Alright guys heres my question, everytie after i shut off my car and am getting ready to leave it parked, I push the clutch and put it into 1st gear. Today however I was in a rush and without thinking I just moved with shifter into 1st gear WITHOUT pushing the clutch. It didn't make any crazy grinding noise or anything (car was off). My question is....should i be able to put the car into gear when its off, without pushing in the clutch??? Or is something busted, gears stripped.... anything???

 

nope.. you can put it into any gear you want. the clutch simply dis-engages the motor. so if it off, there's no need for a clutch to be pushed.

 

Hmm, interesting so everything should be ok then?? No damaged sustained, cuz i asked my friend and he said he can't put his car into gear when its off unless he pushes the clutch, he has an older truck though i dont know if that would make a difference??!?!?!

 

nah, you're fine.

 

Solid.

 

the clutch doesnt disengage from the engine when u shut off ur car. If so, why would your car not be moving when in gear? As long as you didnt hear anything when putting in gear, it should be fine since the gears arent moving but it's still not a good thing to do. Sometimes, I'm lazy and dont step on the clutch only when the car is on a flat level place where the car doesnt move. As long as the car doesnt move (gears not moving), ur good. But when u get out of ur gear, use ur clutch for safety IMO.

 

TRD, I think you misunderstood his post. He means that the clutch disengages the engine whether the car is on or off. The reason you don't need the clutch when the car is off is because there's no moving gears, so you don't need to disengage them. A clutch is only there to help two gears that are moving at different speeds mesh together.

 

To be technically correct, the clutch connects the transmission shaft to the engine flywheel. Gears are all part of the transmission.

When you shift into a given gear, you engage a collar that connects the driveshaft (goes to the wheels) to the layshaft (internal to the transmission). The layshaft is always connected to the transmission shaft. If the engine is not running and the clutch is engaged, then all the shafts are not moving. Engaging a collar in this case won't hurt. You'll have a harder time trying to match the teeth on the collar. We have synchros to help with that. Your friend's older truck probably doesn't and thus harder time to match the teeth.

Bottomline: your car is going to vaporize.