Shifting an Automatic...Question

My honda is a 4 speed 1 2 D3 D4 so sometimes i shift starting at 1 and going up to 4 like a manual. is that bad for the transmission? I know its probly bad downshifting but im not sure about going up.

No it won't hurt the trans to manually shift it in either direction. Only problem you might encounter is fuel cutoff when you forget to change gears.


The computer already shifts at the optimal points so it is not needed unless you are trying to controll your speed going down a hill. ECU will not allow engine to go into a lower gear until engine speed will be under redline.

My buddy has a 87 Camaro and he was going to swap to a manual trans until I told him that he could shift using the gears like that, and he was happy because he could control the shift points. Some what...

stupid not to swap for a manual... :-p

quote:

ORIGINAL: YeuEmMaiMai

No it won't hurt the trans to manually shift it in either direction. Only problem you might encounter is fuel cutoff when you forget to change gears.

*blinks* where on earth did you get this from?

ok, yes its safe to shift up, no its not safe to shift down in an auto..... the computer controls that not you, you will grind the gears if you force a downshift while driving, its no different then doing a neutral drop.


But youre at least right about the cutoff, cause the revlimiter is there for a reason ^_-

what? are you nuts? you can manually move the selector to any forward gear you want with the obvious exceptions (such as Drive to Reverse or Park or Reverse to Drive or park) when the car is moving forward.


N-D1? sure
D4 to D3 sure
D3-D2 that works
D2-D1 works as well
D4-D1 definately
D2-D4 works

When you manually downshift a automatic, it will go into the next lower gear you selected as long as the engine will not exceede max rpm allowed by ECU otherwise it will wait and when the speed is low enough downshift at that point. when the car is moving forward you can select ANY OTHER FORWARD GEAR OR NEUTRAL WITHOUT ANY ILL EFFECTS.

it is IMPOSSIBLE to grind gears in a properly working automatic when moving from one forward gear to another.

I have moved my selector to a lower gear while stopping to shorten the stopping distance in emergencies and the car obliged without any ill effects.

Riiiight, so that explains why every friend that ive had that thought it was cute to downshift in their auto always heard a grinding noise and oddly enough they all had tranmissions that were in great condition. then 3rd and 4th are linked cause the 4th gear is defined as an overdrive gear. And if what you said was true, there would be no need for those little notches that prevent the car from going into second and first without hitting the button on the handle.

1st and 2nd gear is only ment to be shifted into at a stop while driving an auto.

And dont say its impossible to grind gears on a properly working transmission, cause ive heard it before and it only happened when it was being shifted into second or first gear, and oddly enough the car wasnt going over the speed capable of the specific gear. If the car were ment to shift exactly like a standard, it would be setup exactly like a standard

first off, 4th gear (over drive) on an auto 4 spd is the inverse of 2nd gear.

second, think about what you are saying

on all auto cars built in recent years you can place the selector into 2nd and guess what? trans starts off in second.

third, if what you say is true there would be no such thing as a manual matic (the 5spd auto in the Acura is the same trans used in the accord) and you can manually select gears all day long both up and down by tapping the lever up or down. by your logic, one would never be able to select a lower grade when going down a long hill to use the engine to help the car brake

The "button" on the auto trans selector on a floor shifter is for you to take it out of PARK. Once you place the selector into any forward gear or reverse on an accord, you can move it from one gear into another (yes even reverse) without pressing the button again. This is the same thing that the "indent" on a column shifter does, once you put it in any gear it will move freely to the next range (gear) without pulling the handle towards you like you do when you take it out of park.

If you are grinding gears on an auto, it is NOT IN PROPER working order. End of story no exceptions.

DH, would you care to comment?

IF your friends autos are having problems it just might be becuase they do not properly maintain them or put the car into drive when it is still moving backwards......

First off, the manual matic as you put it, is computer controlled, when you shift up to 5th it goes through each gear, it doesnt skip them, second if you were to shift down twice to go from 5th into 3rd it would shift into 4th then into 3rd, because the auto is not made to skip gears. And your D2 to D4 example is poor, cause it wont automatically shift straight into 4th gear, it will shift into 3rd then shift into 4th, for the same reason if your in D4 and driving at 50mph then push all the way on the gas, it doesnt shift right into 2nd gear, it shifts into 3d then into second assuming you havent exceded the bandwidth of 2nd gear by that point.

But the auto manual is designed to shift through the gears when you want and if it were exactly the same, why would they design it different for the basic auto?

As for the button, you can go from reverse, to neutral, to d4/d3 without hitting the button, you have to hit the button to go into d2 or d1, once youre out of reverse you have to hit the button to go back into it, it has those stepped groves to prevent shifting into a gear you dont want to be in, because oddly enough if you dont want to be able to shift from d4 to reverse while moving, thats why you have to push the button to go into it. And if your cars dont have those groves to prevent that, then i think you may either be removing them yourself, or you got a car where someone messed with it. Every single car ive owned you have to push the button for more then just getting it in and out of park.

If you could drop a car into D2 while driving 40mph people would have been saying for years that you could do it, and if you could do as you claimed you would be able to rev up the engine in neutral and shift it to any gear "without any ill effects" but the fact of the matter is you cant without harming the transmission, because its just not made to work that way.

Sparco, just to save time, keep in mind YeuEmMaiMai has had his transmission rebuilt twice now, so if you think down shifting is something that cant harm the transmission, go ahead and do it, otherwise, dont do it.

You are wrong.

1. You do not have to press the button to get into first or second.

2. I never said that the trans would go to 2nd gear without going through the intermediate gear. The example is for moving the selector and when I statd that the trans would go to the gear it is assumed that you understood that it would shift though the next gear to get there.

3. A manualmatic will shift up and down when you request as long as it will not cause the engine to over rev.

And before you open your mouth and spout more BS as to why you THINK my trans was rebuilt twice, let me educate you as to WHY my trans was rebuilt. I have a '94 Honda Accord that is still on the original trans after 150K and I have moved the selector through the forwards gears at time when I like to have a little fun.

#1. Main bushing failed in drive shaft. I bought the car with the trans busted so exactly what are you talking about?

#2. When they rebuilt the trans, they put the WRONG parts into the unit. Again please do not talk about something that you know little or nothing about.

A manual matic is not any different than an auto. The only difference is the TCU used to control the unit.

Bottom line is that NOTHING WILL HAPPEN WHEN YOU MOVE THE SELECTOR FROM D4 to any other FORWARD GEAR. The transmission will shift to the approperiate gear as requested as long as the parameters for engine operation are not exceeded.

First off when i said its designed to, references the TCU which is made to control the downshift like that, oddly enough an auto wont work without the TCU.

and i guess because every single car that ive seen is made so you have to push the button to move it into second and first is just a weird quirk that Toyota, Honda, Ford, Chevy, Nissan, Acura, and every other auto maker designed "by accident" for their automatics. And these odd little groves prevent you from shifting into reverse when youve already shifted out of it, just as it prevents you from moving it from D3 to D2 and from moving it from D2 to D1.

I know that it isnt designed that way with an auto manual but you have to tell the computer your going to manually shift it by moving the stick to the right when youre in drive. Where a normal auto has NOTHING that tells it youre going to manually shift it, because the TCU isnt made to do that while in drive, because if it were, it wouldnt have those little stepped groves that prevent you from shifting into second and first! And oddly enough vehicles with the shifter in the steering column prevent you from moving into 2 and L without pulling the leaver back then down, just like it wont let you move it into reverse without pulling it back. Even with cars with just D and L you cant shift down into L without pushing the button.

I dont care about your broke transmission and i dont care about what you decide to imply, next thing youll tell someone its a good thing to shift a manual without pushing down clutch pedal.

He asked about moving the selector from D4 to D1 or any othe forward gear will not hurt the transmission. END OF THREAD. That is what he asked.

did you not say this?

"Sparco, just to save time, keep in mind YeuEmMaiMai has had his transmission rebuilt twice now, so if you think down shifting is something that cant harm the transmission, go ahead and do it, otherwise, dont do it. "

You are the one here who is talking crap and I set the record straight.

BTW, Auto transmissions worked just fine before the TCU came alonng as they were vaccum / pressure controlled and they still locked out gears if engine speed was too high

ok well my car has 78000 miles i just dont want the transmission to blow in the next 3 years or so :P


btw, when u go from D3 to 2 or 1 you do have to push the button, but from 1-2-3-4 no button...

anyway i probly wont shift down that much anymore i just like getting the high rpms in first and 2nd knowm sayin

if the gears are on the selector why would they be there if they were not to be used. my accord is manual but, the manual book for the toyota siena van advocates the use of downshifting on the selector. its likely not a good idea to be power shifting with the gear selector since it was not intended for that anyways. if you abuse anything it will break faster especialy an auto with a driver treating it like a manual. I am obviously not any honda tech but i tried to use some common sense.

yea i dont downshift but i dont see the problem in shifting up...

Well unless iam wrong when you press the gas all the way down the car down shifts to the maxium power gear? So whats would be the problem doing it manual yourself if the car does it. No matter how you shift it has to go thourgh all the gears. On the shifter its a stright line D1 D2 D3 D4 in order to downshift from D4 to D2 you have to go to D3. The car does the same thing when press the gas all the way down. Doing it maunally should cause no prb. I downshift when i need more power, my car has 160,000 miles on it and i have no prb with tranny what so ever.

Um... mine too
year 97 I-4 and I shift up and down like a manual all the time.. no problem at all either, its almost 140k

how many times have we had this argument...