Shifting an Automagic?
09-18-2005, 02:08 PM
#1
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Shifting an Automagic?
Here's a quick question......My friend, who has a Pontiac Grand Am 2.4 , shifts his auto manually to get his car to go a little faster. Since I have an "autotragic" '95 Max, I wanted to know whether anyone else has raced their Max auto, and shifted it 1>2>3>4 manually, or even if you can, since don't you have to use the brake to get the gear lever to move anyways?
Anyways, sorry for sounding so much like a noob, but I guess if I know what can be done, then i'll be that much more comfortable with having and suto and modding it.
Anyways, sorry for sounding so much like a noob, but I guess if I know what can be done, then i'll be that much more comfortable with having and suto and modding it.
09-18-2005, 02:26 PM
#2
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Ok...2 things...
1.) You don't have to use the brake to shift when you go from "D" to "2" or "1" All you have to do is hit that button on the side and slide the lever back.
2.) Shifting Manually in an autmatic is BAD. You will sorry later when you have to buy a new tranny. Everyone is going to tell you to just leave it in drive. Let is do what it has to do by its self. You don't have to worry about it.
If you want to do a mod that will make you tranny shift harder look in the stickes for a mod called the "Drop Resistor Mod" And even that will kill the life of your tranny.
1.) You don't have to use the brake to shift when you go from "D" to "2" or "1" All you have to do is hit that button on the side and slide the lever back.
2.) Shifting Manually in an autmatic is BAD. You will sorry later when you have to buy a new tranny. Everyone is going to tell you to just leave it in drive. Let is do what it has to do by its self. You don't have to worry about it.
If you want to do a mod that will make you tranny shift harder look in the stickes for a mod called the "Drop Resistor Mod" And even that will kill the life of your tranny.
09-18-2005, 03:25 PM
#3
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not flaming or anything, but how does that damage the tranny? May sound noob stupid, but how does going from 1>2>3>4 like the tranny would do anyways harmful ? Anyways, how harmful would that be compared to letting it shift at full pressure at WOT? One would think that shifting it a full line would be worse than simply shifting faster.
09-18-2005, 03:34 PM
#4
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Originally Posted by ArcticW
not flaming or anything, but how does that damage the tranny? May sound noob stupid, but how does going from 1>2>3>4 like the tranny would do anyways harmful ? Anyways, how harmful would that be compared to letting it shift at full pressure at WOT? One would think that shifting it a full line would be worse than simply shifting faster.
Will not hurt your car, engine braking by downshifting from D to 2 will eventually kill your trans as the clutches in your auto take the brunt of the down shifting
09-18-2005, 03:40 PM
#5
I have heard people turning on and off the overdrive, shifting 4>3, while driving and having no adverse effects. When manually shifting the auto the only thing i can tell that it does it gets the car to go all the way to redline, so when it engages again its higher up in the powerband and might cause a little more wear then usual? As long as its not done everytime you drive it should be ok, just like not flooring it all the time is a good thing to do. But im not a mechanic, so don't count on what I say as truth. Just don't be like my genius friend that left it in 1 till he hit the rev limiter, that was hilarious, because it wasn't my car, and because he was ahead of the other guy to that point.
09-18-2005, 03:55 PM
#6
Originally Posted by sunten1
"Drop Resistor Mod" And even that will kill the life of your tranny.
if u leave it in "D" it should redline anyways. everyone will tell u "its bad", "dont do it", but im sure once or twice wont hurt too much. unless its already going bad. i mean, "1" "2" are there for a reason rite, someone uses them im sure. like for towing things i guess
09-18-2005, 04:28 PM
#7
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But in "D" it shifts before redline. Ive seen my pal in a GA shift manually, and no grinding or tranny hiccups occur. I wouldn't do this anyways unless im racing someone, which is rare enough. I just want to be sure the principle goes the same for trannys in general. Like Max85 said, 1,2 are there for a reason.
It would go a long ways to settle this if someone actually has done this in their Max?
It would go a long ways to settle this if someone actually has done this in their Max?
09-18-2005, 06:31 PM
#8
Originally Posted by sunten1
.
If you want to do a mod that will make you tranny shift harder look in the stickes for a mod called the "Drop Resistor Mod" And even that will kill the life of your tranny.
If you want to do a mod that will make you tranny shift harder look in the stickes for a mod called the "Drop Resistor Mod" And even that will kill the life of your tranny.
however you dont really feel much of a gain if your N/A, and i knwo from personal experience. i still like the option though, and who knows maybe one day i wont be n/a.
09-18-2005, 06:56 PM
#9
Whats the point of going to redline? You're not near optimal powerband.
1 and 2 are there to hold a gear for engine braking or used during towing as recomended by the owners manual. Although you can use the gates to upshift.
1 and 2 are there to hold a gear for engine braking or used during towing as recomended by the owners manual. Although you can use the gates to upshift.
09-18-2005, 08:17 PM
#10
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The only reason you would want to do this is if you have MEVI or 00VI without ECU. Doing this would allow you to push the engine a little more into redline. Extremely pointless otherwise else. I only downshift my auto between 2-OD/Off-OD/ON . It probably is bad on your tranny to do this, but I don't care because I am trying to blow and ruin both my engine and my tranny. What better reason for 3.5 and 5-SPD swap?
09-18-2005, 09:12 PM
#11
Originally Posted by scrhale
but I don't care because I am trying to blow and ruin both my engine and my tranny. What better reason for 3.5 and 5-SPD swap?
Arctic, i have shifted "1" "2" "D" at the track once, for me it yielded times a tad slower, but i only did it once so its not an accurate experiment. but thats just my car. wen u do this u gotta be careful u dont push it from "2" to "N". scary sound. i dont know how the DR mod would work with that method though. i say just leave it in "D", less chance of screwing something up, but if u wanna try it go ahead.
I Manually Shift My Taurus All The Time, Especially In Traffic
09-18-2005, 09:20 PM
#13
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I replied to a post exactly like this about a month ago, I'll tell you what I have found personally to try and help.
I ran -many- test runs on my friends GTech trying to find the most effective and fastest way to shift. After all those runs, my fastest times (by far) were when I DID NOT power brake, left the car in "D", and let it redline/shift on its own. I don't know why a Max wouldn't redline automatically, every auto I've ever drived (maxima) always shifted at redline anyway.
I can also tell you from personal experience you don't want to downshift. At all.
Oh I forgot- MaximaSpd, have you ever heard the horrid sound when you go into "N" from "D" subconsciously, and then slip it into "R"? That one sucks.
I ran -many- test runs on my friends GTech trying to find the most effective and fastest way to shift. After all those runs, my fastest times (by far) were when I DID NOT power brake, left the car in "D", and let it redline/shift on its own. I don't know why a Max wouldn't redline automatically, every auto I've ever drived (maxima) always shifted at redline anyway.
I can also tell you from personal experience you don't want to downshift. At all.
Oh I forgot- MaximaSpd, have you ever heard the horrid sound when you go into "N" from "D" subconsciously, and then slip it into "R"? That one sucks.
09-19-2005, 07:51 AM
#15
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Its a matter of preference. I know that I can change the way the car shifts based on special conditions. ( i.e. ,ricer humiliations) . I just wanted to see if there were no adverse effects. I was wondering , if I have two other gates other than D , I should use them, right?
BTW,missing a gate and going to N instead of 2 would kill your track times, right?
BTW,missing a gate and going to N instead of 2 would kill your track times, right?
09-19-2005, 08:34 AM
#17
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Originally Posted by MaximaSpd85
Arctic, i have shifted "1" "2" "D" at the track once, for me it yielded times a tad slower,wen u do this u gotta be careful u dont push it from "2" to "N". scary sound.
Im saying, in this case, wouldn't the fact that missing the gear and going to N instead of D would be the reason why Maxspd85 had slower track times?
My main question is , would the car be faster if I manually shifted the car versus leaving it in D and brake tourqeing?
Sorry for the confusion.
09-19-2005, 09:16 AM
#18
im sorry, wut i meant to say was that i did complete a run once, yielded a slower time, but not by much cuz my car is really slow to begin with. the next time i got up there I went past "D" an into "N" thus ******* up my run. the stick bounced off redline like crazy...i thought i blew up my car.
09-19-2005, 09:29 AM
#19
i think the only advantage u would have by shifting it manually is it shifts wen u want it to shift. if u keep it floored it should hit redline or within a feww 100 rpms of it though (which someone stated earlier that we lose power in the higher rpms) wut it does is it just keeps u in that gear...which u would have to go through the gear anyways if ur racing, or even driving period. so personally i dont know how either way would be quiker than the other cuz u still have to run each gear anyways. its just a matter of u makin it shift and the tranny shifting itself. i think the only question worth experimenting would be to have it shift at a lower rpm to make use of more power?? but u would have to manually shift it that way so that u dont have to ever let go of the gas pedal. does anyone know if that would be beneficial for the auto without any type of VI? im not too good at reading dyno graphs and determining optimal shift points especially on an auto 
... 
09-19-2005, 11:35 PM
#22
Originally Posted by sunten1
2.) Shifting Manually in an autmatic is BAD. You will sorry later when you have to buy a new tranny. Everyone is going to tell you to just leave it in drive. Let is do what it has to do by its self. You don't have to worry about it.
09-20-2005, 07:39 AM
#24
If you want to shift manually then do it, go to a track to find out what is for you, but the truth is that it is still an automatic and regular driving there really is no reason to "shift" gears. From experiance with my 99se auto at the track i ran a 15.8ish consistantly with a few 15.7's then started off in "1" and got 15.6 and 15.7 consistantly. my best time in that car was manually shifting 1-2 at redline then leaving it in drive after that. tried to shift from 2-D but it sucked bad anyway so dont do it. BUT... my 95 gxe auto does ALOT better with just leaving it in drive, so u basically have to experement on it and see how it goes for you just remember without the ecu and variable intake you have no power up there that is usable. -Ryan
09-20-2005, 01:08 PM
#29
Save yourself a lot of different opinions and just get a modified valve body. I dont care how fast you think you can shift from 1>2 the modified valve body can do it faster and more consistant. I just put on in my new (new to me) auto and LOVE IT. It shifts so quick and crisp. Plus it actually helps the longevtity of the transmission.
09-20-2005, 02:18 PM
#31
Originally Posted by AGRECORDS
Dubbya more details!
What do you want to know? I bought it from Maximumtuning.net. It cost me $400 since I had my own valve body to send in. There is a 200 dollar core charge if you dont have one to send in. It takes them around a couple of days to modify one. Although I got lucky and they had one on the shelf to send me the same day. I am guessing the install is pretty easy roughly about an hour. I didnt do mine.
09-29-2005, 08:29 PM
#32
Originally Posted by Dubbya
Save yourself a lot of different opinions and just get a modified valve body. I dont care how fast you think you can shift from 1>2 the modified valve body can do it faster and more consistant.
09-29-2005, 09:13 PM
#36
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Posts: 61
ok this is such an urban legend that manually shifting an auto hurts your tranny. I have talked to countless mechanics and tranmission specialists and it doesnt hurt your tranny 1 bit. the only time u can hurt ur tranny is excessive burnouts and downshifting and punching it before the car the settles in its gear.
I personally downshift to lessen my breaking. if u downshift and let the gear slow down your fine. no prob there. I find it helps alot better if u need to stop fast or even slow down slowly without hitting the brakes. plus it sounds seckz with our cars to hear the motor coming down.
I personally downshift to lessen my breaking. if u downshift and let the gear slow down your fine. no prob there. I find it helps alot better if u need to stop fast or even slow down slowly without hitting the brakes. plus it sounds seckz with our cars to hear the motor coming down.
09-29-2005, 09:14 PM
#37
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Originally Posted by SMOKEYMOUNTAIN
From my personal experience, I've beat more cars (at least from a dig) just accelerating from O/D off (3rd Gear) until about 80 mph, then turn it off to enable 4th gear. I dont even mess w/ 1 and 2.
09-29-2005, 09:16 PM
#38
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Originally Posted by 98maxon18s
ok this is such an urban legend that manually shifting an auto hurts your tranny. I have talked to countless mechanics and tranmission specialists and it doesnt hurt your tranny 1 bit. the only time u can hurt ur tranny is excessive burnouts and downshifting and punching it before the car the settles in its gear.
I personally downshift to lessen my breaking. if u downshift and let the gear slow down your fine. no prob there. I find it helps alot better if u need to stop fast or even slow down slowly without hitting the brakes. plus it sounds seckz with our cars to hear the motor coming down.
I personally downshift to lessen my breaking. if u downshift and let the gear slow down your fine. no prob there. I find it helps alot better if u need to stop fast or even slow down slowly without hitting the brakes. plus it sounds seckz with our cars to hear the motor coming down.
all this talk about freakin grany shifting auto transmitions is really making me wish i had the time to swap in a manual
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