Manual Car Question?

Question

I started driving a manual car again recently and i have been wondering about two old habits i have while driving stick. Is it ok to

1. Skip gears while driving. Such as going from 2nd to 5th?

2. Put the car in a high gear while going slow. Such as putting it in 5th while going 25 or 30 mph? Also, would that save gas?

Answer 1

dont skips gears
if you want "save" gas shift at a lower rpm than you normally would. shifting at to low rpm will put stress on the engine

Answer 2

With the skipping gears there is the possibility of sucking a valve. Though it does not happen often, if you have a weak spring on one valve it can happen. This will cause serious engine damage. While your in 5th gear at 25-30 MPH your lugging the engine (Causing it to work harder then it needs to) 5th is designed for highway speeds. Anything above 55 MPH. If you’re in the city you MPG will probably be better if you’re in 3rd or 4th. You’re going to get better mileage as well if you continue to shift though all the gears while getting on to and merging at highway speeds. Old habits die hard.

Answer 3

Gears are there for a purpose, to be used.

When you skip gears, you're operating the car incorrectly and inefficiently. It not only affects the performance of the car, it wastes gas, and possibly even damages the clutch (slippage), and engine (pinging).

It's amazing that you don't sense this when you drive because the engine would sound like it's struggling when you skip gears. Listen to your engine as a signal as to when you are in the right gear. It becomes intuitive after a while.

Answer 4

Look ,the corvette in 84 or 85 did it FROM THE FACTORY(remember the 4+3 the cars computer actually did the skip shift and you had no choice!)so it is tough for me to swallow the valve sucking theroy-its just not much fun and if you do skip shift remember NOT to slip the clutch to gain acceleration then you are wasting the clutch-on the whole I think it is not a real valuable tool in your fuel saving arsenal but can be used effectivly when going down hill

Answer 5

Skipping gears is fine and staying in a higher gear at low speeds also as long as you don't lug or overwork the engine to accelerate....every car has it's own power band area where it's most efficient and you'll have to drive in what's best for your car. Try to keep the rev's under 2000 for economy. Paul

Answer 6

It is ok to skip shift. You are "lugging" the engine by shifting into 5th at 25 mph. This puts undue strain on the pistons, rods and crankshaft of the engine. I would suggest only skipping 3rd gear.

Answer 7

Both of these methods would decrease your fuel efficiency and put added strain on your vehicle. It is a good practice to shift into lower gears while slowing down, thus saving your break shoes some.