Team-BHP (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/)

-   Technical Stuff (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/technical-stuff/)

-   -   Did not press the clutch while down shifting :( (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/technical-stuff/117169-did-not-press-clutch-while-down-shifting-2.html)

Even I agree to what you said. The entire downshifting sequence unnecessarily complicates the braking routine IMO.

Maybe experts can correct, but under normal driving conditions where the braking distance is so less, downshifting plus braking shouldn't make any significant difference, rather shouldn't one be simply stomping the brakes and trying to steer the vehicle?

Perhaps downshifting makes more sense when the braking distance is reasonable(I can't come up with any ball park figure though).

Relax Adithya!

Nothing to worry. I also have the same car and is an 14 months old and have clocked 51K.

The gear would not have changed from 3rd to 2nd. It would be the grinding noise from the gearbox that would have heard. I have done this mistake once but till date have not seen any problem in the car or gear changes.

Happy driving!

Aren't you contradicting yourself? On one hand you advise him to stand on his brakes instead of using engine braking, and immediately you advise him the best way of losing speed quickly is to use engine braking combined with normal brakes.

I think it's worth spending some time to learn to do both, braking as well as downshifting. After a little bit of practice you shouldn't have much problem doing this even in an emergency situation.

Agreed honeybee. I should have been more explicit. I still stand by my comment. The former is a case wherein you are not doing high speeds but city limit speeds with bumper to bumper traffic in most cases and pedestrians simply look for a gap to stick in their knees. In which case, simply the brakes should do the job well.

At higher speeds, say 80+, which is mostly on ring roads and expressways, there are situations wherein you need to brake effectively with minimal or NO locking, say, an overtaking manouevre and just when you are commencing the act, and you find stray cattle basking away in glory sun-tanning in the high-speed lane! :P

:deadhorse

Hello folks! Just got my new i20 (Petrol) yesterday and I made the same mistake as Adithya. :Frustrati

While trying to get the car in reverse, I forgot to press the clutch and tried to shift in to reverse and instantly there were some 'Krr..' noises from the gearbox. I removed my hand from the stick the moment I heard them, and then took some deep breaths.

Now, I'm a complete beginner to driving and would like to know if this 'small' mistake of mine would have caused any lasting damage to the car. As mentioned above, the diesel version of cars can handle this sort of incidents, but can the petrol ones handle them too?

That "krr" noise you heard is metal on metal noise. You do not need to worry about major damage to the gear box. Engineers design all parts of an engine and gearbox to tolerate some level of abuse. If not, our cars would be breaking down once a month or so. Everybody makes errors like this so don't worry about it at all.

Thanks a lot! I'm relieved after reading your message. The thing is, I was alone in the car at that time and got really scared after hearing the noise. I'll make sure that this does not get repeated in the future EVER!

Once again, thank you for putting my mind at ease! :)

Chill dude. Everyone makes this mistake atleast once.
When I was a new driver, this happened 3-4 times with me. Once while upshifting from 4 to 5 during some spirited driving I somehow let go of the clutch in between and it made this same krrrr noise.

It doesn't cause any damage in such rare incidents.

I have a different advice, nothing to do with your gearbox. Please don't talk over phone while driving. Gearbox is a lesser issue than safe driving. It's important that you are safe rather than your gearbox.

The concept of engine braking held true with petrol engined and naturally aspirated diesel engined cars. It still holds true, but not as effective, in a car with a turbodiesel engine. Turbo diesels are known to have below par engine braking and it's best to not put too much trust on a turbo diesel's engine braking. This rings true especially if you drive down from any hill station. The lack of engine braking on a turbo diesel is pretty obvious.

Really glad to know that many people make this mistake while learning. The thing is, I just got the car yesterday and when your new car starts making these weird noises you can't help getting nervous. Being a new learning driver doesn't help much either.

Thanks for the tip. I make it a point to remove the phone from my pocket and place it in the space provided near the glove box.

My apologies. It was the pedestrian who was crossing the road while talking on his phone. I misinterpreted your post.
This again is a bad habit. I actually knew a person, an immensely talented makeup person and stylist from Kolkata, who was run over by a local train as he was was simply talking on his phone, walking won the railway track, simply oblivious of the surroundings.
Like safe driving, there are safety rules for pedestrians too, which no one seem to follow in India. :(

Not to scare you or anything, but I can guarantee that this will happen to every driver more than once in their life. It might be that you are in a hurry, stressed or occupied with something, your shoe might have some water and slip off the clutch, the possibilities are too numerous to mention.

Relax, accept it and move on.

Trying to reawaken this old thread! :deadhorse

I made the same mistake yesterday on my Maruti Swift Vxi :Frustrati. Was downshifting from 3rd to 2nd and moved the gear while the clutch wasn't even half-pressed.
I wasn't on a high speed (<40 kmph) so I don't think there would be any damage, but now every time I shift gears between 2nd and 3rd, I feel that the shift is not that smooth...
Maybe I'm over conscious now? Or is it a sign of any kind of damage? I don't usually shift the gears fast, i.e. take about 1/2 a second of time to shift from neutral, so maybe I feel the shift more than normal. But I can certainly feel some difference now, so planning to get it checked on next service.

Accidental grinding won't affect the gearbox negatively. Repeated grinding due to improper clutch engagement or not shifting properly over a period of time would chip a teeth in a cog and that's enough to warrant for a gearbox overhaul and replace the defective cog. Case in point, as my dear dad...

I still remember my dad engaging reverse while our omni was doing more than 55 kmph, the grind was so horrible it almost was like a T-Rex roar. Only after I shouted DAD, IT'S REVERSE did he had a shameful face and engaged to 4th. A couple of weeks after that the reverse gear was very hard to engage at certain times and only to be found that it was in fact it was a counter shaft cog that was chipped.

This could have gone awrily wrong. I still piss my dad off saying, careful dad, don't engage reverse, and that smug look on his face.

Bottomline: Try to engage the clutch fully each time you shift. Secondly, if you have a cable operated clutch, make sure you adjust the clutch with the right free play and the throw adjusted, helps prolong clutch life. Most clutch these days are hydraulically operated, in that case adjustments can't help, if you observe too long pedal dive, time to inspect the clutch fluid and the clutch plates.

Cheers!
VJ