is it bad to shift too early?.? (2nd to 3rd)

[pcpower]

I consistently find myself shifting from 2nd to 3rd, when below 3000 RPM. you know, when just driving at normal 30 mph speeds, I don't find myself pushing 2nd gear hard.

I hear this 'dropping sound' when I shift with such low RPM's,, that's the best way I can describe it. I imagine it has something to do with the engine not getting enough gas during the shift, so something just drops into place and off you go in 3rd gear.

is that bad for the engine?./?./.?

 

[GoFast]

shouldnt be. i do it all the time. you'll get better mpg's too

 

[mazdaspeed562]

now im not 100% percent sure but i was under the impression that short shifting was very hard on the turbo

 

[GoFast]

no, flooring it while short shifting is hard on the engine. in other words. you are cruising along at 50 in 6th and you floor it...that is hard on the engine.

 

[mazdaspeed562]

no, flooring it while flat shifting is hard on the engine. in other words. you are cruising along at 50 in 6th and you floor it...that is hard on the engine.

ahh thank you for clearing that up i was very nervous about..

 

[mazdaspeedster3]

no, flooring it while short shifting is hard on the engine. in other words. you are cruising along at 50 in 6th and you floor it...that is hard on the engine.

Yes, for hard acceleration you need to be in the appropriate gear. For cruising however it shouldnt matter. Much like not shifting into 3rd at all sometimes to go straight to fourth when say needing to cruise at a posted 45mph.

 

[Kain]

If it's a muffled thud sound, it's probably the engine rocking between shifts. You're probably not hearing it when shifting above 3k because 1) the engine is louder, and 2) you're more likely to shift faster at higher RPM. Do you have an aftermarket motor mount(s)?

 

[Silver Ecstasy]

If it's the sound i'm thinking off, you may just be pushing your shifter out of gear before you've completely depressed the clutch. I had that happen a few times.

Shifting early isn't ALWAYS good for MPG. If you're trying to accelerate quickly to 45mph, shifting underneath 3,000 is still going to put load on the enigne in low rpms = less gas mileage since you're still requiring the engine to command boost to build power, even if it's under that 3,000 rpms.

For example, I used to always get to 6th gear as quickly as possible, thinking that was the best thing for mileage.

But when I switched my Dashhawk to display 2 parameter Bar Graph, Vac/Boost and Engine Load, all I was doing is putting more load on the engine even though I was in a lower rpm range.

I'm sure you already know that, but if you didn't, now you know.

It's a 4 cyl, it's going to run at normal speeds in slightly higher rpms than a traditional v6 or v8 that you may have been used to in the past. Cruising at 2500 rpms isn't going to hurt anything, if anything you're putting extremely light load on the engine which is great for gas mileage. However, if you start to get into the 50-60mph range, then I'd definitely shift into 6th for optimum gas mileage.

 

[tiagotiago]

+1 on it not being a problem as long as you're not putting a serious load/flooring it afterwords.

And also +1 on what Silver Ecstasy said!

 

[Saskatchewan17]

No it's not a problem at all... are you new at driving stick? Because when I first started driving this car (first manual car) I would eff up all my shifts and the engine would bog because I didn't match the revs right and was too quick off the clutch... then the whole car jerks back and forth for a second while the revs match. It creates a "va-voooomm-boom-boom" sound... and jerks you around.

 

[coyfish]

The gears are so short in the speeds that many people start in 2nd gear from a stop sometimes. When im in city traffic where im going light to light ill shift like at 2200. I drive like a granny but i save gas that way. Its only bad if you push the engine when your in too high a gear.

 

[marashka]

Unless you accelerate hard from under 3k, it is not a problem. My style of driving is to avoid unnecessary downshifts - I do not shift up from below 3200-3500 rpm. In the manual it says at which speeds you need to change gears for normal driving, and it roughly equals to 3k + for each gear except for 5th-6th shift if i am not mistaken.

 

[pcpower]

No it's not a problem at all... are you new at driving stick? Because when I first started driving this car (first manual car) I would eff up all my shifts and the engine would bog because I didn't match the revs right and was too quick off the clutch... then the whole car jerks back and forth for a second while the revs match. It creates a "va-voooomm-boom-boom" sound... and jerks you around.

cool, I know what you mean. but no, not new @ driving stick,,,, I was thinking about it though, the reason I shift so early is because this car is so FAST~!!,, (stash) there are a lot of po-po around so I just take it easy and avoid speeding... it's hard not too speed (sort of) once you're above 3K... :]