How bad is it to accidently shift from 4th to 3rd?

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steve28h
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How bad is it to accidently shift from 4th to 3rd?

Post by steve28h »

Hi all, today I was merging onto the highway and when i went to shift from 4th gear to 5th gear i accidently went into 3rd gear. When this happened the car jerked and the rpms shot up to 5k! I have been driving manual for 2 months and this has happened to me a couple of times but not recently until now. I know this is bad, but how bad is it really? As in what is the worst thing that could happen from doing this? Thanks all.
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Re: How bad is it to accidently shift from 4th to 3rd?

Post by monkeyhunk »

Long as you don't go over red line you'll be OK. It can potentially do engine damage though.Best thing is when you come out of one gear to let the shifter fall to centre before you go into the next then you know exactly where you are and where you're going. I usually shift with just my fingers instead of my whole hand and that pretty much never happens.
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Re: How bad is it to accidently shift from 4th to 3rd?

Post by ClutchDisc »

You're fine, just don't make that a habit. When I was first starting out I threw mine into 2nd gear going onto the freeway....rpms sure shot up in a hurry! Truck still running good over a year and a half later on the same clutch and everything.

You'll get better the more you drive. Btw, Welcome to the forums!
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Re: How bad is it to accidently shift from 4th to 3rd?

Post by six »

As long as you don't go past red-line, the only thing this hurts is your ego. Don't worry :)

If you think that's bad, I've accidentally downshifted from 5th to 2nd. I'm fine, the car is fine. :)
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Shadow
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Re: How bad is it to accidently shift from 4th to 3rd?

Post by Shadow »

It's definitely not good for the car and the clutch definitely won't be happy with you for doing that. And even if you have a rev limiter on your car (which most cars have these days), you can still over-rev your engine by accidentally downshifting when you meant to upshift. It's called a mechanical over-rev and it can damage your engine. You should be able to feel it in your left foot/leg if you screw up a shift like that as you begin to re-engage the clutch. If you do feel it, you should immediately stop engaging the clutch and push the clutch pedal to the floor.
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Re: How bad is it to accidently shift from 4th to 3rd?

Post by ClutchDisc »

Shadow wrote:It's definitely not good for the car and the clutch definitely won't be happy with you for doing that. And even if you have a rev limiter on your car (which most cars have these days), you can still over-rev your engine by accidentally downshifting when you meant to upshift. It's called a mechanical over-rev and it can damage your engine. You should be able to feel it in your left foot/leg if you screw up a shift like that as you begin to re-engage the clutch. If you do feel it, you should immediately stop engaging the clutch and push the clutch pedal to the floor.
Wow, way to make the new guy think he just ruined his car! Sure, it's not good for the car, but it's not going to really cause any harm either.
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steve28h
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Re: How bad is it to accidently shift from 4th to 3rd?

Post by steve28h »

ClutchDisc wrote:You're fine, just don't make that a habit. When I was first starting out I threw mine into 2nd gear going onto the freeway....rpms sure shot up in a hurry! Truck still running good over a year and a half later on the same clutch and everything.

You'll get better the more you drive. Btw, Welcome to the forums!
Yeah I definitely will try and not make it a habit. When i first started driving about 2 months ago this occurred alot more often because i wasn't taking my time to make sure i was going into 5th. Its good to hear that your car is still running fine a year later and hopefully my car will be the same.
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Re: How bad is it to accidently shift from 4th to 3rd?

Post by ClutchDisc »

Yea going into 2nd while getting on the freeway was enough to make me very careful to find the right gear after that... I'm sure we all did something like that when we were first learning.

Good for you for driving the stick and sticking with it! What kind of car is it?
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Re: How bad is it to accidently shift from 4th to 3rd?

Post by Squint »

steve28h wrote:
ClutchDisc wrote:You're fine, just don't make that a habit. When I was first starting out I threw mine into 2nd gear going onto the freeway....rpms sure shot up in a hurry! Truck still running good over a year and a half later on the same clutch and everything.

You'll get better the more you drive. Btw, Welcome to the forums!
Yeah I definitely will try and not make it a habit. When i first started driving about 2 months ago this occurred alot more often because i wasn't taking my time to make sure i was going into 5th. Its good to hear that your car is still running fine a year later and hopefully my car will be the same.
Welcome! As everyone said, you're probably fine - and you would probably notice if you had managed to damage something in the clutch (it would feel funny) or the engine. No, it's not great for the car, but everyone has done it at some point.

To help make sure you are going into the proper gear, don't use your palm to move the shifter. Make sure to grab it with your fingers as you have more control that way and you should have a better shot of not accidentally pushing the shifter slightly sideways.
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Re: How bad is it to accidently shift from 4th to 3rd?

Post by daleadbull »

ClutchDisc wrote:
Shadow wrote:It's definitely not good for the car and the clutch definitely won't be happy with you for doing that. And even if you have a rev limiter on your car (which most cars have these days), you can still over-rev your engine by accidentally downshifting when you meant to upshift. It's called a mechanical over-rev and it can damage your engine. You should be able to feel it in your left foot/leg if you screw up a shift like that as you begin to re-engage the clutch. If you do feel it, you should immediately stop engaging the clutch and push the clutch pedal to the floor.
Wow, way to make the new guy think he just ruined his car! Sure, it's not good for the car, but it's not going to really cause any harm either.
Yea, way to freak out the new guy! lol

OP, we've all done this at some point. Its not a big deal if you do it rarely but make sure you're not doing it too much. Also if you miss-shift at low rpm that's ok but miss-shifting at higher rpms can be dangerous if you over rev the engine.
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Re: How bad is it to accidently shift from 4th to 3rd?

Post by tankinbeans »

six wrote:As long as you don't go past red-line, the only thing this hurts is your ego. Don't worry :)

If you think that's bad, I've accidentally downshifted from 5th to 2nd. I'm fine, the car is fine. :)
6>2 a couple times...
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Re: How bad is it to accidently shift from 4th to 3rd?

Post by tankinbeans »

Welcome to the board!

As long as the car isn't in any more pieces than it was when you set off, I don't think you have anything to worry about. 5k RPM is well within the operating range for most vehicles and if you were only there for a few seconds it's not really going to kill anything. I've done it and have overpowered my rev-limiter before going up to about 7250. All I did was get out of that gear and move on.

I don't think there's a magic amount of time for operating in the red-zone, which I'm sure you didn't if you said 5k, but I'd guess a few seconds here and there isn't the end of the world. Going for miles on the other hand...
Last edited by tankinbeans on Fri Feb 07, 2014 1:17 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: How bad is it to accidently shift from 4th to 3rd?

Post by tankinbeans »

ClutchDisc wrote:Yea going into 2nd while getting on the freeway was enough to make me very careful to find the right gear after that... I'm sure we all did something like that when we were first learning.

Good for you for driving the stick and sticking with it! What kind of car is it?
It's about as exciting as explosive diarrhea. BTDT
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Re: How bad is it to accidently shift from 4th to 3rd?

Post by theholycow »

tankinbeans wrote:Welcome to the board!

As long as the car isn't in any more pieces than it was when you set off, I don't think you have anything to worry about. 5k RPM is well within the operating range for most vehicles and if you were only there for a few seconds it's not really going to kill anything. I've done it and have overpowered my rev-limiter before going up to about 7250. All I did was get out of that gear and move on.

I don't think there's a magic amount of time for operating in the red-zone, which I'm sure you didn't if you said 5k, but I'd guess a few seconds here and there isn't the end of the world. Going for miles on the other hand...
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Don't ask us if you damaged the car. Tell us. If you have observed nothing wrong then there is nothing wrong.

Redline isn't a magic border, like 1RPM below and you're fine but 1RPM above and your engine explodes. You shouldn't exceed it on purpose; I don't even like to get close to it, but then I don't like a lot of noise and hype, I like a relaxed engine shoving along at low RPM with torque doing the work. Anyway, unless you have an antique domestic V8 or a diesel, I doubt 5K is above your redline.

I test-drove a 2008 VW. I got on the highway and mis-shifted at 80mph, exceeded redline, and white smoke came out behind me. I proceeded to lease that very car and it performed great for the 45,000 miles of my lease, plenty of power, phenomenal fuel economy.

To avoid mis-shifting search this site for threads about grip or hand position. If you change your grip depending on which gear you want, you can be almost assured that you won't get the wrong gear.
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Re: How bad is it to accidently shift from 4th to 3rd?

Post by ClutchFork »

tankinbeans wrote: I don't think there's a magic amount of time for operating in the red-zone, which I'm sure you didn't if you said 5k, but I'd guess a few seconds here and there isn't the end of the world. Going for miles on the other hand...
Redline is a grey area so to speak. I have seen some S-10 tachometers that have a dashed red line for about 500 rpm before the line gets solid. The actual redline is somewhat dependent upon the amount of time you spend at that speed. If the stated redline is 6000 rpm, that is usually not meant for continuous use, such as if the engine were hooked to a generator, the maximum operating speed for long duration runs might be more like 3500 rpm. The safest bet probably is to assume the stated redline is for very brief visits, like get there and shift, don't linger, so a matter of seconds.

Now speaking of redline, the worst thing that happened to me was trying to switch seats in my '71 Ford 302 V8 (that's 5.0 to all you young'uns here). The engine was running in park (yeah, i had an automatic, car was free, I was 17 and very poor) and as I squeezed past the other guy, I pushed up off the floor, but my foot landed on the accelerator pedal. It revved like a banshee and the red alternator warning light came on. All that happened was I threw the alternator belt off the pulley. :lol:
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