First of all, I just want ya'll to know that I'm still learning how to drive stick. I had my car since dec 03 and I sometimes get bad jerkin' from gear to gear . I just want to know if anyone can explain the engine knockin' while moving from 1st to 2nd or why is the engine jerkin??? Does anyone have better driving tips???...My friends tell me that I'm drivin' pretty good, but why am I still gettin' those jerks or should I say bumpy rides from gear to gear??? Am I not pressin' the clutch all the way down???

 

You have to try to get the engine RPMs near what they will be at for the next gear. So if your in first, when you shift to second, before coming off the clutch, give the engine some gas until you are at the rpm you think it should be at. Let go of the clutch and it should be smoother. Some people can shift so fast they don't need to do this, the engine is still coming down to idle when they come off the clutch so they don't need to give it any gas.
Note, I don't even know how to drive manual, but this is one of the many tips I have gotten to drive a manual smoother.
If anyone sees anything wrong with this post, tell me

 

Sound enough advice. I'm one of those that normally shifts fast enough that the rpms drop just about to where they sould be in the next gear. Sometimes, though, I get in a slow mood, and drive and shift slower, and then I blip the gas while shifting. It's not something I even have to think about anymore. I've been driving stick since I was 8 (farm tractor), and every car I've had since my first one back in '90 has been stick.

 

are you sure its from the car? It maybe just you not shifting right. Get some one that is good a driving a manual and see what he thinks.

 

Thanks guyz...I'll try this tonight and see whether I just need to give it some gas. BTW does shiftin' wrong, like I did, cause the engine to knock or have that loud clickin' noise as if the engine is dying out???

 

Let me assure you - and I've driven all kinds of manual cars, from this to a 1995 trans am to a 89 corsica...it's part you, part the car. You don't have to be on the gas to shift smoothly, you just HAVE to MASH the clutch. I mean, when you feel it on the floor, keep pushing down. I noticed it too, I couldn't figure out WTF was wrong....mashing the clutch works.

 

And to answer your question, not giving enough gas causes it to 'diesel' with that loud noise....it's a fine line between too much gas and spinning tires and not enough and the knocking noise....

 

The knocking sound is actually caused by detonation. Same thing as leaving a car in a high gear up a hill, same as using regular in a car needing premium.
The shudder/roughness from the shift if you don't rev the engine a bit is from the clutch forcing the engine up off of idle.

 

yeah, I guess I wasn't pushing the clutch all the way down...my ride seems pretty smoother and my wife was surprized that the car wasn't jerkin' as much as it use to. I rev'd it a bit more and it shifted smoother. My other friend said something like...sometimes your engine does that if you don't gas it enough or let your clutch grab...I somewhat understood his concept though.

 

How long have you been driving stick? If it's only been a couple weeks or even a couple months, give it time. You will get better with practice.

 

for all of you veteran manual drivers...i noticed that when the car is cold it seems to "slip" a bit before it grabs the gear when letting out on the clutch in first gear and a little bit in 2nd. I think i read on another post about this being a problem with the clutch assembly but has anyone else looked into this...or even noticed this? i know this isn't normal because i've been driving a stick for 9 years and this only happened a little on my last car after it had about 150000 miles on an original clutch.

 

I haven't had anything like that happen with mine.

 

I've noticed that happen when I drive the car and it's not warmed up. I haven't really thought too much into it being a problem though cuz I know just about every car could use some warming up time before driving.

If someone knows of this being a known problem please share the infom you have on it. I don't want to mess my car up. I love my RA too much to have to take it to the doctors office already.

 

The problem with the clutch slipping when cold is due to the fact that the ralliart has a clutch slave modulator assembly which is supposed to smooth out shifts for the less-than-veteran stickshift drivers. When it is cold it would allow the clutch to slip excessively, due to the slower actuation from colder, thicker clutch fluid.

 

RRM makes a clutch line that bypasses the slave modulator to fix that problem. www.roadracemotorsports.com for the 1 or 2 people that don't know