i just noticed after parking my car today and turning off the engine that i can shift into all gears without pressing down the clutch. is this normal? i'm a newbie stick driver, but i don't think it used to do this before. has me kinda worried. thanks for any input.

 

Hmm, doesnt sound too good man... get that checked out. Are you sure your in gear? like, if you let go does it stay where its put? Maybe your still in neutral and there is alot of travel in the shifter or somethin. good luck!

 

i just checked again, and i can definately put the car into gear without pressing in the clutch. when i first tried shifting into 3rd (foot off the clutch) it wouldn't engage all the way. i then put the clutch down and shifted into 3rd. after that i could shift in and out of that gear (foot off the clutch)with no problems. but i guess i will have to get that checked. thanks for your wishes.

 

this is perfectly normal, though not reccomended... i've only owned 2 cars and both of them were manual and from nissan (92 stanza xe 5sp and 02 maxima se 6sp).

for both of them, you can (though not reccomended) shift out of gear and into gear when the car is turned off. For the 02 maxima, it is because of the cable actuated shifter which has to bypass the "cable switch" thingy to change your gear.

 

this is perfectly normal, you have nothing to be worried about. If, on the other hand, you can do the same when the motor working, then you got a problem.

 

yeah ur right about that, if u can do that with the motoe runnin u got a problem, but every car that ive driven thas stick can change gears when its off, so that would be considered normal.

 

thanks for all the replies guys. i'm feeling a lot better now. did i mention this board is great?

 

can I get a free whopper meal?

 

hehe, whoppers aren't that great though. but did you try the new back porch grillers...

 

LOL, yeah i agree with the above... if you can do it while its running or in motion, look out!! I knew a guy who could shift his 99 honda integra GSR through the gears just by putting down a high throttle setting and a ****load of force! NOT recommended

 

those all @$$ VW bugs can do this as well, its funny though just floor it to redline and as soon as u let off the gas, just pop it in second w/o using the clutch. but it wont work unless ur goin to redline. kinda cool but i woulndt try it in anything new.

 

Power shifting anyone?

 

if ur nuts, u can do severaly neutral drops, rev to redline id first then WHAM!, after first gears done pop in nestral, rev to redline then another WHAM! after seconds dont, repeat the process until u hear a really loud thunk, then ull feel like u ran oversome1, thats the tranny rollin out from underneat the car. but id never do this
not im my car anyway.

 

yep it's normal to do that when it's in park.

 

Anything wrong with shifting into neutral without the clutch? I do this all the time when coming up to a stop (too lazy to move my left leg and push in the clutch). Am I hurting anything? Doesn't make any bad noises, and I don't force anything. BTW, don't try this with the cruise engaged. It isn't smart enough to shut off, and the revs get up there pretty quick!

Also, re: driving without using the clutch, I was driving a friend's VW Bus one time and the clutch cable broke. We drove from Big Bear Lake to San Diego (>100 miles) without the clutch. Only problem was when you had to stop, had to shut the engine off, then start it in first. Shifting was easy once you got the hang of matching revs. Actually became kind of fun (especially since it wasn't my car!).

 

about the VW and no its not hurting anything about the max.

 

Been there, done that!

I was on a 'round Lake Michigan TSD ralley (about 1000 miles) and the clutch on our opel started to go when racing down some fire roads. It failed completely by the time we got to Mackinaw City.

We had to drop out of the ralley, and had to drive the 400-500 miles home without a clutch. (Our cable was okay, it was the linkage itself that broke.)

Start the car in second, speed shift to third then fourth, and pretend not to notice the stares of people as you take off. Very embarrassing at a toll booth.

Oh, I should add that it's not very good for your transmission. Besides, you can't do it these days if you have a neutral lockout...