NABU6

iTrader: (9)

I read a few posts about manually shifting automatic transmissions. How is that done? Also, is it bad for the transmission? What is the difference between drive (D) drive 1, and 2? Later.

DAVE Sz

iTrader: (2)

Well 1 is 1st gear, 2 is 2nd gear and drive is all the gears. To shift the auto you start in 1 then 2 then D, of course you should take your foot off the gas while shifting.

WillMax95

i wouldnt reccommend doing it a lot...u really should only use that when driving conditions are bad, for exmaple, i shift to 2 when going down hill in the snow.

Kevlo911

iTrader: (36)

WHy would you do that? The auto shifts the same weather the foot is on the gas or not, actualy when you shift w/o foot on gas the car jerks becuase the tranny shifts when you hit hte gas again or it shifts a few secs with foot off gas.

Manualy shifting is not anyworse then letting the tranny shift at red in "D"
On the track, its better to shift at 6500 in first gear becuase you use the full powerband.

Mmmaxx

Yeah Manual shifting an auto isn't bad, however manually downshifting can eventually cause problems since there is more strain. I don't recommend downsifting to second unless your are below 40 mph, and I wouldn't ever recommend downshifting to first no matter how fast you are going. Even at a slow 10mph roll, kicking it into 1st gives you a bad jerk which the tranny was not built to handle, at least excessively.

SkyMaxGTR

although i dont recommend it, shifting up is okay, but downshifting is bad. i'll repeat it is BAD! although it is fun to shift down to 2 and get immediate response and be able to pull hard, it is HIGHLY NOT recommended. i'm 17 and of course i'm goin to do this when i'm cruising with my buddys, and with my little knowledge, i did it, and i noticed the tranny wearing down slowly over time. conditions such as shifting later in the RPMS then usually in normal driving, overreving when i'm WOT. so definetly dont do, for the sake of the car, just dont. cuz now my trannys F'ed up and i'm in the middle of doing my 5 Speed conversion. unless you want to do a 5 speed swap and you need a legite reason to do it, then i suggest downshift, cuz its a fast way to get it messed up. another good and fast way to F up a tranny is to do a burnout doing the Neutral Drop. Neutral Drop means applying the parking brake, stick it into Neutral, rev it up close to redline for a few seconds, then droping it into Drive while still on the gas pedal. although the burnout ends up turning out great (because theres alot of smoke from the tires) its VERY BAD for transmission. doing this neutral drop, when your trannys already bad, can cause severe problems, such as having no REVERSE (its as if its another park gear for me, so that means no parking choice is limited), OR NEUTRAL (thats right no neutral, i can actually drive places in neutral).

THINGS YOU SHOULDN'T DO
1. Neutral Drop
2. Manually Down Shift
3. Some may argue whether this is good or bad but i say its Bad. Upshifting (and trust me, although it may feel like your pulling harder like this, your not, stay in drive)

THINGS YOU SHOULD DO
1.Take Good Care of the Maxima
2. Respect the Maxima
3.Be the Maxima hahaha Just kiddin lol

learn from my mistakes

NABU6

iTrader: (9)

So basically, you start of in Drive 1, then drop down to drive 2 then shift back up to driveD? Doing this will make the car perform better? It just seems alot, especially from 2 up to D.

SkyMaxGTR

i use to start in 1, but i realized it didn't do much help for me, so i stopped. then i read that 2 was good, so i put it into 2 before a race. but now after my tranny problem, i realized 2 didn't really do much either, and D is just the best way to go. then all you have to worry about is the signal to go, and power braking. Power braking is holding the brake with your left foot, and using the right foot to give alittle gas. press hard on the brake and give alil bit of gas till the RPMS are inbetween 1500 and 2000. when you do this the nose of the car will seem to lift. then as your signaled to go, let off the brake and give the gas.

SXN

really? *phew* i do it all the time in my corolla....because its boring to drive. is it specifically bad if i hold it in gear?

with my maxima, i generally do leave it in D though.

2 Da Max

iTrader: (2)

DONT DO ITTTTTTTTTTTT Dats the same way i messed up my tranny. Please its a painful experience to go through im only 16 and i have no money so now i am screwed because i have no car and no job.

2 Da Max

iTrader: (2)

I use to start out in D1 then shift up, and since the brakes are gay, i use to go at 50mph then put it one to slow down the car. Because of this hummer convention i went too they said to use the tranny to slow the car down, but i guess i shouldint have applied the same knowledge for the max

Wrightsfd

The Max is made to be left in D while driving. the 1 and 2 gears on the automatic are for when you are driving in very steep or snowy areas and want to use engine braking. There is no performance gain by holding the car in a lower gear unless you are accelerating at full throttle and want to hold the gear until redline. But as I have stick, I notice I get slightly better acceleration when shifting just under the redline which is about where the auto shifts anyway. If your car is totally modified you will maybe notice a difference, but otherwise stick to D and be happy or go buy a car with a stickshift.

SXN

um....its a simple concept of drag caused by the transmission. its cool for manuals, and off roading, but whats cheaper to repair...trans or brake pads?

-=PK=-Maxima

brake pads duh......

clee130

You want to manually shift?

Go buy a 5 speed.

It's called an automatic for a reason.

SXN

lesson learned!

BSwithTF

iTrader: (8)

Daily driving - leave it in D
Drag Racing w/ VI & JWT ECU - manually shift

I tried manually shifting it at the track before VI and ECU and it yielded the same times. Now that I have the 7k redline, I have to shift it manually to get it to go up to redline. My friends like to give me crap when I "miss a shift" (hit the rev limiter) in my auto.

So, in a nutshell, unless you are running a VI w/ JWT ECU there's no need to manually shift it.

s3roush628

You guys are right that even in racing situations you should probably just leave it in drive with possible overdrive off (read it on maximadriver.com, eh) but I usually engine break in 2nd when I'm going about 30 down a hill and then engine break in 1st going down another hill at 10 mph, is it realli that bad for my tranny? the revs dont climb very much when it matches the speeds and the car doesnt jolt :-/ tell me what you guys think

Torgus

iTrader: (10)

let it shift on your own. all you do is create more wear. your 1/4 will not be any faster. if you want to shift buy a 5 speed or get a VB mod if your happy with your auto

2 Da Max

iTrader: (2)

wait, why can i not leave it in ova drive?

clee130

First off, didn't we already tell you that the slang English was annoying? It's "overdrive", not "ova drive".

Second, you can leave it in overdrive. In fact, for normal daily driving, you should just leave overdrive turned on.

TonyGotSkilz

iTrader: (6)

Actually i tested this at the track also, i also at the same time tested the drop resistor mod (where you rewire your auto tranny to shift with full line pressure)...to my surprise i ran consistantly better with no drop resistor mod, and not shifting myself.... up to .2 seconds better actually... AND i tested the drop mod, manual shift first, while the car was cool, and even as the car got hot cause i did most of the runs in a row, i still consistantly did better all night not shifting just leaving it in d...i tested each configuration at least 3 times.... Only time i down shift is to pass on roads with a single yellow dash, cause that extra little umpf gets me back on my side of the road faster....I do upshift sometime for fun, because our car has insane torque in first gear and when your not sure someone wants to race you and you don't floor it off the line, if your not in first manually you won't catch the right gear to go if he does decide he wants some and you'll get blow anyway by anything cause the auto max is REALLY bad at rolling starts from 5-10 mph.....

MaxedOutOfCash

i once did a neutral drop at 6500rpm....
needless to say i towed the car from that place...

Sam

VQvroom

manually shifting the automagic gives you control over the shifts.
If i dont start out in 1st my car seems to jump into 2nd a little early unless WOT.
I would not recommend power braking to 2000rpm, simply bc your OEM torque convertor is not made for this and it will stress the transmission.

I would also recommend a trans cooler for all those with automagics out there if your rough on the pedal.

2 Da Max

iTrader: (2)

is it hard to hook up a tranny cooler?

Kevlo911

iTrader: (36)

no its not, look at the how to's link in my sig

CystumMax

Tyrexx

iTrader: (23)

When seriously racing high speeds, i'll put it in 2, let it go up to 6300 then go to D, when D gets to 6500 turn on OD. (Only once have I been this far, 125+. sort of scary )

I put it in 2 because otherwise theres a delay in acceleration when the car shifts into 3rd at only 6000, it IS faster when manually going to 3rd gear, Also I shift at 6300 because there is a small delay before it actually shifts.

Only twice have I gone WOT all the way up to 4th, I turned OD on right at 6500 because I did noticed before it will kick right in to 4th, where as there is a delay going into 3rd for some reason.

It's amazing how fast a max pulls after a Y-pipe, Its crazy.

Tyrexx

iTrader: (23)

You want to manually shift?

Go buy a 5 speed.

It's called an automatic for a reason.
+




I seriously do plan on getting a 5-spd. I have approx. 1 Year left on my current loan. It will be much less time if I get another job soon.

I couldnt wait for a 5spd, I was looking for 3 MONTHS!!! Then out of nowhere my dad's girlfriend says shes selling her AUTO, For $3000 less than what I would have paid for a 5spd.

but you can mark my words, I will get a 5spd max ASAP!!!!

SXN

indulge us with that story

MaxedOutOfCash

hehe don't wanna ***** up the thread....but to be short...it was tried to be rebuilt 5 TIMES and I ended up getting a new one for free

2 Da Max

iTrader: (2)

alrite im kind of confuse cuz i dont want to blow my tranny agen. So basically i should not manual shift, and i should leave the over drive off? i also notice wen im crusin i turn off the overdrive and the car kinda slows down.

Nismotic

iTrader: (25)

honestly dont do anything w/it. Its an auto...leave it like that (i have one too, dont worry). But in a nut shell, its cool to start on 1st...shift to 2nd...then to drive, but never shift from D...to 2nd...to 1st.

Bmr4life

I put my car in 2nd gear at every time I stop. Then I floor it when I take off. When i get to about 40mph, i shift it to D. then i'm good to go. But I do this because my trans is f'd and it won't do jack if I try to start off in Drive.

s3roush628

How does that make u go faster though? wouldnt it start in first gear and not shift till 6000 if you floored it on Drive? i dont see how it would be any easier on your transmission either, since the tranny would shift the same way it would if you had it in drive under WOT. Maybe you know something I dunt...

SXN

it isnt about going as fast as possible when you are just driving around. he is talking what he does daily...

lzaffu1

When driving in mountainous or hilly areas, you are supposed to downshift when going down the steep grades. Riding on your brakes = bad. If you do it for too long they will overheat and you will lose them, which means you go for a nice ride off a cliff. This is supposed to be common sense, but you'd be surprised how few people know it. Everytime I take a trip up to the smokies, I'm surrounded by cars that all smell like asbestos because they have been using thier brakes too much and never downshift.

Matt_NZ

Yeah, I downshift my auto when driving down mountains. I don't see how it's all that damaging to downshift as long as you're not doing huge RPM's,. The manual even suggests downshifting to 1 & 2 for engine breaking on steep hill climbing, the only warning given about downshifting is that it's dangerous to do so on slippery surfaces (loss of control). I don't think Nissan would suggest something that is damaging.

clee130

Obviously, for most people, daily driving doesn't include driving in the mountains.

Yes, 1st and 2nd gear are there for a reason. And it's not so you can speed off from a red light faster to show off and look cool.

For normal daily driving, leave the it in D and make sure the OD light is off meaning that OD is on.

ohannon7

iTrader: (5)

Some people are from places flat as a pancake so it wouldnt be common sense. Ive always been told its horrible to down shift an auto......