What happens when you shift the automatic transmission "Manually"? Is is OK? Is is a good idea to take the Transmission out of DRIVE and select a Lower Range?
I did it a few times, over the last few days ... going up a lond grade ... passing ... down-shifting to slow down and put some distance between me and a guy who cut me off ... stuff like that. OK? Anything at risk of being damaged. It wasn't like I over-revved it or anything. Just control shifting the tranny to keep the rev's level and not labor the engine going over the long uphill grades in Eastern Massachusetts.

What's good for it and what ain't???

 

It is completely fine.
Even though you are shifting manually the transmission still has ful control over the shifting. You are just sugesting what the tranny should do.

 

well somebody once told me that it's like moving your elbow... you're not wearing it out by moving it, you're just using it.

what you may be putting some strain on is the shifter cable though. i do it sometimes, when taking curvy roads sometimes i put it back in 2 usually and just annoy the crap out of anybody who may live out there.

btw, if you haven't already figured it out, you don't need to use that button to shift sometimes. you can go from drive to neutral, neutral to drive with out it. to get back to to the gears behind OD, you need the buton, but you can bump it back with out it. When you're in reverse, you don't need the button to get to neutral, but you need the button to get back to reverse.

hope my learning by accident helps!!!

 

It talks about that in the owners manual, when/how you should do it.

 

I do it all the time. See I drove a stick for years and years, My hand feels comfortable on the stick, but I heard you can create a lazy trans by doing it. I know that was true with the old automatics, but I don't know if it still holds true.

"Lazy Trans" is defined as lagging in between shifts if driven in fully automatic mode.

With the new automatics... if you exceed the max RPM that is programed into the TCM, it will shift into the next gear regardless if you shift it or not.

I personally down shift when stopping quite a bit. I also keep my in 3rd gear when I take off, to keep my car in V8 mode until I achieve driving speed, then I shift it into "D"rive so that it can go into Overdrive (thus 4-cyl mode).

 

well i do it all the time, even though my car has a shift kit which does shift extremely fast in auto mode, my th350 will not shift unless i do it with the shifter or its in auto, ive had the car for a few months now, and putting mods on it i go out and test it since i live in the country, i shift manually everytime to see what it does better or worse, never have had a problem with it even in auto

 

Personall, I don't see how you could shift any better than the computer could. The computer controlling the transmission "knows" exactly what is going on (RPM wise) and can determine the proper time to shift (as long as you don't get crazy with the gas pedal). That, and it's also designed to "know" the proper time to shift.

Idk, I leave it in drive and let it do the work for me, but that's just me.

I drove stick for years, and it can be REALLY fun to shift manually. But it's up to you, you aren't hurting anything.