Is skipping gears ok?
 

1997 Honda Civic:

I usually go 1 -> 3 -> 5 and if im going down hill I can start off at 2 -> 4 -> 5 or sometimes even 2 -> 5
Is this OK to do or is there some reason why you cant?


From what I see on yahoo answers its a no-go, they said it puts too much strain on the gears that im using since they have to make up for what the lower gears didn't do.... hmmm....what if I'm hauling down hill?

When skipping gears your rpm's will be either too high or low (or both) at some point. The more intermediate gears, the closer you are to optimal rpms.

That said I sometimes skip 3rd, though very very rarely.

"Yahoo answers"- well there you have it. Not.

If the transmission seems to "like" it i.e. there's no grinding or crunching on gear changes, I can't imagine any harm from it. I've been skipping gears on the Tempos for many years with no issues. However I've found Metros don't like it- no matter how carefully I clutch or even try to rev-match, there a little "grunch" from a Metro trans when I tried to skip, so I don't do it in them.

I often use my gears to slow down and will sometimes go from 5th to 3rd then 2nd. I tend to use all the gears in their proper order for accelerating, that is because I shift early and need the next closes gear to keep in sync.
If you were to drive using high rpm's to shift you could easily skip a gear ..

i skip gears all the time. in fact i rarely use all the gears in sequence, and i've found that of the few occasions when i drive another car this does not cause any problems other than that is quickly shows the difference in gearing

i usually do 1->2->5
this will quickly get me up to 50km/h to merge into traffic from standstill at junctions etc than lift of the throttle using the momentum to overcome this power drop and than keep a steady speed if that's the speed limit or slowly accelerate on to 70km/h in practice this makes me accelerate about as fast and steady as other cars, but giving me enought "emergency"power in the first half and going wot with low revs in the second half.

as for strain on the gears... try to be gentle with the clutch, let it catch before applying power again, as the greater difference is rmp will cause slightly more friction, but as you'll shift 25-50% less than when using all the gears one might wonder if you don't actually save the clutch this way...

as long as you're not grinding the gears and if feels right, you should be fine.

It definitely won't harm anything as long as you don't lug the engine much. However, for best fuel efficiency its best to keep your rpms around 1500-2500 and skipping gears will likely put you out of that range. I always use all my gears to accelerate. I will skip them going down if I am going to use the engine to slow and use fuel cut. I skip them all if I EOC up to a light I know I'll be stuck at a while.

RandomFact314 -

I've been skipping gears since 1984. It may not be optimal for MPG but all of the above advice shows you can do it without harming your tranny.

CarloSW2

Did you travel to the future to get your 99 Saturn back then? :)

If you can get into gear without having to slip and wear the clutch then no problem.

EDIT and also without "chugging" the engine.

Daox -

Ha ha, I'll never tell!!!

CarloSW2

He's got a DeLorean and is holding out on us!

I usually only skip 4th gear on down hill semi-suburban areas.
My '87 CRX seems very happy about it!

It's actually used to improve fuel economy for EPA testing on many cars.

Since the 90s, GM has used it on their 6spd muscle cars in the form of a forced 1-4 shift. Under light load conditions, when you shift from 1-2, a solenoid clicks in and the gate for 2nd slides you into 4th. It'll do this at light load and under 25 mph on my car.

It was to improve the fuel economy in EPA testing, and is used today to avoid the gas guzzler tax on many cars.

I found it annoying, since I skip shift into 3rd anyways. It locks out third as well. On the GM cars, it's easy to disable. It wasn't lugging the motor per say, but it wasn't always an optimal gear for what I was doing. You could hold the trans in N for a second and it would disable the skip shift, but that kills momentum.

Of course, big GM V8s have enough torque to drive just fine in 4th gear at 25-30mph.

Frank -

Wellllll, there isn't a way to measure DPGe in the garage, so I figured, what's the point?

DPGe = Dimensions-Per-Gallon-Electric

CarloSW2

The 92 F150 has a very tall final drive ratio, 1550 RPMile in 5th gear. On a recent 860 mile trip, I started back on Interstate 20 in SC and accidently left it in 4th gear for 10 miles. It was dark outside and it took that long for me to realize my mistake.

Truck got 20 MPG at 70 MPH which worked out to 1800 RPM in 5th gear (.79 OD with a 2.73 rear, 28 inch diameter tires).

regards
badger

Just imagine if you could get a T56 in there.. .50 OD :turtle:

Yeah, it would probably make fe worse. Or maybe I just drive it too damn slow? :confused: