I was going fairly slow in this parking deck and i wanted to downshift from second to first... I wasn't going to let go of the clutch and i just wanted to shift to first. When i pushed it towards first, i noticed it wasn't going into gear. My clutch was down and i forced a little bit and it let out this really loud screech. WHAT IS THAT???? I hope i didn't damage my car. AS soon as i heard it, i let it go to netural and tried shifting to first again and it went in fine this time... I've noticed before that at a certain speed i'm not allowed to downshift to first, but this time i was going so slow too, any ideas anyone??

 

Well for starters, never downshift to first unless you're stopped. First should only used from a dead stop. Drop to second if you want to cruise slowly from a roll. Hope that helps.


Edit: I believe the speed should be no greater than 8mph, not too sure on that though...

 

Thanks, but do you know what the screeching could've been from?

 

Don't worry about it.

This is an Evo not a Porshe, just a small price to pay for performance on a budget.

It's almost impossible to down shift into 1st smoothly, even when double clutching matching everything up perfectly, the laws of mechanics just won't let it happen.

When I drove my car off the lot with the accelerator to the floor I got a loud thunck hitting 3rd. Never happened again - was just everything setting.

 

It's something with stick shift cars in general, it's the same thing with my civic, like the guys said above 1st gear isn't meant for downshift. As for the screeching sound I can only say it's prolly you tried to force your way into the gear, if you REALLY need to get in 1st for some reason, move it around neutral first, that always solves the problem for me.

 

Thanks, i just never heard this before startled me a bit haha I guess there's nothing to worry about.

 

That was you synchro in your tranny, yelling stop!!! Don't ever do that again or you'll damage your 1-2 synchro. If you need to downshift into first while moving learn to double clutch or heel and toe ...

 

yup... synchro grind :\

 

yeah, i use heal and toe for every shift and I can go almost anywhere on the tach in first from second.