As the title says, I know that different shifts mean different gear sizes bein used, but I don’t understand why it makes you unable to start moving the car. I have been able to start a couple of cars on the 2nd shift as an experiment and I understand that I could damage the car and I do it just once for testing purposes but I don’t understand why I cannot do so on other shifts. To clarify, I mean start as in start moving the car and not just turning the car on. Thanks
In: Engineering
Because cars with manual transmissions have a “dry clutch”.
Dry means there’s no fluid that would be able to cool it down when it heats up from friction.
And a clutch is the thing that decoupled the gearbox from the engine, allowing changing gears or stoping. The gearbox has its speed dictated by the wheels.
Now, when starting your wheels are at 0 speed, so same for transmission. So when starting you basically close the speed gap between the wheels and transmission.
If you have a lot of difference, it means a lot of friction in the clutch, so a lot of wear and heat. Plus, in a taller gear (higher gear number), it will take more torque from the engine to get the car moving, and MUCH more feathering of the clutch. You could, in theory, start in top gear, but it’s hard as hell, and most likely you’ll need to change the friction plates.
I hope that helped.
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