I have a couple questions about driving a stick shift?

Question

Let's say you're driving about 40 miles per hour in 4th gear and want to slow down. You put it in 2nd gear and the RPMs go way up. Even though the engine is going faster than it was in 4th gear, is it still taking in gas, because you're not touching the gas pedal, just slowing down? Also, is it possible to shift gears or shift from gear to neutral without disengaging the clutch? Thanks a lot for your help.

Answer 1

First, that will not save gas.  Second, if you like your transmission to work you will not want to shift without using the clutch.

Answer 2

The engine is screaming because the wheels are turning it at a high rate not because it's getting a lot of gas. Shifting without the clutch is a good way to destroy a transmission.

Answer 3

For most cars, going from 40 in fourth directly to second is too severe. Try going from fourth to third to second. You will chance damaging your engine and burning out your clutch too quickly the way you are doing it. Replacing brakes is generally much cheaper and definitely much easier if you do your own work. It is still using gas at a higher rate than when idling, but not as much as it would if you had the accelerator pushed down. I can take any vehicle and shift without using the clutch, both up shifting and down shifting. With most automobiles, there are synchronizers that make it much easier to shift from one gear to another. The hesitation and resistance you felt when going from fourth to second was due to the synchronizers preventing it from going into gear until the appropriate internal gears matched RPM's. I can and have shifted from first to second to third to fourth without ever taking my foot off the floor on the accelerator. While some prefer automatics when drag racing, I will take a stick shift any day. I also used to regularly, just to show off, put the accelerator on the floor with it in fourth and without lifting it, go into first gear. I never missed, and does it ever make a car jump, especially if you have a high performance one. I would occasionally try third to first, but about one out of five times I had to let off the gas because I missed the gear. I still shudder at the sound of the engine when I did that.

By the way, thank you for actually using English. Not only does it seem you know "your" is not the same as "you're" or "yore," I will bet you even know the difference between there, their and they're. A true breath of fresh air.

I am usually in the Religion and Spiritually section. This has been a treat. I had another one a bit ago regarding cars at which you may want to look.

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;...

Answer 4

The answer to your question is yes.  When you don't touch the gas pedal, there is still air going through the engine, and there's gas being fed in a stoichiometric amount to that air.  If you've ever witnessed a car idle, then you know that already.

Personally, I have had several Fords in which the gasoline would shut totally off (you can feel it) going down a steep hill, but I am pretty sure they only have that feature with an automatic transmission.

Answer 5

With your foot off of the gas, the throttle is still not entirely closed and some gas will be sucked in.

Shift with no clutch? Except from getting rolling, sure. The key is to match the engine speed (while between gears) to what it would be if actually in the destination gear. I drove around like that for 2 months after a clutch failure.