas pedal ? you needa do that to make it smooth LOL
Like completely foot off? nahh, my foot was still on the gas pedal LOL ><

were u doing this in ur FD? ive only just recently started mucking around with the auto gears in mine... trying to see if it makes any difference in the 0-100km time lol. it gets boring in an auto car. my manual licence is going to waste lol! but i was given the car from my parents, so it'll do until i can scrape up a decent amount of money for my own vehicle.
Yeahhh man, FD1. Yeah, im sorta bored of it already, and in wet weather, uphill, the tyres lost traction LOL. Same here, my parents got me a FD1, dont want to disrespect them and just sell the car to get a manual one.

Yes!! i was doing it for a few months, don't know why lol, but it didnt do any damage an it should be fine;)
It was so cool at first, but im bored of it already LOL i just do it when im really bored.

[viinnh]

well same motion as a manual car just no clutch LOL

[curtis265]

yeah +1 pointless, cos if you gun it, it gives you redline shifts anyway

those gears are more for downhilling

[pizza_boy]

imho, if there was no point there would be only 1 drive gear on all autos...

[curtis265]

wtf u smoking?

The auto shifts for you, theres no point 'letting it shift' when it was either gonna shift after you put it in 2 (when it's still climbing), or it's waiting to shift and bouncing at the redline

[drsilliez]

buy a real manual.

if u wanna shift, get manual. Dont pretend that ur driving manual.

Pls dont tell me ur one of those ppl too that put the transmission into neutral so the car rolls back a bit and then into drive to drive off (to imitate a manual....)

[mikey72]

i do this in my auto, except ive got this weird thing in mine where i move the stick to the right and it lets me manually select gears, crazy huh?

[Bulbasaur]

btw your going to look like this doing it http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVwq27De4NI

[ekcoupe]

i do this in my auto, except ive got this weird thing in mine where i move the stick to the right and it lets me manually select gears, crazy huh?

thats a semi automatic transmisson or tiptronic transmission the prelude also have them

[act_gooner]

^^HAHAHAH saw that ages ago, could never find it again.

[mikey72]

thats a semi automatic transmisson or tiptronic transmission the prelude also have them

Really? i thought i had a hollinger sequential dogbox :P

[ekay1]

wtf u smoking?

The auto shifts for you, theres no point 'letting it shift' when it was either gonna shift after you put it in 2 (when it's still climbing), or it's waiting to shift and bouncing at the redline

But Curtis, isnt the 1st and 2nd gear when you towing heavy items or if you dont want the gear to change? its like D3 which stops it from cycling to 4th gear etc

buy a real manual.

if u wanna shift, get manual. Dont pretend that ur driving manual.

Pls dont tell me ur one of those ppl too that put the transmission into neutral so the car rolls back a bit and then into drive to drive off (to imitate a manual....)

Thing is, im not going to sell my car just so i can drive manual. And no, i do not put it in neutral so the car looks like its rolling back.

[veloce]

There are some situations where switching to D3-2-1 is handy. Some of which is already mentioned but ill list them anyway.
1) Travelling uphill when you need the torque. (especially when there is alot of corners the auto can't decide what gear to use)
2) Travelling downhill in 60 zones. D3 can hold the speed up so you won't have to ride the brake to avoid speeding.
Worst case scenario is travelling downhill for a long period of time. I've seen friends ride the brake the whole way down and by the end we've had to pull over and let their brakes cool down.
3) Entering/overtaking on the freeway. I find my Integra's auto to be laggy when switching gears.
Other than that switching the automatic transmission manually is pretty pointless.

[butter]

Is engine braking damaging an automatic transmission? I dont know how they work.

[curtis265]

nah. it's not.

not unless ur forcing it to rev match and go into 1st gear when doing 70km/h

[ekay1]

When i downshift from like D3 to 2, the car feels heavy, and slows down a considerable amount, is that bad for the gears?

[minircc]

hahaha.. this was tested many years ago.
flooring the accelerator on an auto is faster than going through the 4 speed manual change. (guaranteed).

another use for manual shifting an auto would be to hang onto a gear for cornering.
autos always shift a little too early as soon as you lift off.

[ekay1]

^ So technically, in a straight line, 0-60, the auto is faster? Just in corners, manual gives you control?

[aero]

btw your going to look like this doing it http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVwq27De4NI

LMAO that's hilarious!

[ekay1]

LMAO that's hilarious!

OMG LOL WTF IS THAT HAHAHHAHAHH! man my parents were like " what are you watching" HAHAH

[butter]

nah. it's not.

not unless ur forcing it to rev match and go into 1st gear when doing 70km/h


Then what about, say travelling 60km/h, changing to N then putting it back into D?

Thanks for the help! I like engine braking :P

[curtis265]

I think that's also trying to rev match. I tried it in my GF's car once, made a weird noise and a horrible jerk. Never doing that again...

[drsilliez]

i dont even understand why u guys are even doing that...its an auto for a reason.....lol

[ekay1]

^ but its also got the other gears for a reason too :P

[speedysteve]

i always do put it in N when goin downhills to save petrol lol :P and same i found driving auto its getting boring already and now i always go through gears from D1 to D2.. to D haha
im gonna sell my civic soon to get a manual car :)

[veloce]

Is it really using that much petrol anyway? Assuming that when you're travelling downhill you aren't using the accelerator.

[FDBenni]

no putting it in N while going downhill is just dangerous and stupid, you will hardly notice any difference in fuel consumption if at all.

[ekay1]

Why is that benni?

[speedysteve]

Is it really using that much petrol anyway? Assuming that when you're travelling downhill you aren't using the accelerator.

probably not much but i can see the the rev go drop down to 1000rpm when i put it in N, which mean use less petrol..

[FDBenni]

Just because your revs are lower it doesnt mean it's using less fuel. If you're going downhill your foot would be off the throttle so no air goes in therefore injectors will be shut, so no fuel is used.

Also putting it in neutral means you are NOT in control of the car, which is why its dangerous.

[ekay1]

But you can still brake

[FDBenni]

which is also not as effective because you have no engine brake at all while coasting.

[curtis265]

Benni is correct - injectors shut of completely so your fuel consumption is zero. If you're in an emergency situation where u need to accelerate, you'd be screwed if ur in N too.

[tinymoon]

I usually shift to N when waiting for green light specially at turn right lane (it takes too long to turn green light on). Save some fuel and release my foot off from beake pedal.
I sometimes shift from D to D3 when uphill (give engine more torque) or downhill (hold the speed)
Some say it will damage the gearbox to shift to N but i ask dealer, tech guys, mechanic guys, 9 out og 10 say it is ok to do so.

I almost never used 1 or 2

[dness]

Shifting to Neutral while waiting for the green light doesn't make as much difference as you would think.
Shifting the gear stick on auto too often ain't too much of a great idea either. So I wouldn't bother but whatever gives you peace of mind eh?

[curtis265]

I hate the vibrations from leaving it in D at the lights. Feels like you're doing your torque converter a favour

[drsilliez]

no putting it in N while going downhill is just dangerous and stupid, you will hardly notice any difference in fuel consumption if at all.


Just because your revs are lower it doesnt mean it's using less fuel. I

Also putting it in neutral means you are NOT in control of the car, which is why its dangerous.


Benni is correct - injectors shut of completely so your fuel consumption is zero. If you're in an emergency situation where u need to accelerate, you'd be screwed if ur in N too.

correct. this topic actually has been discussed many times before. Not sure if on ozhonda but definitely on other sites.

If i can remember correctly, it actually doesnt use less petrol but can be more. If in neutral (when ur coasting to a stop), wheels not spinning engine, so has to keep on injecting fuel to keep engine spinning hence using more fuel. Also the function of RPM to fuel consumption is like a positive parabola graph (if you guys understand maths) with the point of inflection around 2.5-4k (depending on the car and engine). So you use more fuel at lower rpms, as rpms reach around 3k, fuel consumption is lower then as ur increase rpms, fuel consumption increase again.
(dont tell me how that works, someone with more engine smarts might be able to explain that but thats what i remember)

there was a graph somewhere, i will try to find it.

Also like mentioned above, its bloody dangerous to cruise (slow down) or stay at the lights in neutral. For example, In an emergency, you would not have time to switch to drive and instinctly you would probably step on the acelerator but the car will go no where coz its not in gear. (like a car swerves towards you or something....)

[drsilliez]

^^...

for the H22 engine...

http://asia.vtec.net/beystock/honda/preludes/a25.jpg

and a random pic i found on the net...

(ignore the with and without graphs...its the basic form which im tryin to get at)

http://www.powerupusa.net/i/Figure%202%20-%20Fuel%20Consumption%20vs%20RPM.jpg

[Bludger]

what?

yeah ok. go ahead.

[curtis265]

Apparently in my car the gearbox shifts down for you once you floor the accelerator....which has happened to me while cornering or turning at roundabouts which is pretty awesome (because I pump the accelerator at corners. I reckon it gives me better traction and plus its carry-on speed)-more speed through the corners. The manual said the downshifts can be down 1 or 2 gears depending on the speed. It also said that you can use the 1,2,D3 and D4 to drive like a manual but without the clutch! Just need to press the release button going from 3 to 2 to 1. It also said you can shift down to D3 or 2 for engine braking down hills to save your brakes. HAHA that's an all clear from the manual to use the gearbox to engine brake and drive like a manual when I'm in the mood. Some other autos do funny things when you change the way you use the brake pedal and accelerator too. Most cars will shift down for you once you floor the accelerator and some cars even engine brake by downshifting for you when you tap the brakes while going downhill where it can sense your acceleration.

all autoboxes do this... lol!



In my opinion that's a big thumbs up for auto... haha not bad for a noob thing

Just a postscript
Manual says for auto the max speed of each gear is as follows
gear speed(km/h)
1 59
2 123
D3 159
D4 Max

So the other day I was redlining it on D4 at about 120km/h plus a few more I think? So I think that corresponds to gear 2 which my car let me stay on but that was my engine pre-sevice. I think the computer works a little differently to compensate for the service now but still i find that pretty amazing.

Engine doesn't knwo when it's been serviced, it doesn't feel wear and tear.. ur wallet does.

Yes you were in second gear. It's quite easy to tell. In most cars the gears top out at those sort of range


at least ur learning :thumbsup:

[Wilco]

There are some situations where switching to D3-2-1 is handy. Some of which is already mentioned but ill list them anyway.
1) Travelling uphill when you need the torque. (especially when there is alot of corners the auto can't decide what gear to use)
2) Travelling downhill in 60 zones. D3 can hold the speed up so you won't have to ride the brake to avoid speeding.
Worst case scenario is travelling downhill for a long period of time. I've seen friends ride the brake the whole way down and by the end we've had to pull over and let their brakes cool down.
3) Entering/overtaking on the freeway. I find my Integra's auto to be laggy when switching gears.
Other than that switching the automatic transmission manually is pretty pointless.

Well said, with 100% righteousness ;):honda:
thats exactly what i do, esp on downhills, uphills, or if you want the responsiveness when stuck in traffic at snail paced speeds.

in toyota's d3 is overdrive off. and on that note, i read the camry user manuals that state that if you want to shift to 1 - you have to do so at a stand still, and its recommended to be used when towing. i assume its the same logic with auto hondas.

either way, if you are shifting without the intention of using it with the purposes of what veloce pointed out, u are ruining your auto gearbox. your money in the pocket or in a mechanic's - your choice :)

[butterfingers]

123 in 2nd? tall gear ratio hmm

[dogcivic]

Did this once in my old civic. And fully impressed the chicks

[jeremydawg]

^they still talk about it to this day