Starting in 2nd Gear

[Brice80]

Hey Guys,

I've been reading that other owners of the 2011+ GT Performance pack stangs have started out in second gear, and lot of them do the skip shifting, 2-4-6 style shifting.
They say it doesn't hurt the transmission as long as you don't slip the lutch too much, and it supposedly gives you some positive fuel efficiency?

I've never done this before, and I wanted to see what our helpful 2015 community thinks. I've got the 3.73's with the performance pack and I ask cause my first gear is almost useless. However I don't want to damage my car at all.

Any advice is welcomed, as always.

Thank you,

Brice

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[n8rfastback]

I never do, but I have also heard that people do it. I may try it eventually, but it does in fact take longer to engage the clutch, therefore wearing it more than normal take offs. I'm sure it's a negligible difference in the life of the clutch though

 

[EXP Jawa]

As long as you've got the available torque to get the car rolling without too much effort, you can start in any gear you want. My grandfather had a '53 Ford wagon that he put a Lincoln 430 in. He could start and cruise in top gear (it only had 3 speeds though). As long as you are slipping the clutch excessively, it shouldn't be a problem.

 

[madweazl]

When I'm facing downhill I'll often start in 2nd. If I'm getting on the highway I skip 4th and 5th just about every time and 4th a lot of times depending on the flow of traffic. I've had a number of cars with the 1st-4th shift skip and it drove me nuts (the GM implementation made me want to stab babies and kill kittens). I never noticed a difference in mileage but I rarely drive in a manner where I'm thinking about saving fuel.

 

[comagt]

I would start in first and then skip over second. I prefer to be nicer to the clutch. In the auto I like to start out in third gear....sometimes.

 

[phunk]

Starting in second will wear the clutch some quicker, but it might not be noticeable.

As for skip-shifting - be careful with that. You can do it, but you have to shift much slower and give the input shaft time to decelerate or you will be accelerating the wear on your synchros. If you try and shift 1st to 4th constantly and perform the shift quickly, its very possible that it wont be long before you develop a 4th gear scratch.

 

[JoshMac]

I have 3.31's and quite often take off in 2nd. When in town I also usually go 2nd to 5th or 1st to 4th if on a hill. You are causing less "wear" on your clutch by starting off in 2nd then shifting 1st to 2nd every time you takeoff. It does take a little more "clutch work" to get the car moving but nothing excessive. While I do love "rowing" through the gears, I only need 3 of them in most situations.

 

[Brice80]

When I'm facing downhill I'll often start in 2nd. If I'm getting on the highway I skip 4th and 5th just about every time and 4th a lot of times depending on the flow of traffic. I've had a number of cars with the 1st-4th shift skip and it drove me nuts (the GM implementation made me want to stab babies and kill kittens). I never noticed a difference in mileage but I rarely drive in a manner where I'm thinking about saving fuel.

Okay interesting, so if you're on a flat surface (I'm from houston, 90% of the time I'll start flat surface) you'd still use first? or potentially 2nd? I will try the skip shifting on my way home today, so you get up to like 3500RPM in 3rd then go straight to 6th? i've never thought of that. First manual:headbonk:

Starting in second will wear the clutch some quicker, but it might not be noticeable.

As for skip-shifting - be careful with that. You can do it, but you have to shift much slower and give the input shaft time to decelerate or you will be accelerating the wear on your synchros. If you try and shift 1st to 4th constantly and perform the shift quickly, its very possible that it wont be long before you develop a 4th gear scratch.

Right, I'm trying to weigh the pros/cons and see how much quicker this would wear the clutch.

That is incredibly helpful information. I knew about the syncrhos but not much about how long to wait etc, I'll definitely shift slow if I skip. I've only skipped from like 4th to 6th, and I always wait for the RPMS to get all the way down before engaging the 6th gear.

I have 3.31's and quite often take off in 2nd. When in town I also usually go 2nd to 5th or 1st to 4th if on a hill. You are causing less "wear" on your clutch by starting off in 2nd then shifting 1st to 2nd every time you takeoff. It does take a little more "clutch work" to get the car moving but nothing excessive. While I do love "rowing" through the gears, I only need 3 of them in most situations.

Really? so if you have 3.31's i should be okay to start in 2nd if i have 3.73's as mine will be a bit shorter than yours? I figured by not pushing the cllutch in as often, it might counter the fact that it has more slippage, but wasn't sure.
Yea I love rowing the gears as well, but on my way home, sometimes I've got calls or something going on, and I'd prefer to stay in gear longer, or shift less. Love that I can control it

 

[madweazl]

Starting in second will wear the clutch some quicker, but it might not be noticeable.

As for skip-shifting - be careful with that. You can do it, but you have to shift much slower and give the input shaft time to decelerate or you will be accelerating the wear on your synchros. If you try and shift 1st to 4th constantly and perform the shift quickly, its very possible that it wont be long before you develop a 4th gear scratch.

Many of the Tremecs and the MT82 prior to the '15 had this "lockout" from Ford. I cant think of any situation where you'd be making a hard or on power shift when going from 1st to 4th. It was a feature implemented to earn emissions credits in the past. You arent going to hurt a thing.

Okay interesting, so if you're on a flat surface (I'm from houston, 90% of the time I'll start flat surface) you'd still use first? or potentially 2nd? I will try the skip shifting on my way home today, so you get up to like 3500RPM in 3rd then go straight to 6th? i've never thought of that. First manual.

When I'm going from 2nd to 6th or 3rd to 6th it's because I've already reached terminal velocity (flow of traffic just didnt sound cool...). On flat ground I typically start in 1st (especially if there are cars in front of me because people leave the light at half the speed of smell here). It's completely situationally dependent for me.

 

[phunk]

Many of the Tremecs and the MT82 prior to the '15 had this "lockout" from Ford. I cant think of any situation where you'd be making a hard or on power shift when going from 1st to 4th. It was a feature implemented to earn emissions credits in the past. You arent going to hurt a thing.

Of course you wont *hurt* anything. But accelerated wear is just that. By increasing the burden on the synchronizers, you increase their wear. Sort of like using the brakes hard... your not hurting them, your just wearing them more quickly.

I have read of some owners being denied warranty claims (other vehicles) for worn synchros if they admitted to skip shifting frequently. Google it, im not making it up for fun.

 

[Ugly John]

Not really related to this thread, but I noticed that the automatic allows you to start in 2nd or 3rd gear - just put it in sport and paddle up. It is smooth, and I imagine it would be very helpful in snow or ice.

 

[EXP Jawa]

Not really related to this thread, but I noticed that the automatic allows you to start in 2nd or 3rd gear - just put it in sport and paddle up. It is smooth, and I imagine it would be very helpful in snow or ice.

A torque converter is a great equalizer as far as that goes, and it also multiplies torque to help get rolling. So it isn't really apples/apples, obviously. But at the end of the day, all that is important is that you have enough torque to get the car rolling without excessive slippage.

Skipping shifts could theoretically cut down on number of clutch cycles or syncro engagements, and frankly, there aren't any situation in which you skip-shift that would require you to do it fast. So slow shifting shouldn't be an issue. Think of skip shifting as using a old school 3-speed, wide ratio gear box. People had to do that all the time, once upon a time.

 

[347CobraII]

I had 2011 GT brembo car with 3.73 skip shift feature was slow to show up on dash display. Most of the time solenoid was blocking 2nd gear you didn't know it. So people called it 2nd gear lockout thought trans had a problem. You could still get it into 2nd if you wanted too but just easier to put it in 3rd. Tune will take this feature out with me after putting it back to stock never showed up again either.

I do a lot of 1st,3rd, 5th or 2nd,4th,5th with 11 and now with 15 GT PP.

 

[Chameleon]

Yeah, over time that is not good for the clutch. I would just shift regular.

 

[347CobraII]

Not really hurting the clutch at all. To be truthful every time you disengage and engage the clutch works damper springs.

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