Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Modifications Transaxle transmission question/problem?

i have a 2000 mystique v-6 with the 5-speed manual. has about 72,000 miles on it. under normal driving, if i take off from a stop light, right before the clutch catches, there is a little thud from underneath the car. this is when i have it reved at about 2000 rpms and let the clutch out slowly to make a smooth start. it worries me because i will be buying this car from my parents in a couple weeks and plan to do upgrades to it. any ideas what that sound is?

also when racing, shifting from 1st to 2nd at about redline, for some reason 2nd gear won't shift. i have the clutch in, think it's in 2nd and then over rev when i gas it and let the clutch out. why is this?

it should have had fluid checks at the last oil change about 2500 miles ago.

If you are good at driving a stick, you shouldn't need to have the RPM's up to 2,000 to take off from a stop. Thats just wasting away clutch life. Also, you wonder what your popping noise is, and then go on to state you power shift the car. Things wear out much faster when they are abused. As for the popping, I would imagine it is a broken motor mount from the way it sounds like you drive your car. Power shifts, and dumping the clutch to do burn outs will break a motor mount. If the car won't go into 2nd when you are trying to be a race car driver, then don't do it. This is probably caused from worn synchronizers in the transmission. The synchros can't speed up fast enough to match the gear to the engine speed, so the gear won't engage.

yeah, you shouldnt need to rev much harder then 1500 RPM's then starting from a stop, ive gotten so good at it that I hardly need to rev the engine at all and get a smooth start. But Id say broken engine mount also. Take it to a shop and have them look for Broken engine mounts and they most likely will find one. As for your shifting, when you shift gears, dont push the gas down a little then let the clutch out, that wears it a lot faster. let the clutch out THEN push down the gas, you may buck the car arround a little when you first start driving like this, but pretty soon your timing will be much better and it will get smoother. Take it from me, its ok to drive your car hard on occasion, but be good to it and it will be good to you. I first got my car, I knew the timing belt needed to be replaced soon, yet I still ran it hard. I went about 2000 miles shorter then I could have with the timing belt I had. and the belt broke overnight in my driveway, I had to get it towed to the shop (what a sad sight) So get those motor mounts checked, and drive easier man, you dont need to race everyone at a stoplight, thats retarded. Make it a special event.

Don't race people on the street. Well I don't...or if I do it's up to the speed limit or around there.


Anyway are you engine breaking? Do you speed shift, that is do you shift without the clutch? Do you double clutch when downshifting if you do engine break? How many people have learned how to drive stick in that car? And are you smooth when letting the clutch out or do you just drop the clutch?

You need to feather the clutch out, don't drop it. It's hard on the trans and the clutch. Double clutch to downshift and don't force it into gear, if you get resistance I usually double clutch and eliminated the syncros. From the sounds of it, it sounds like you are gonna wear out the syncros fast.

What is engine breaking?

i exagurated when i said 2000 rpms it is usually about 1000 under normal driving. no i don't engine break, but my dad insists on it because it reduces break wear but i asked him what about clutch wear? lol and it was just me an my sister(currently learning) to drive a stick. there's part of the culprit right there though. she downshifted into 2nd going 35 once and it wasn't smooth it was like instant clutch drop. lol
i don't power shift, i always use the clutch, i do shift fast sometimes the rare occasions that i race. only had the car for about 3 months. mostly winter(from minnesota)
I always feather the clutch out for mostly smooth ride except when racing shifting but off the line i feather in order not to peel out.

explain double clutching? never really heard of that before. is it needed with new cars with hydraulic clutch release?

There are two very different views on "double-clutching" I've heard. One is just power shifting, being called double-clutching. The other is what racecar drivers do, because the transmissions used in Nascar cars and such aren't synchronized (don't have synchronizers to speed up or slow down the gears when shifting).

You really shouldn't have to double-clutch in a standard street car, as most manual transmissions these days are synchronized...some I've heard are only synchronized on one set of gears, some on all... I'm not sure.

But really, double-clutching is just, when you shift from one gear to another, pressing the clutch in to shift to neutral, and rev the engine to maintain the correct speed, then shift to the next gear and let the clutch out. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, though. And like I said, you shouldn't have to do that on street cars, though there are applications where it is better to do that while racing. (ie: most imports, I've heard)

Well you would "blip" the throtle to downshift. But when you shift up a gear all you really need to do it clutch in, neutral, clutch out, clutch in, shift into the next gear, clutch out. I make it a point to double clutch when I am downshifting, it saves on syncro wear. I usually only engine break on the highway or downshift when I really need to pass someone. To downshift you need to blip the throttle before clutching back in and shifting gears. It's clutch in, neutral, clutch out, blip to the right rpm, clutch in, downshift, clutch out.

I've only been driving stick since October, but the clutch was new when I got my 95 SE back in October. That does help when learning how to drive stick, it was damn hard to kill the engine. In fact I didn't know how to drive stick when I went to get the car, I learned on the drive back from Ohio to Illinois