How to drive manual?

[WhiteP]

This is my first manual car, a 03 Protege ES. I've been driving it since last September. I've encountered a few problems and I don't know if I did it right or not.

Problem 1) When I m approaching a stop sign like 3rd gear, I press on the brake and put the gear into neutral. If cars are far away, I will just put back into 2nd gear and accelerate and turn to the direction I m going. The problems is sometimes the rev goes too low, the car seems not having enough power to push forward, I m afraid it will hurt the engine. Should I stop in front of the stop sign and change into 1st gear? I think it is stupid to stop fully in front of every stop signs even there are no cars coming by.

Problem 2) What gear should I use while crusing slowly in the parking lot? If I use 1st gear, my car jerks a lot even I try to control my gas pedal carefully and I have to use the clutch a lot too. If I use 2nd gear, the rpm is too low and the engine shakes.

Problem 3) I purchased a Mazdaspeed muffler (an accesory) through a dealer and had it installed there. A week after, I notice a weird sound from my exhaust. Whenever my engine goes through 2100 revs (specificly 2100), my muffler produces a weird sound. Is it the engine problem or the muffler problem? I went to dealer last week and had it checked. The technician said the muffler is fine. He told me to wait to see if the problem is getting worse then I should go back, but it is damn annoying to hear that sound everytime I go through 2100 revs. This is my first mod to my car and I have problem already :cry:

Thanks for listening to my problems.

[fedezyl]

about the rpms, as long as you keep them at or above 1000 rpms I think you would be fine, just don't accelerate really hard, well you won't have performance at those rpm's but your car won't jerk..
As for the stop sign, again play with the clutch to keep about 1000 rpm's or more until the clutch is fully released..
As for the muffler, it could be that at 2100 rpms it vibrates and is touching some metal part in the car, what sound does it exactly make?
let me know if it helped you a bit..

[666fast]

The thing with the muffler. Do you have a way of making a sound file of it? It could help a lot. My guess is that there might be a small leak, but you wouldn't hear it at only 2100rpms, but the whole rev range.

[novass]

same reply as above here. manual transmissions have really short first gears and when you let off the throttle the engine slows quickly creating engine braking (good way to induce slide :D, approach in first with the revs up, let off, crank the wheel and punch it, works best with RWD) cruising in second is good for parkin lots, slow traffic etc.

try learning heel-toe. as you brake you can either use the side of your foot or your heel, depending on how far the brake and gas pedal are, this way you can brake later and downshift at the same time so the engine will already be revving high and you can just blip the throttle to get the rpms in the right spot.

i dont know about your muffler, like they said ^ a sound clip or maybe even description would help.

hope this helps and remember, this is just how i drive my car, so if something goes wrong dont blame me LMAO i can safely say i burned up a clutch or two learnin how to perfect my driving.

[JN396]

Here's my 2 cents:

Problem 1. When you approach a stop sign; you should not put the stick into neutral. What if you need to accelerate in an emergency situation(say...someone who doesn't slow down and is headed straight for your car)? I'd say...gradually shift to lower gears keeping in mind of your speed while pressing the clutch in and braking. You really shouldn't use neutral unless your foot is tired at a light or you are warming up...otherwise you should always be in gear. If you are in the wrong gear; and you are going to slow; the engine will bog; and will eventually stall the engine. This will not hurt it; the only thing I can think of if you keep stalling is wearing out the starter prematurely. When you closely approach the stop sign, you should already be in 1st gear....with clutch in while braking..(or coasting & then braking). It maybe stupid to do a full stop at every stop sign when there are no cars coming by; but it's the law. Guess what happens when you you think there are no cars; but there actually is (you didn't see it--like a motorcycle)?

Problem 2: Every car is different; you should look up in your owner's manual to see the appropriate gear/speed ratio. 1st gear tends to have a lot of engine braking and jerkiness; I usually go 2nd gear when I'm around parking lots. If the engine shakes, slightly step on the gas and play around with the clutch, don't fully clutch in/out...just stay at the friction zone so the car is moving & regulate speed by the movements of the clutch.

Problem 3: I'm not 100% sure b/c I can't physically see it; but I do not believe it's an engine problem. Did you do any mods to the engine before the muffler was installed? My guess that it's a muffler problem, specifically the metal exhaust gasket. Does it make a clangy, raspy sound? Look under the car. Where the exhaust is connected to the piping, is there a spring with a bolt inside of it? My take is that it just needs to be tightened.

Goodluck bro; let us know what you find.

[SFDMALEX]

As JN396 said you should not put the car into neutral(only if you a are tired etc). When you aproach a stop light, simply downshift do not stick it into neutral. What I do is lets say im in 3rd and the light is read infront of me. So I downshift into 1 with my foot on the brake and just when the car is about to stop I put my left foot on the clutch so it wont stall and then you take it from there. You can ither stick it into neutral or first or what ever.


About crusing in a parking lot, I would do it in second(depending on a car of course because some lambos do 80km in first). Your engine should not really shake, this means that your idle is set to low. You need to tune your idel rev. If the idle is set really good on your car you could take your feet off all the pedals and the car would still go without any shaking. Or again as JN36 said if the revs are to low you can play with the clutch, just pushing it abit, a bit before its bite point.


P.S IF you want to become a really good manual driver you need to learn how a manual gearbox works. If you dont know already. Go to howthingswork.com and it will explain everythig.

[WhiteP]

Fredezyl: I tried to stay at 1500 rpms when I go around in the parking lot today. It is not quick enough. If I go at around 3000 rpms ,slow down and turn, my car jerk when the rev is dropping from 3000 to lower revs. When I accelerate again, it jerks again. I will practice again tomorrow.

666fast: My muffler does not produce weird noise when my car is fully stopped, geared in netural and I reved it up to 2100. My muffler will only produce that noise when the car is running, the noise is most obvious at 2nd gear 2100rpm and 3rd gear 2100rpm. The noise is specifily produced at 2100rpm, not 2200 or 2000. The noise will go on for around 2 sec.

novass: haha I haven't burnt up my clutch yet. Thank god. I do heel and toe when I m approaching stop sign. It is impossible for me to heel and toe downshifting to 1st gear though unless I rev it very high or slow down my car a lot.

JN396: I will not put it into neutral again unless I m sure there isn't any cars following me. I will try to keep the clutch in while braking when I m approaching stop sign. I understand the law and the safety about stopping fully at stop sign, but I don't see many people doing it. I will try to do it as much as I could.

Staying at the friction zone will wear the clutch out much faster right?

I didn't modify anything except the muffler. I think it is some sort of metalic sound. My dealer said all the bolts are tighten when they were checking it. I m not too sure though.

Anyways, thank you all for the advices. It helps me a lot. I love driving and I want to improve it.

[novass]

novass: haha I haven't burnt up my clutch yet. Thank god. I do heel and toe when I m approaching stop sign. It is impossible for me to heel and toe downshifting to 1st gear though unless I rev it very high or slow down my car a lot.


LOL...nothing makes you feel stupider then the smell of burning clutch. the way i got good enough to do it automatically was to think of it like golf. dont overthink it.

SFDMALEX had a good idea on goin to howthingswork.com

but mainly just keep driving youll figure it out. you might want to rent a really cheap junker thats a manuel too. my dad did that for me when i got my license to teach me the basics. helped cause i wasnt afraid to break anything LOL

oh and on most cars they have a safety gate for first gear so you cant engage over 10mph, sometimes 5.

[JN396]

JN396: I will not put it into neutral again unless I m sure there isn't any cars following me. I will try to keep the clutch in while braking when I m approaching stop sign. I understand the law and the safety about stopping fully at stop sign, but I don't see many people doing it. I will try to do it as much as I could.

Staying at the friction zone will wear the clutch out much faster right?

I didn't modify anything except the muffler. I think it is some sort of metalic sound. My dealer said all the bolts are tighten when they were checking it. I m not too sure though.

Anyways, thank you all for the advices. It helps me a lot. I love driving and I want to improve it.

Honestly, you shouldn't need to be at the friction zone too long w/o having to move it. Yes, staying at the friction zone for an extended period will wear out the clutch faster; but most manual cars can take a beating & for right now you are learning how to drive a stick (so it's ok). I'm sure as time progresses & you become proficient at driving a stick you will not have to stay at the zone for more than a half sec.

Bro; I'm almost positive that it's one of those bolts underneath the car. Don't trust the shop; jack up the car and look for yourself. Get a ratchet; or if you have a shop manual and a torque wrench, double check all the bolts connected to the exhaust, not just the muffler but also the parts connecting the muffler to the header. I had this problem long ago in my honda del sol; a rattling sound would occur at a certain rpm. I looked underneath the car; low and behold a bolt was not as tightened as it should.

[oic0]

For just cruising about in a parking lot I usually go through first then but instead of going into second, hold the clutch and let it cruise. then re engage and pick up some more speed when I get to slow. Not much else you can do when your car really dosent like 15 mph.

[jon_s]

When I first read you questions, I thought it would be easy to answer, but it is all sooooooooo second nature now, it is really difficult!! I mean, I can't think what I do in a parking lot! But in general, first gear should only be used to get the car moving from 0mph. You can even start a car in second (but I don't). So if you are moving, use second (at slow speeds).

Do you go really slow in the car park?? In which case, keeping it in first and dipping the clutch is probably the best way. I think I keep in second, but at around 1000-1500 rpm.

[WhiteP]

I m getting better moving around in parking lot now. If I m lazy, I will just put it in 2nd gear to cruise around. When I want more fun, I use 1st gear. I clutch in when the car starts jerking, then rev match again to accelerate. I think my communication to the car is improving everyday :D

[oic0]

just try to avoid those nasty 5th to second shifts

[WhiteP]

yup, I don't want to blow my engine yet unless I m going to do a engine swap 8)

[robruf]

Some people are giving you bad advice, and I am here to correct it. Never, ever, ever play with the clutch like they are saying, it should always be in or out and never in between. Sure if you like paying for clutches go ahead and do this, but if you want your clutch to last always put it all the way in or leave it out. I am very surprised that you are not stopping at stop signs. I thought that people on this forum would know how to drive, yes it is an inconveinence to stop all the time, but that is the law. I have been blindsided twice by people going through stop signs, once I almost died. So, if I see someone else go through a stop sign and get into an accident, I will hurt them really bad, send them to a hospital and I don't care if I get charged. The rules of the road are there for a reason, use them. It appears as if you didn't get proper driving lessons, perhaps you should go to a proper driving school and get a few extra lessons.

[jakaracman]

Dont scare the man about clutch. My car has 60.000 km's, is driven exclusively in town, all stop and go, I always let it "hang" on the clutch on the hills, and at the last inspection the clutch was good for at least another 30.000 km's. What kills the clutch is to high revs when you're in the friction zone (ie 5000 rpm at 10 mph ...)

[SamuraiGti]

why stop at the STOP sign? That's a nice question...

If you have a good visibility of the road, and you see that nobody's coming from both sides of the road why stop? Alright, you have to do it by the book. if you have zero visibility, you really have to stop...heh, or if the cops are nearby.
I almost never stop at Stop's.

Btw, when I really stop, of course 1st gear, when I don't stop, 2nd gear every time.

[nchs09]

i have a protege too... :) stop in every stop sign! ur gonna get caught by the cops silly
about crusing in the parking lot, accelerate and put it into neutral, and when u need to accelerate more, just stick it in 2nd and let go of the clutch slowly, dont push the cgas, u dont need to go that fast in a parkinglot.

thats all i can help u with :) hope it helps

[gottacatchup]

i have an 03 protege5

first stop at the fricken stop sign or atleast slow to like 5 to engage 1st gear

in parking lots i always use 2nd

for the exhaust i say at that rpm it vibrates just right to hit something else and make the sound it definately shouldnt be an engine problem though

[mhn3773]

brembo why give him guff for acctualy searching like u and other badger people about so often?

[levensnevel]

Another intrigueing question with manual gearboxes is:
At how many RPM do you change gears in day 2 day motoring :?:

[AlienDB7]

Nice car you got there WhiteP, hope you had fun driving it.

I agree with robruf, you should get some professional help learning how to drive manual properly. It's okay to let the clutch slip a bit to make the shifting more gentle, assuming you're not using more advanced techniques.

In my experience, it's always a good idea to slow to at least 5-10kph in a stop sign (assuming you can clearly see nobody is crossing the street!) even if you're extremely lazy. Whenever possible, do stop at stop signs, especially in vancouver! It's possible that the car you think that isn't there is blocked by the a-pillar. Yes, that had happened to be once or twice. Beside that, there're people who run stop signs at high speed and end up crashing into you. Unless you're drunk, doubt you want to be another statistic. Once a woman was talking on her cell phone and ran a stop sign at 60-70kph and almost hit me. If I didn't stop completely, I wouldn't be here talking to you. Quite often, visibility isn't as good as you think.

If the noise only happens at 2100rpm, maybe that's the resonance frequency of some loose part in it? Didn't you say you did an exhaust mod or was that something else? Probably something wasn't installed properly. I heard that kind of noise on cars with aftermarket exhausts often, could that be an extra feature.. like the valve on nissan cars' that opens at a certain rpm?

edit: didn't realize this thread is THAT old. Damn, who dug it up like 6 months after?

[AlienDB7]

Another intrigueing question with manual gearboxes is:
At how many RPM do you change gears in day 2 day motoring :?:
Don't forget you can still control gear changes in automatic (to a certain degree). If I'm not in a hurry, I always change at around 1800rpm to save gas... 3000rpm if I'm going uphill or in a hurry.

Now a more technical question, if you want fast[er] acceleration, should you change gear at torque peak or redline?

[SFDMALEX]

Another intrigueing question with manual gearboxes is:
At how many RPM do you change gears in day 2 day motoring :?:


Red Line :lol:

[gottacatchup]

Another intrigueing question with manual gearboxes is:
At how many RPM do you change gears in day 2 day motoring :?:

its different in every car i suppose i change at about 3000-3500 rpm

[kian]

hehe......never stop at stop signs if there are no signs of cops or traffic ....

as for the parking lot .....try to use more speed and more hand-brake .....that will help a lot ....

[undien717]

Every car behaves differently in terms of which speed and rpm will cause it to bog. If you really can't wait at a stop sign and just want to roll it (which you really shouldn't do), just drop it to 2nd. If you feel it bogging, just go to first. Pay attention to how your car reacts in certain speeds so that you know what gear is best for which speeds. That way, you know exactly which gear to shift to when you're at a certain speed. When you're at a parking lot, you should be going around 5-10 mph, so what I do is stay on first and when my car goes to around 5-10 mph, I step on the clutch and just cruise.

[WhiteP]

WoW :shock: :shock: :shock:

My theard is still alive.. I believe it is one of the 1st 10 posts I have made in JW... but still.. Thank you for everyone's advices... btw :oops: I think I didn't mention clearly, I do stop at stop signs... but not always complete stop if I have the visibility to see that there's nothing coming along..

[Anile8er]

what i was told (from a guy that drives a hen 650r viper and know soooo much shit) after u completle stop at the ligth to put it netrual cause it messes somthing in the cluch if u just hodl it there

[firdausasri]

This is what I do. On third gear, depress the clutch fully while right feet on the accelerator, downshift to 2nd, release clutch then accelerator, finally depress on the clutch and brakes to a complete stop. Sounds like riceboy huh? :P

[donpanzani]

I have that very same metal-vibrating sound on my dad's opel astra. It makes that sound for years now, so it's definetly not an engine problem. Probably just a screw that needs some tightening. Don't u worry. Learning how to use a clutch properly is a matter of practice and experience. Once you are used to it, you wouldn't ever want to drive an automatic gearbox again!

[Vansquish]

The reason you don't want to have the clutch depressed at a stoplight is because you will eventually wear out some of the bearings more quickly if you do.