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Manual Shift isn't smooth


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  • 2 months later...

same here. i've driven a manual most of my 20 driving years, and the Spark is the first that i can't seem to get a smooth shift from 1st to 2nd. it sort of "shutters" before it catches. im guessing it the electronic throttle, cuz it's the first time i have that. maybe just more practice since my car only has 1200mi on it. lol

I wondered how to discribe the feeling I get at first "shutters" sums it up. And it only seems to "shutter" when the car is cold. I am not sure if this is bad for the car, but if I am barely rolling, I just use second gear. not going to first gear

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Mine started this only when it was below 20 degrees F outside and the car was cold (first thing in the morning at coming home after work), now it is just about every time I let the clutch out. SOmetimes bad enough to make the front end hop up and down or to trigger the traction control on dry clear "summer" roads.

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  • 1 year later...

Any tips on how to accelerate at a stop light that will allow you to keep up with traffic? One aggressive driver had a fit of road rage with me this afternoon because I did not take off fast enough for their liking. Starting at the biting point (hand break up, with gas) seems to help propel me across an intersection pretty quickly. Transitioning to 2nd gear is only smooth if I spend time traveling through the biting point. The trade off, however, is that I fail to accelerate with traffic.

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Are you shifting when it tells you to shift? I've found that is way off and ontop of not having power if I listened to that little indicator my gas Mileage would suck.

Shift when you feel it not when it tells you.

As far as taking off it sounds like you might be letting the clutch out too slow. Try letting it out slow and letting it out faster once you start to give it gas.

Meaning, let the clutch out slow, then when you feel the car 'need' gas, give it gas, and let off the clutch faster at that point.

If you start to give it gas at the same time, or before, you start to let out the clutch, it will feel like you don't have as much power

Edited by Jessi
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Are you shifting when it tells you to shift? I've found that is way off and ontop of not having power if I listened to that little indicator my gas Mileage would suck.

Shift when you feel it not when it tells you.

As far as taking off it sounds like you might be letting the clutch out too slow. Try letting it out slow and letting it out faster once you start to give it gas.

Meaning, let the clutch out slow, then when you feel the car 'need' gas, give it gas, and let off the clutch faster at that point.

If you start to give it gas at the same time, or before, you start to let out the clutch, it will feel like you don't have as much power

Thanks for the advice. I stopped paying attention to the indicator long ago!!

Edited by shilvest
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  • 5 months later...

What I do in my '14 LS manual is when starting out I first clutch in, 1st gear and slowly release the clutch until it bites and slowly give it gas while holding the clutch for a second and then slowly giving more gas while releasing the clutch. Now for 2nd gear, yes it can be tricky not to rock or jolt the car while shifting into 2nd, I found to actually speed shift into 2nd Ha! It works surprisingly. 

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