Manual Shift in an Auto, Good or bad?

[CaRtZ]

i used the 1,2,3 for a while but when i down shifted from 2nd to 1st @ about 30km and there was a severe 'clunck' type noise come from the other side of the firewall i stopped... and i dont notice a difference between PWR & ECON except for the change from 1st to 2nd being @ about 70km instead of 80....

[Hybrid34]

Originally Posted by brlucas

yeh ash! hahaha

haha well for those who can't afford a tranny have to look for other resorts:P, but yeah apparnlty manual shifting in an auto IS a VERY bad thing, from what mechanics have told me, their only ment to be used for towing ecetera ecetera!

[dobz]

well working with a few cabbies i would say no its not good for a car.
shift up and down and youll have to fork put money to get it fixed sooner or later. dont no if anybody notices but its called automatic meaning you aint supposed to do it. better spend the money and get a manual onversion.

on the other hand shifting up puts lot less stress on it then downshifting so you can get away with it.

[Rollin]

If you are going to just plant it off the lights, starting in first and manually clicking it up through the gears is ok, if pointless - if you move the lever too early the car will just stay in the gear it is in until it is good and ready to change, and if you hold it in gear longer then you are likely going well past peak power before you shift, and you will be going slower than just leaving it in D with the power button on.

Shifting down is another story. If you can match revs, that puts less stress on the sprag clutch, but at the same time, WTF is the point? You would have to be left foot braking or heel/toeing to match revs, and considering the car is in gear the engine would momentarily be trying to overpower the brakes....making your stopping distance longer.

If you must shift down, (say, going for a fang in the mountains) come up to the corner, brake as normal, then just before you hit the gas pull the lever back to the gear you want, so it shifts down under power rather than deceleration.

Driving around in 3rd does no harm either - 3rd AFAIK does not use the sprag clutch to provide engine braking, as it is a 1:1 ratio, I think the engine braking is applied through the clutch packs instead.

Autos are exactly that - throw it in D or 3 and leave it alone! If you feel the need to choose your own gears put a T5 in and drop about a second off your quarter mile time at the same time...

[EBTom]

Thats good to know. Would you expect using 3rd around town to have better or worse fuel economy? My trip computer says better but it plays funny buggers sometimes.

[Jesk]

Originally Posted by EBTom

Any harm in using 3rd around town (under 60kmh)? I dont know if its accurate or not, but I seem to get better fuel economy doing this, maybe because you dont have to use as much throttle to constantly kick down from 4th? Does this sound right or is my trip computer playing mind games?
I find it helps to avoid speeding due to the degree of engine braking compared to 4th.

Yeah i do that all the time also cos it saves the extra shifts if you cruise very lightly and get it going in to overdrive and then having to change back to third once you need even the slightest throttle, it's not the easiest to test for me cos the trip computer doesn't like the LPG :Reverend:

[TUF.EB]

Is there anyway to manualise the shift in the Auto?

Bit like a hydrolic auto with a full manual valve body in it?

So no chance of kick down, and you can say take off in 2nd and it wont kick into first, or plant it in 3rd and wont kick down to 2nd.

Thanks, sorry for the slight chance in topic. I presume you can do it as the ford auto's shift is determined by electronicsand not hydrolic pressure?

[Rollin]

Not sure if you would get better or worse fuel economy - probably depends on the kind of driving - if you were driving along a flat road @ 60 for ages and ages then I'd drop it into 4th to bring the revs down, but in traffic or in hilly areas I leave it in 3rd, saves the auto shifting 11tybillion times per kilometer = less heat and wear on the box.

TUF.EB I think you can get full manualised BTRs, don't really know. Give MV Automatics a ring and see what they say. They are in melbourne too

[JC]

As long as you just go D-3-2 on downshifts, you will be fine. Going to 1 is when you start damaging the box (at slow speed it's OK though - it does it itself anyway).

I use manual downshifts on my auto everyday, on every roundabout, and most intersections. It's still as strong as the day it was rebuilt.

[naughtyfalcon]

as has been said you must remember they are called automatic for a reason,i've been warned by a transmission specialist that manual shifting an auto is very bad and they don't like it,the only time i manually shift is from 4th to 3rd going up a hill or when stuck behind a slower vehicle going down a hill,,i have used 2nd a few times but only to save the brakes from over heating..

[DIFFWA]

lmao if you wanna manual change rip the auto out and put a manual in insted mmmmm more direct power and no auto lag

[JC]

Originally Posted by Psycho_EA

lmao if you wanna manual change rip the auto out and put a manual in insted mmmmm more direct power and no auto lag

Certainly not as much power loss from a manual, but what is auto lag? Autos change faster than most manual drivers could ever hope for. It's just the torque reduction strategy built into the ECUs that limit the power at takeoff in an auto. Get rid of the TRS tags via an edit, and suddenly the autos become far better than manuals in every way.

[Rollin]

Maybe a kitted auto could outshift a manual box, but I could read a novel in between the shifts of a stock BTR.

I reckon any auto falcon doing a 13.00 or slower would shave tenths by fitting a manual and having a decent driver at the helm - not only because of the lower power loss through the box, but the physical weight of the box as well, shorter first gear etc.

Manual cars also tend to have a better 'tone' from the exhaust too - autos are a lot more "droney"

[DIFFWA]

Originally Posted by JC

Certainly not as much power loss from a manual, but what is auto lag? Autos change faster than most manual drivers could ever hope for. It's just the torque reduction strategy built into the ECUs that limit the power at takeoff in an auto. Get rid of the TRS tags via an edit, and suddenly the autos become far better than manuals in every way.

Yeah true that but there still is nothing better than a manual with a nice exhaust pop the clutch in and a quick rev.

autos change quicker as with a manual you have to throw the stick so far to get a gear short shift it less distance from gear to gear, learn to drive a crash box and the gear stick and clutch pedal co-ordanation will be in sync :evil_laug

[petera]

a agree with rollin my falcon hits red line in drive so what makes you think that you know better then the computer! if you are using the auto box as a manual just to stuff around then go for it, but other then that its pointless

[brlucas]

i dunno bout fords much but if possible try looking through getting a conversion to manual:P hehe the guys on r31 club do it all the time
they say its hard tho:P