My woman says she "can't remember how to explain it" but you "can't skip gears going up". I say that is nonsense. I often get shift from second to fourth. Then I accelerate a little more very gently. It doesn't make the car jerk or shake or get upset at all. Her logic doesn't make sense and mine is that the less times you shift, the better it is for the transmission/clutch.

Since Click and Clack are probably too busy for me and I think I made them mad once when I was drunk- I will ask here

Who's right? Thanks

 

Not sure I want to get in the middle of "your women and you"

Me personally, I skip gears quite often....lets say I run 2nd hard, I'm close to 50 mph and don't need to accel as hard or much more to be at the speed limit....heck, I go to 5th and cruise. I took the boys 89LXi for a spin yesterday, guess what

The beauty/fun of a manual. As long as the gear selected matches the speed, conditions and your intentions (slowing, speeding up, cruise) the car doesn't care what gear you are in.....just my two cents.

PS- this might be one where you just say "yes dear".....and as long as she is not in the car with you

 

I'll frequently skip fourth if I'm not in a hurry, or going down hill. As long as the ca doesn't lug and jerk, there is no mechanical issue.

 

Kinda funny,,,It's my "mom" that taught me how to drive a manual when I was in 5th grade. Her favorites were our rx3 and rx5's. She'd wrap em up and bang through the gears, skipping 2nd or 3rd or 4th(i think they were 5 speeds? 1982,83). While rx's are rotary, and my 325 bmw is an in line6, I skip gears in it as well, especially 4th gettin on the freeway. I believe that skippin gears is perfectly fine when done properly.
My 2 cents may not be as valuable as the poorman's, just tryin to back up the men

 

I skip gears too. But here's a little warning, and the explanation is kinda subtle.

When you skip gears, allow a little extra time for the shift. After all, the main reason to skip gears is when you no longer need to accelerate very hard.

When you shift normally, one gear at a time, you'll take a small amount of time to move the lever from say 2nd to 3rd. During that time, the mainshaft coasts down to a slower speed, sorta matching the RPM you'll need when you engage in the next gear.

When you skip a gear, the mainshaft has to coast down even more, and that takes longer. Wrap it up in 2nd, then shift to 4th. As you're trying to put the lever into 4th, notice that it resists going in until that shaft has coasted down to the proper RPM. Don't force it.

 

You can skip gears all day long if you want. But it can cause extra ware on your clutch causing it to slip a bit more but not all the time of done right with not a lot of engine load.

So say you skip from 2nd to 4th. With all that Jim said I will add that... putting more engine load on the trans will cause the clutch to slip more and will cause more ware. Why? Because there is more "load" on the clutch and the engine has to work little bit harder to turn the gears.

Doing like Poorman said jumping into 5th after your bang through couple of gears is fine if your NOT giving the engine much if any gas.

 

I don't think there's any more load on the clutch - especially if you wait long enough for proper rev-matching. Rev-matching means your clutch isn't slipping (or barely a little bit) when you re-engage it after the shift.

You can put an awful lot more wear on the clutch by improper rev-matching even if you don't skip gears.

 

You guys who admit to skipping gears are going to hell.
Toast, that's what you are now.



OP: wear on the clutch / throw out bearing doesn't seem to come from too much shifting,
rather from poor technique such as slipping clutch going gear to gear, or
resting the left foot on pedal while driving.