How much permanent damage to the gearbox ?

Ice_warmer

Ice_warmer

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ok so not long ago i finally after 18 years got my licence :cool:, so i drive manual, and beeing concentrated at mirrors, blind spots, kamikaze pedestrians, signs, road ahead, road in front, brake/accelerate:

i once, actually depressed the clutch and then stick into 3rd, after i've heard the gears grinding imediatly put in into neutral, and a second time halfway thorugh changeing gears i drepressed the clutch. Stupid right , yeah ...

though the level of my skills is debateable i wonder, how much permanent damage did i make to the transmission ?
 
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I suspect your synchros are not too happy with you right now but AFAIK once or twice won't do much damage.
 
Once or twice won't make a world of a difference, just try not to do it again.
 
When driving a stick, I almost never depress the clutch until i'm in neutral. Old habit from driving a truck with no syncros and having to double clutch...

@Topic: I'm gonna guess you haven't done much damage in the long run, just don't do it again. ;)
 
Well, moving the stick into neutral doesn't really require the clutch, so you're ok there.
 
When learning you could hear me coming up the road by the gears crunching and screeching. It should be OK.
 
I'm afraid it's a complete loss. Catastrophic failure is surely imminent.












:lol: :D
 
Cobol74 said:
Nah - you exagerate.
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When my friend first drove a manual car (a brand new mustang gt with the salesman in the car with him) he was attempting to downshift while slowing down, like he had seen me do. Unfortunately, he didn't see that i was heel/toe rev matching as well, so he just dropped each gear and let out the clutch....all the way down to 1st gear at 15mph. Needless to say he locked up the rear wheels and the salesman wasn't happy.
 
ugh?
just press the clutch as soon and as fast as you can. besides i have a trouble seeing how you could declutch while changing gears? i mean it doesn't take that long to change a gear now, does it?

but other than that. try not to do it again.

on a side note, the manual of my 1979 alfa actually stated that you can indeed change gears without touching the clutch - but at a very specific rev.count - and you wouldn't get the grinding noises of hell. i still wouldn't recommend doing that though.
 
liquide said:
on a side note, the manual of my 1979 alfa actually stated that you can indeed change gears without touching the clutch - but at a very specific rev.count - and you wouldn't get the grinding noises of hell. i still wouldn't recommend doing that though.
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There are plenty of people who race traditional gearboxes (ie, no synchros) and never use the clutch at all. There are even more who upshift with the clutch and left-foot-brake with no clutch. It just takes rhythm and feel. It's not a whole lot of a stretch to go from a racing shift (just kind of dabbing the clutch) to no clutch at all.

Any normal H-pattern gearbox can be upshifted and downshifted without the clutch. It's a good skill to learn in case you loose the clutch and is definitely the fastest shift on a racetrack. It's not that much harder on the dogs than a normal "for speed" shift.

Emil, the only thing you might've done is scrape the face dog a bit. Worst case scenario that gear might feel a little vague if you did it really hard.
 
liquide said:
on a side note, the manual of my 1979 alfa actually stated that you can indeed change gears without touching the clutch - but at a very specific rev.count - and you wouldn't get the grinding noises of hell. i still wouldn't recommend doing that though.
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My dad is good and can shift thought all the gears in our truck, never touching the clutch and there is no rev. counter to help you out. Annoys the hell out of me because I still haven't mastered it :p.

On topic: What everyone else said, try not to do it again but it is not the end of the world. :)
 
McLightning95 said:
My dad is good and can shift thought all the gears in our truck, never touching the clutch and there is no rev. counter to help you out. Annoys the hell out of me because I still haven't mastered it :p.
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Trick there. Put a very small amount of pressure on the gear stick on the gear you want to go in. Not so much as that you hear a grinding noise, that's bad, obviously. But you should feel the dogs barely touching. When you think the revs are dropping into the shift window, put a little more pressure and the gear will suck right in.
 
I can upshift no clutch if I'm careful enough, but I've never tried downshifting like that. Just sounds bad...
 
thanks, this kept my mind going for some days now, though after it happened i was constantly switching gears to see if i didn't damage the syncros, it changes preety clean, but now i always have this experience replaying in the back of my mind when going for a gear change, oh and when i depressed the clutch and sticked it into third, i was actually trying to hell and toe down shift, and failed miserably.

Anyways now i'm a little more carefull, i really can't say the words that came to mind right after failing to shift
 
i actually feel much better right now,my dad after starting the engine cold, at an outside temperature of -2 celsius, freezing temperature for non-metric people revs it to 4500rpm in first and second sometimes, so on the long run, i'm a smooth driver, after starting the engine i rarely get over 2500 rpm.
 
damn it, did it again today, seems that after long drives and after people telling me constatly while driving"there is a car on the left, you are on the road, there is sky straight up, do you know we breath air ?" beeing tired, am starting to loose concentration, and missed second gear starting of at the lights, damn it, this is going to haunt me for days.
I'm really starting to worry about iron filings buliding up in the gearbox oil wearing or possibly destroying the box prematurely. Any thoughts ?
 
Don't worry about it.
 
Really, don't worry about it.

I've done it a few times as well, and I'd be surprised if my mom isn't guilty of it too. Nothing at all wrong.

Obviously it's not healthy for the gearbox, but it is definitely not going to breake just because you've done it a few times.

You're a new driver, in time you will gett better. I've been driving for two years now, and i'm still learning how to get smoother with my shifting. Mainly when i'm downshifting. I've still to master heel and toe, but my foot just doesn't seem to bend that way :p I can upshift without the clutch, and my downshift are pretty decent.. It's actually quite entertaining trying to master it completelt :) One of the main reasons i wouldn't buy a slushbox :p
 
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