My Car Jerks In 2nd Gear!!

[BaCiLoN]

I'm trying to figure out what's wrong w/ my car...whenever I'm in 2nd gear, my car jerks when I press the gas. It's fine when the car is in neutral or in any other gear...does anyone have an idea what that could be??

 

[JCell]

too much power!!!

 

[fkmp5]

are you romping on the gas pedal? try just barely resting your foot on the gas pedal.. you won't notice it, but you'll actually be depressing it just a little bit.. this should be plenty to keep the car going.. if you push it too much at once, it can make the car buck..

 

[BaCiLoN]

ha...no, I'm really not. Let's say I switch from 1st to 2nd gear...as soon as I touch the pedal, it jerks, especially in the lower rpms. The way I try to deal w/ the problem is putting it in neutral in the lower rpms. I don't know what it is, but it doesn't happen in any other gear.

 

[Micah]

bad coil maybe?

If he isn't having a problem with jerking in 1st or 3rd then I don't really see how it could be his foot tapping the throttle. Besides, the protege doesn't really have enough torque to cause something like that without a conscious effort by the right foot.

 

[Micah]

at what RPM's does this happen - does it happen while you are shifting into 2nd, or while you are in second?

 

[BaCiLoN]

Appreciate the feedback... Well this happens while I'm in 2nd gear only. Let me give a better example: if I'm going in 2nd gear about 15mph and let off the gas allowing the car to slow down about 5-10mph, then as soon as I touch the gas, it will jerk.

 

[Micah]

yep - that is torque - you gotta learn how to be smooth on the pedal

 

[toucci]

an awr front motor mount should eliminate this problem mostly. I have it and can now cruise in first and second easily, although it'll still jerk if I'm not careful

 

[Micah]

proper driving technique would eliminate this problem too. s***, if he thinks it's a problem in his car I'd love to see what would happen if he was driving my z.

But here's a thought - how fast is he going when this happens? Foot off the gas in second, you coast down to what speed before you start to accelerate again?

 

[BaCiLoN]

I don't think it's driving technique...My ex-girlfriends car was a Mercury Cougar 5-speed and I never experienced that kind of jerking.

 

[Sveivo]

I think I know what you mean, and I get this also. Basically, like fkmp5 said, it bucks. Every car does that. And yes I only notice it in 2nd (it does it in 1st too sometimes but I usually don't coast in 1st lol).

Edit: I guess you said the Cougar isn't doing it, but it's nothing to worry about imo.

 

[fkmp5]

yeah, maybe the cougar isn't as touchy as our car?? just a thought..

 

[Mike R]

Of ALL the many cars I've driven, the protege has the most lash in the mounts. That's why the first thing I bought was AWR engine mounts....

Your car might have broken a mount, the rear prolly is thrashed.

 

[BaCiLoN]

hmmm....a bit too technical for me to fix on my own (i'm definitely not a car expert). Maybe I'll take my car to get checked and see if my warranty will cover that...