miss shift

[blk3]

Hey guys, just bought my 3 and its my first manual car. Was driving home from work today had it in 5th, downshifted to 4th ....it ended being 2nd....it bucked forward and the tires chirped.....scared the s$%t outta me. Just wondering if damaged could have been done and should i get it checked out just in case........Has anyone else missed shift?

[Cosmo77]

Unless the engine is making noise, burning something, or generally unhappy with you. It should be fine after one time...I take it, it was only for a split second before you a. shifted or b. pushed in the clutch.

Don't make a habit of it...unless you want to see someone like me and help the automotive repair industry:chuckle

Cosmo

Mazda Tech

[Malcolm991]

I remember back in the day, I missed a gear and bent all 4 exhaust valves on my CRX. If you damage your car, you will know it right away!

[froggy]

luckily mazda's have a rev limiter so that your engine didn't spike up to like 10,000 or something crazy like that. but still like said above you don't want to make a habbit of doing that. especially if the engine is still on the cold side. Remember that the spring action on the shifter wants to keep it lined up in neutral with 3 and 4. take it out of fifth let the shifter centre itself and pull back into 4th. once you get the feel of it it'll become more natural and faster.

[condor888000]

The rev limiter won't protect you in the case of a mis-shift. When you miss a shift, it's the wheels driving the engine past the redline. The rev limiter is just a fuel cut, it can't stop momentum from forcing the engine past the limiter.

[Cosmo77]

The rev limiter won't protect you in the case of a mis-shift. When you miss a shift, it's the wheels driving the engine past the redline. The rev limiter is just a fuel cut, it can't stop momentum from forcing the engine past the limiter.

Yah I meant that too LOL

[blk3]

I put the car in neutral after i almost kissed the steering wheel, it was driving fine afterward...just wanted to make sure.....yea i should've let it center before I shifted......anyways, it was a good learning experience.

[thefish]

Good tips on shifting.

If you're going from 2nd to 3rd, you shouldn't think of your shifter movement as "up-right-up". Instead you should think "up-neutral-up". Of course, shifting from 2nd to 5th isn't that big a deal... but the same idea applies to the reverse.

Of course, you won't actually think about this once you get used to it.