I sometimes leave my hand on the shifter when I drive and I can "feel" it when the clutch touches up and the gear catches. This also happens when I let up on the gas and the engine is in turn driven by momentum.

So in conjunction with the fuel cut problem, I can feel the shifter actually move back in forth (well, more like towards the front and back of the car) as I feather the throttle.

This is most noticeable in 4th gear. Feel it in the other gears also, but just not as bad.

Is this normal or is this a sign of future problems that I should worry about?

Thanks!

Green

 

yeah I've noticed the same thing for a long time, but I really doubt it's a problem at all. just the clutch actually engaging (ha ok it's too early to spell).

speaking of the fuel cut problem... I've tried as hard as I can to find a problem with that, but I don't have one at all. I've done the thing where you try to hold it at a certain rpm, and while you're moving in first gear... etc. so would this mean that the prob. might depend on the date of when the car was manufactured? I got my car on july 11th.

 

Um, I think the shifter thing is normal... If you mean that you can feel the shifter move when you disengage the clutch, that's ok -- the shifter is linked to the transmission and when the clutch is disengaged torque is transferred to the transmission and thus the shifter moves, vibrates, etc... I believe all 5sp cars experience this.

About the fuel cut thing -- I don't know that I've noticed it either. Guess I'll check every now and then and see if maybe I've been missing the syptoms.

 

Thanks for the quick replies! I was getting scared there for a sec

As for the fuel cut problem, you will definitely notice it if you have ever drove in slow moving traffic (below 10 mph). On first or 2nd gear, you will feel the bucking like crazy if you just try to feather the throttle without touching the clutch. And if you don't feel anything like that, it's either because of your driving habits or your car just doesn't have that problem at all, if it's the latter, consider yourself lucky!

Green

 

Hopefully the TSB takes care of this "bucking" in rush hour, I notice it whenever I just let the car coast from having the throttle on a little bit. Getting the TSB repair next Friday, keep ya posted.

 

I wonder what it could be then that makes certain max's have this prob and other's don't. I've driven in traffic going <10 mph in first and second gear and haven't had a single problem. One would think that the "older" 5 gen's would have this prob moreso than ones that were manufactured more recently. so I have no clue.

 

make sure when you do the rpm test that - First the car is fully warmed up. I can pass this test when the car is cold and the ecu has not taken control of the car. Second make sure there are no loads on the car (AC, Stereo, etc.). Also curious if you are on the clutch alot in first and second while traffic, because driving style makes a huge difference in whether you have problems or not.

 

Even in my old 90 Camry I4 5spd you could feel the shifter moving a little bit, and especially during torque transfers as you get on and off the gas. I think this is normal in just about all manual transmissions.

 

Funny you should ask...I just noticed this quaint behavior just today going to work. I can't remember what gear it was in (2 or 4) and I had my hand resting on the shifter.

When you touch the gas, the shifter moves slightly backward; and when you let off, it goes forward and resumes it's natural position. I guess probably it's the torque that does this as djmaxski says.

The fuel cut deal I still have yet to experience it. My last two cars were 5 speeds and I'm still getting used to my Max's stick.

 

You will ruin your transmission by doing this....it puts pressure on the gears, and they will wear out faster.

 

I don't mean to be skeptic, but can this true? I mean, the car transmits over 200 ft-lb of torque, in doing that, isn't the contact stresses on the gears much larger than what a weight of a hand can apply? :shrug:

Green

 

I have had the stereo on while I've tried it... so maybe I'll try it again with everything turned off. I don't really ride the clutch too much at all... the longest is prob like 1.5 seconds if I'm on a hill or something.... I've been stopped, stuck it in first and started to go... and right after I'm finished engaging the clutch, I would make the rpm's go up as slowly as possible, I can keep them pretty steady too without experiencing the prob. (heh but if I'm in first with the rpm at like 2k and let go of the clutch, it bucks as it slows down. but that isn't really the prob)

 

hmmm...you're one the first (if not the first) people that I have heard of that can maintain 2000 rpms in first without a problem. But then again it seems that all our cars respond differently so who knows.

 

gotta disagree here. My dad drove my old 90 Camry I4 5-spd for 180,000 miles with his hand largely resting on the shifter. Then I drove it another 27,000 with my hand largely resting on the shifter (took after dad ), so that's a total of 207,000 miles of hand-resting-on-the-shifter style driving between us and the tranny is still fine and rock solid to this day.

I think hawkdog might mean that you'll wear out the shift linkage faster, but we never had any problems on ye olde camry shift linkage either

I think all you're doing by resting your hand on the shifter is just putting a little pressure on the linkage, but I'm not competely sure on that.

All I know is my dad and I drove the old Camry for 207,000 miles with our hands resting on the shifter and it never had any wear-related tranny problems. Maybe the Max is different though - I dunno.

 

I've read that it actually wears out the linkage if you have your hand rested on the shifter. Check it out:

http://forums.maxima.org/showthread....age#post233957

Read the post by DNA 21, in the middle of the page.