manual fr-s question
 

Main question:

Is it my fault that whenever I go into 2nd gear(on a manual fr-s) it makes really loud clunky noise?

background story:

Fr-s is my first manual car, I've been driving it for almost a year and half now.
Since I was a fairly new manual driver, I thought I was just a bad driver ( which caused the 2nd gear clunky sound) but now I'm not so sure.


thanks

Moving from 1st to 2nd in this car when the engine and the transmission is cold will produce a clunk. Once the fluids are warm and circulating it goes away.

s3 Tapatalk

so there is absolutely no way to fix that? besides waiting for the fluids to warm up and circulate? cause it usually lasts for like 10mins till it goes away

and thanks for answering

Depending on the temperature outside (I live in Florida), it takes about 5-7 mins of driving for me. My commute to work is about this long and it is all local. I believe there are some forum members who have changed out their transmission fluid to Motul or Redline and this has made a noticeable difference. I would do a little research to find the thread, I remember reading it a while back.

s3 Tapatalk

Perfectly normal. The shifter is very direct and you will feel everything as you shift gears.

Pay close attention to how you are operating the clutch pedal. Pulling your arm back and pushing the opposite leg forwards can sometimes lead you to let in the clutch a tiny bit too early which can make that 1/2 shift feel clunkier than it needs to be. Otherwise, it is just a quirk of the car.

I'm glad someone finally asked this, because I've had the same "problem" since I bought mine. Even brought it to the dealer and had them look at it and tell me nothing was wrong. I was pissed, and took the sales guy out for a drive to show him the problem.

Good to know it's not just me!

In addition, I suggest you push the clutch pedal in ..... all the way to the floor (don't "lazy leg" it).

Get a good grip on the shift lever (not just with your fingers) then slowly and firmly "pull" the shift lever into the second gear position.

It's not a toggle switch; its a lever hooked to heavy gears .... ;)

You'll get the hang of it......:thumbsup:


humfrz

You're alivveeee. LOL

Bck on topic: I believe that Toyota confirmed this is normal and it went something like Porsches have this problem too

I have noticed that revving higher helps. I am used to shifting at a pretty low RPM when casual driving and the lower the RPM the more I notice the noise. Rev it up past 4K and hardly any noise or resistance. At least that is my experience.

I noticed that the harder you shift. The smoother it gets :p

read this

http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showt...mission+design

I DID THE SAME MAN!
I took it to the dealership and asked, but by the time i got there, the transmission warmed up or whatever and the clunky-ness disappeared..
so the guy was like "i don't see any problem here"

thank you all for answering
@WhiteFRS69

i'm not too car savvy to understand that forum post.. and I might sound really ignorant to say this, but isn't that just an excuse for a failure of engineering?
shouldn't it be smooth all the time..?

but yeah thanks for that link, i understand a lot better now

Engineering is all about trade-off, for increase in direct feel, you also get increase in NVH (noise, vibration, harshness). My FC3S RX-7 was a bit worse, but it has a shorter throw transmission. My Camaro SS fifth gen was a bit better, but didn't feel as direct as the FR-S.

If you are going to be smooth all the time, even when the trans oil is cold, you are going to have softer durometer rubber components (bushings, etc.) and that will make the shifter feel more "vague."

*Reads topic, first thought: It's in the glovebox...*

Yup, this transmission is a bit rough around the edges and is best when run hard with the engine at high revs.

Like has been said, engineering is really about tradoffs. Yes, we could have had a buttery smooth transmission, but we would have lost that tightness, the precision, the accuracy and the feedback that has gotten quite a bit of praise. I drove a Mini last week, the BMW tranny is silky smooth, but I have zero idea if I was being hard on the syncros or not, when it actually engaged the gear, and I confused 3/5 and 4/6 more than once (nbd, dat torque). The car did not take well to the double clutching I do in the FRS and with automatic rev matching downshifts engine braking is non-existent.

Pick your poison, the Toyobaru certainly isn't for everyone despite how great it is.

does it hurt the transmission if I don't wait for it to warm up?

No.


I like the clunk. Means shit is happening.

Guys I find it helps to double clutch the first couple shifts for second gear when the car is cold. Then you avoid the clunk altogether. When I say double clutch I mean shift to neutral first, blip the gas a bit and then shift to second as opposed to first directly to second.

This worked very well for me in -40 C Canadian weather this winter.

I think this is the best thing anyone's ever said about this transmission ever. I think if you accept that you can go on and live your life and be happy. Lol! :)

I've driven 911s that have clunkier transmissions. I like the clunky FRS transmission. Provides a nice mechanical feel.

My baby turned one this week, and she is slowly becoming smoother to shift from first to second. It's winter here though, so during cold starts I've found that hesitating slightly before shifting down into 2nd seems to help a lot:

1st gear / clutch in / shift half way to 2nd for a half second / shift fully to 2nd / release clutch

As someone mentioned above, using higher revs than normal does help but I don't like doing that while she's warming up.

This is the first M/T car I've owned. It scared me at first, but now it's nice. I am, indeed, pretty happy with it :D:word:

the 1-2 doesnt really get better and is always annoying. Just try to forget it and get used to it.

I have 1 down but I still have the habit of over-revving in 1.

In the 1-2 transition I still drop the clutch too fast and buck the car.

Yesterday I tried driving aggressively on a back road and missed the 4-5 transition and instead went to 3 and over-revved. Then I did it again missing 5 completely and just over-revved in neutral.

Learning MT is the pits.

You'll be comforted to know there is a rev limiter preventing over revving in neutral or by use of the gas pedal. You can only over rev by downshifting too early and letting the clutch all the way in.

You can damage the engine by overrevving it even with no load as maximum load on the conrods is reached at TDC on the exhaust stroke, when both valves are open and the piston reverses. Most conrod failure occurs then. Also, above a certain rpm the valves begin to float on their springs and contact between the piston face and the valve heads is possible, again most likely at TDC on the exhaust stroke.

Two things: never, ever over rev your engine and fortunately this particular engine will suffer no damage if you over rev it only a little bit, apparently, and don't ask me how I know this.

It seems very likely this engine is designed to accept a red line of over 8,000 rpm before it becomes a boat anchor. In fact, the easiest way Subaru could develop more power is by raising the redline. This is one of the few engines I have driven recently (other than a Porsche or Ferrari) that seems perfectly willing to pull through its reasonably high redline so there's more to be had above 7,400 rpm with a proper cam profile.