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
Some cars actually recommend skipping gears for better fuel economy, some are just fine to start in 2nd on flat pavement. Many can do a 2-4 shift (skipping three) when the car is light and on flat or downslopes. Fortunately you can easily detect if you are in too high a gear because the car immediately starts ‘lugging.’
Many tractor trailers have something called a ‘crawler’ gear that is so low that it is inconvenient to use on a regular basis, but needed if you are heavy and need to move up a hill from a dead stop. In that engineering, the higher gear is normally used and the lower one is only used for specific situations a driver might encounter.
The damage comes from the possibility of the friction plate / clutch wearing faster and the cylinders overheating, but that is something that happens with *consistent* engine lugging.
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