# Question About the Gear Shift



## scha7530 (Apr 15, 2012)

When you shift from "D" to "M" the transmission will stay in the gear it was already in until you tell it to change or come to a complete stop where the engine would stall in that gear.

You will not hurt anything and it is NOT dangerous in any way. For example, my parents do this in their malibu when they want to maintain a slower speed going down a hill.


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## mcg75 (Mar 5, 2012)

scha7530 said:


> When you shift from "D" to "M" the transmission will stay in the gear it was already in until you tell it to change or come to a complete stop where the engine would stall in that gear.
> 
> You will not hurt anything and it is NOT dangerous in any way. For example, my parents do this in their malibu when they want to maintain a slower speed going down a hill.


This ^^^^^^ is the correct answer!


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## SeanM402 (Aug 8, 2011)

I change back and forth between manual and automatic all the time and have not had a problem. When in manual the car will still automatically downshift to prevent the car form stalling.


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## rbtec (Feb 3, 2012)

No problem.


Sent from my Autoguide iPhone app


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## lilmrsyeti (Mar 3, 2012)

Thanks so much for the answers! 

If I read you all correct..you are saying that even if I switch over to the M while driving down the road and then don't shift the gears properly, then the car will do the switching on it's own?? If that's the case, then what's the point of even having the M on there? If I were to start out in M and din't shift properly, would the car then shift on it's own?


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## SeanM402 (Aug 8, 2011)

lilmrsyeti said:


> Thanks so much for the answers!
> 
> If I read you all correct..you are saying that even if I switch over to the M while driving down the road and then don't shift the gears properly, then the car will do the switching on it's own?? If that's the case, then what's the point of even having the M on there? If I were to start out in M and din't shift properly, would the car then shift on it's own?


I don't believe it will do any up shifting for you. It will just rev higher till you shift. I have never tested to see if it will but I know there have been a few times when I have forgotten that it was in manual mode and have had the car almost redlined.


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## Wyre (Jul 23, 2011)

If you do not up shift the engine will bounce off the rev limiter, the only reason that the transmission down shifts is to keep from stalling the engine.


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## GoldenCruze (Dec 18, 2011)

It DOES NOT upshift by itself if you have the gear selector in manual mode. It will downshift as you decrease speed.


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## NickD (Dec 10, 2011)

Sounds like both you and your dealer should read the owners manual, especially the warnings.

Surprised to read this one, when automatics first came out, if driving say at 80 mph and shifting into reverse or park, that transmission would shift into reverse or park. If it didn't kill you or somebody else, pieces of your transmission would be scattered all over the road.

Later models would not engage park or reverse until the vehicle dropped to the outrageous speed of under 7 mph. Really not much of a cure, without a safety belt in this cars, could still get quite a bump on your head when hitting the windshield.

"Notice: Shifting to R (Reverse)
while the vehicle is moving
forward could damage the
transmission. The repairs would
not be covered by the vehicle
warranty. Shift to R (Reverse) only
after the vehicle is stopped."

This is very common at a drag strip, floor the engine, then drop it into gear. A TH-400 was a very rugged transmission when mounted in a small car like a Chevy and could mean winning the race by doing this. But could also scattered your transmission all over the drag strip. Wrecking your old man's car at the drag strip was not one of my things. First off, I didn't have an old man, if I wrecked my own car, had to fix it. 

"Shifting into a drive gear while the
engine is running at high speed is
dangerous. Unless your foot is
firmly on the brake pedal, the
vehicle could move very rapidly.
You could lose control and hit
people or objects. Do not shift
into a drive gear while the engine
is running at high speed."

But apparently some safety features have been incorporated into the manual operation of the Cruze, shifting into a low gear at speed that would more than double the red line of the engine should not shift until the vehicle slowed down to a safer speed.

From day one, hated a locking park in automatic transmissions, can't leave your vehicle with the key in your pocket unless its in park. This drops a pawl into into a toothed gear. With 5 mph bumpers mandatory, someone could really rear end your vehicle under that speed, no visible damage to the bumper, but your transmission will be in pieces.

Transmissions were far more robust in the earlier years, housings were cast iron, using aluminum now in practically all of them, far weaker than steel. Plus repair, particularly in FWD vehicles, like the Cruze is enormous. While the torque converter lock up solenoid valve is only a 15 dollar part, if that coil opens or worse yet, valve is gummed up and won't completely close letting the torque converter lockup clutch slip is at least a 2,000 buck repair bill. More if the torque converter burns up, and it will. 

One reason why I love the real manual transmission, with my Cruze, can park it in neutral with the parking brakes on. But still can do stupid things with it, like put it in first gear while driving 80 mph and popping the clutch. You just don't do that.

Another thing with an automatic, lives on fluid that requires cooling. One tiny leak with gradual loss of fluid can burn up all the clutches without warning. Then they switched to plastic radiator tanks to augment this problem.

Fortunate to have a wife that is anti automatic transmission, but she considered it for remote start, but then if our granddaughter got a hold of that remote, some nasty things can happen, read all the warnings in the owners manual.

Another stupid anti-thieve think is that steering wheel lock, will lock the steering wheel going 80 mph on a curvy road if you switch off the key and you will never be able to unlock that year if your wheel hits the curb on a downhill diagonal parking spot. But sure doesn't stop a thief with a flat bed truck, won't try to resell your car, but since the parts replacement cost became outrageous, a good market exists to sell the parts in your vehicle, they part them out.

To overcome this, added ID codes, but only to electronic components, up to 33 different components that can only be recoded by your dealer, the software for this is not available to the public, but sure doesn't protect an overpriced hood or bumper.

We are paying for all this crap with no information as to whether its doing any good or not. Since I have worked years in this field, a new vehicle with all the automation we have should sell cheaper than a car made in 1965 at 1965 price tags excluding the terrible inflation we had since then. 

Back then, we didn't have the government and the insurance companies telling us how to make a car.


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## spacedout (Dec 7, 2010)

The whole point of manual mode is to keep the automatic transmission from up shifting to the highest gear possible as quick as it can. This would be useful if you wanted to use the engine to slow your descent down a hill or if you wanted to have more power going up hill. With an automatic it does not know the road ahead it just has pre-programed points(throttle position & speed) that it upshifts.

Climbing a steep hill you would never want to be really low in the RPMs & have no power, Yes you could just give the car more gas until it downshifted but if you eased off even slightly the trans would want to upshift. Using manual mode you can use very light throttle & the car will not up shift until you tell it to. As others have stated it will however downshift automatically still if you RPMs go to low(so you don't stall the engine). 

You will not hurt a thing going into manual mode while moving, it is exactly the same as using lower gears on any automatic.


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## newcruzer17 (Feb 8, 2012)

NickD said:


> We are paying for all this crap with no information as to whether its doing any good or not. Since I have worked years in this field, a new vehicle with all the automation we have should sell cheaper than a car made in 1965 at 1965 price tags excluding the terrible inflation we had since then.
> 
> Back then, we didn't have the government and the insurance companies telling us how to make a car.


I love this post! The government is trying to save us from ourselves! Do they know better than we do?


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## NickD (Dec 10, 2011)

Could get into airbags, only a supplementary restrain system, or SRS for short. Learned that just as many lives that were saved by adults refusing to wearing the primary form of protection, the safety belts. Just as many kids wearing a safety belt were killed by these things.

But that cure was simple, just made it illegal for your kids to ride in the front seat. This was also good for SUV sales. For each non-wearing safety belt that was saved by airbags, cost the American driving public, 25 million bucks.


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## newcruzer17 (Feb 8, 2012)

NickD said:


> Could get into airbags, only a supplementary restrain system, or SRS for short. Learned that just as many lives that were saved by adults refusing to wearing the primary form of protection, the safety belts. Just as many kids wearing a safety belt were killed by these things.
> 
> But that cure was simple, just made it illegal for your kids to ride in the front seat. This was also good for SUV sales. For each non-wearing safety belt that was saved by airbags, cost the American driving public, 25 million bucks.


Yeah NickD, we all get to die of some cause. Something will get us, sooner or later. The idea that we are better drivers or safer because we have airbags is silly. As a pilot, I know that the seat belt/harness is essential, not for saving my life in a crash (I will probably die anyway!) but it holds me in place to take the g's and maneuvering forces so I can do a better job of driving (flying). All this "safety" costs you and me a lot of money. I get po'd when I consider all the 'insurance' I am required to purchase for SOMEONE ELSE's benefit. The "safety" features now in new cars do nothing to save lives, it is about selling the idea of safety. Usually, it is the loose nut on the steering wheel that causes car accidents.


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## Mick (Dec 31, 2011)

Call me ignorant but I prefer an airbag over windshield/pillar and seatbelt over ejection in a roll over.


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## CHUV (Jun 25, 2011)

You know, you'd think a CAR salesman would know the answer to some of these questions. They sell CARS for a living!! they need to inform themselves. It's sad really.

Now with regards to the transmission, there so many safety features built in to the programming to prevent it from letting you kill it lol. For example, if you're going 80km/h and shift into park or reverse, the car WONT shift into reverse. If you're stopped and you rev the engine and slap it into D, it won't go into D until the RPMs drop. Actually, you can't even red line rev if in P, there's a limiter. (You can do it in N though)

If you're in M mode and you're going at highway speeds, the transmission won't let you downshift into an unsafe gear (also for the sake of protecting itself and the engine from immediate destruction). Likewise, it will not upshift if it would cause the engine to stall. Basically, its pretty idiot proof. Nothing to worry about


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## lilmrsyeti (Mar 3, 2012)

Thanks everyone for your answers!!


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## NickD (Dec 10, 2011)

I have been down shifting for years to save wear and tear on the brakes. Either with a manual or an automatic transmission. The thing is to learn your shift points versus speed of the vehicle, and to coordinate gas pedal pressure, increasing it for a very smooth shift. This takes practice as all vehicles are different in this respect.

Had brakes last over a 100K miles. Ha, maybe I should buy a hybrid, it works on the same principal of using either engine or motor to slow the vehicle down. But do get some of that energy back for the next time you start off again. Not all of it, if lucky, maybe 30% of it.

But what discourages me is that batteries wear out whether used or not, so with like a Prius, only cost about 8,000 bucks for a new battery, but Toyota has been known to sell a rebuilt one for as cheap as only 3,000 bucks. And if I were to believe Al Gore, buying a hybrid would save the planet, shame on me for not following his recommendations.


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