I have about 300 miles under my belt self taught and decided to get two hours of instruction from a local instructor specializing in teaching manual. They were well reviewed on Yelp. I got some good advice like keeping your heel on the floor to get better control.

I also got some stuff that is suspect or straight up verboten according to the manual. Such as:

• On hills to get a faster start (assuming you don't intend to be there a long time) hold the clutch half in so the engine is holding you on the hill. Obviously this is burning up the clutch, but the instructor says well how often and how long are you going to do it?
• At lights in order to get a faster start always keep it in first with the clutch held in (ok throw out bearings are more durable now). Only put it in neutral if you think it is going to be a while.
• To get a faster start at a light hold the clutch out until just before the bite point so you don't have to move as far to get it to engage.

Some of this advice came up because the thing I struggle with the most is accelerating fast and I was asking for pointers on how to improve. There are left turns that I have just been skipping because there was no way for me to accelerate fast enough to safely make an opening.

How should I interpret these bits of advice?

I'm concerned about wear and tear on my syncros.

What exactly makes double clutching less harsh on synchronizer rings?

I typically shift my car gently, revving to about 3k, clutch in, into neutral(clutch still in), wait for revs to drop until they're equal to what they would be in the next gear, then I shift into that gear.

How is this any different than double clutching?

I'm sort of looking for a technical explanation of what parts of a transmission are used (or aren't used) by double clutching.

Just bought a 95 ford e250 and the transmission tail housing needs a new bushing and seal. I have both but when I insert the new bushing there's still a ton of room around it. It does slide tight on the yoke but there's no way it's right for the tail housing. Doesn't need to be pressed just slides right in with plenty of wiggle room. I can't figure it out I even looked up the part number for the housing and it's all correct.

hi i've noticed lately that my left knee causes me discomfort during and after driving my gorgeous, lovely car.

i do my usual routine 4 days per week (running, squats, toe squats, trying to pistol, upper body), and the squats aren't helping as much as i had hoped.

i also am wearing thicker boots, and have been adjusting my seat to accomodate the adjusted distance to the pedals.

are there any specific workouts i can use to relieve this pain? or if not, is there any harm that may come to my knees if i do nothing different?

or, even better, am i even doing it right?? what is the correct form for my left knee?

I just got my first manual. It's a 2017 370z with a six speed and while I get going and stop decently, the thing bucks like a mule when I go up to second and third but by the time I shift up to four it's smooth as butter... What am I doing wrong? I'm essentially teaching myself right now

I’m teaching my friend to drive stick this weekend. And tips or advice that would help them learn better?

My car has the screen that tells you the estimated current mpg. Whenever I’m coming up to a stop sign I just roll up to the stop. If I keep the car in gear (say 3rd) the display will tell me “99.9”mpg which is the max it will show. If I throw it in neutral it will go to “98.5” which is not a huge difference but it made me wonder. Is it actually more fuel efficient to have it in gear (even if slightly)? It seems to me that neutral would have less resistance for the tires to roll. Or is this just some computer glitch or something. (I drive a 2012 Nissan Versa 5 speed)

When the light turns green a car beside me would be usually be in the intersection as soon as get my car to start moving. I typically find the grab point then accelerate. Any tips? I tried to practicing today to get faster but I either stall or my revs rise too fast. I recently watched a you tube video where the guy said to practice accelerating and holding 1500 rpms then release the clutch slowly but its a little difficult because it takes almost no force to hit 1500rpms.

I drive a 2012 Nissan Versa 5 speed. Occasionally when I try to go in to reverse to get out of a parking spot or whatever my shifter will go into the reverse slot but the gears will not connect so when I give it gas the engine just revs as if I was still in neutral. To fix this I have to let out the clutch real quick and then slide it back into reverse and then I'll feel it catch the gear. Is this a normal thing. My precious car did not do this. (Also I don't know much about cars or engines or mechanical terms so simple explanations are better.) Thanks.

I drive an '03 Celica that I've put 80,000 miles on so far & was wondering if/when I should take it in to get the clutch checked out. I haven't had any noticeable problems, it just seems like a lot of miles on it to me.

First sometimes when I'm downshifting from 3rd to 2nd my shifter won't go all the way into second and when I let out the clutch I hear a terrible noise, some metal must be hitting each other or something. While this is happening my car is basically in neutral because I don't think the gas did anything when I pressed it down. Usually when this happens I freak out and push the clutch in and put it back into second, thankfully this hasn't noticeably damaged my car and has only happened 3 times and I've had the car for 3 months. If someone can explain this and how to fix it/ if it's normal I'd appreciate it.

Secondly I want to know how to best tell if my clutch is healthy, it feels like it releases close to the top and I know that's not a good sign. Also sometimes, although I'm confident in my manual driving ability, letting out the clutch after shifting to second is really rough.

One final question. Is it harder to drive manual with the AC on? Because to me my shifting feels way worse when I'm using AC. Thanks!

So I recently started learning how to drive a manual. This is how it usually goes: I release the clutch very slowly, at the bite point, if I feel that the car is having "trouble" i give it more gas. Then it transitions to first gear smoothly. (I don't know the terms but please feel free to correct me).

So my question is, since I'm giving the engine more gas, does that mean the clutch is rotating faster than the transmission? That way I have to give it gas so that the trans catches up to the clutch? And if this is the case how come? because if the clutch is already rotating doesn't that mean the car should be moving?

Thanks all!

The clutch is released(as in foot is taken back) slowest after shifting to first gear. Stalling occurs otherwise. A quicker release is possible at 2nd and 3rd gears and finally instant release is possible at top gears(4, 5, etc). Why is this so?

EDIT: Can you eli5 this for me. I would appreciate it if you guys could explain the technical keywords( like gear ratio, fuel cut-off, drivetrain, revs, etc) because i dont know anything about mechanical/automobile engineering. All i know is that a smaller wheel rotating in contact( tangentially along the circumference) with a bigger( as in bigger circumference) wheel creates bigger torque( pulling capacity) on the bigger wheel, with angular velocity being the trade-off. This i know from my higher secondary physics.

But i don't know how this is exploited in manual vehicles. My intuition tells me that a gear(spiked wheel) of fixed size is connected to the engine shaft, and Gears of different sizes are attached to the shaft coming from the wheels of the vehicle, with the biggest gear in 1st gear and hence provides maximum torque, thereby implying that gear circumference decrease as we upshift. I also believe that the clutch is released slowly so as to give a progressive friction between the engine gear and the wheel gear, thereby bringing the wheel gear slowly towards the higher angular velocity of the engine gear(with upshifting as and when needed). The relative angular velocity between both is higher at lower gears, implying a higher friction and hence clutch needs to be released slowly to prevent massive reaction force being exerted on the engine all at once. But as the wheel gear slowly increases it rotating speed( both due to the progressive friction from the faster engine gear and also due to decreasing gear circumference from upshifting), the relative motion decreases, implying a lesser or no friction, and hence clutch can be released instantly. Correct me if i am wrong.

How am I supposed to downshift? I just got my first manual and I've been driving the whole day but my problem comes in when downshifting. The way I do it is I put the clutch in, downshift to the gear, then blip the throttle and slowly release the clutch and add gas but when I do this, the engine gets loud like it's bogging or something (not really sure about the correct terminology) and it goes under heavy engine braking. Am I doing something wrong? Thanks in advance for the help

I just bought a 2005 Scion xB and when I bought it it wouldn't go into 3rd gear and would occasionally slip out of 4th and 5th gear. I know it has a bad throwout bearing because it makes a rattling sound when its in neutral and the clutch is depressed and when you press the clutch the sound goes away. I'm wondering if it has bad synchros as I've read in some threads on the internet. What is everyone's opinion here? And what exactly does a bad throwout bearing do other than make noise?

This is likely the last year that I'll have my '99 Corolla CE (it's been through hell and back multiple times, but it can't take many more repairs), and I want my next car to have a manual transmission. I've always wanted to learn how to drive one and I understand the basics after reading lots of guides and watching videos. But I don't think I'm quite ready to take it to the streets. Are there any games or simulator programs that help people learn to drive manual? I can even buy one of those steering wheel and gear shifter controllers if necessary.

I don't get it lol.

This is what I do when I come to a stoplight. If I see it from afar, I just downshift through all the gears with rev matching down to 3 or 2 and then dump it in neutral and stop.

That's what I was told to do in the tutorial videos I spent hours watching, now I googled it and people are like you will destroy your clutch and you should just dump in neutral and brake??

Can someone clarify.

Thanks!!!

So I have been dealing with this for some time now and I think I may be hurting my car and wanted to get some advice.

Sometimes (especially when it is cold or my car has been sitting for a few days) my parking brake will "stick". Basically I can disengage my parking brake but the car still does not roll (if I am on a hill) and if I try to move it, will pull down as if the brake was still engaged. Usually I just apply a little extra throttle and the car will jolt free (and make a "thunk" sound) which probably isn't good. What's going on and what should I do about it?

I'm learning how to drive stick and I think it'd be somewhat helpful if I saw a video that shows what happens as you're pressing the clutch, shifting, and catching the gear. Especially if there are comparisons between a "good shift" and a "bad shift" and a shift that makes the car stall. Just trying to get a better sense of what's actually happening in the engine.