What will happen if I had to accidently downshift from high gear into a lower gear?
Monday, February 22nd, 2010 at
2:36 am
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You will set your RPM’s up drastically high, to the point where you could blow your engine or a gasket out — Blessings !
If you did that it would most likely burn out your engine because it would redline soo hard. On an automatic it just keeps it in nuetral but on a manual I dont think theres any saftey measures. The mythbusters tried something like this once they were testing a myth that throwing the car into reverse would slow the car faster than breaking but they couldnt get the wheels spinning backwards.
1. You may not be able to. The baulk rings in the gear box stop the gears shifting if there is a large disparity in speeds.
2. No, there are no safety mechanisms in most vehicles. Damage can and often does result. That is why some vehicles have tachometers.
3. Using the gearbox too much wears the gearbox.
4. Nothing wrong with downshifting so long as the engine is kept within the safe range.
Down shifting and up shifting is a normal part of operating vehicles. With certain types of gearboxes, it is quite easy. The engine RPM is adjusted to match the ratio of the gearbox. The process is known as double-declutching when the clutch is used but it can be done without it as the procedure is the same. The gears must be at the same rate for this to be practical. It requires skill.