FRS rarely chirps in second any more
 

Anything to worry about?

Power usually feels adequate (of course I want more but to me it doesn't feel like the engine has lost any power). However sometimes its hard to get it to chirp in second gear. From what I recall, it wasn't this way earlier on in the cars life. I'm a little paranoid because I had one little "mistake" with the shifter a few thousand miles ago (5->2 on the highway /facepalm its my first m/t car).

Could be multiple things though, clutch (learned on it could even be wearing out by now I am a little hard on it...), tires (tread looks a little worn down but definitely not bald)?

Should I get it checked out? Nothing to worry about? Considering even getting a compression check and/or dyno.

EDIT: also I'd like to say I do let my engine warm up before any romping of the toy and I probably shouldn't be so hard on my clutch...

A completed 5->2 downshift at highway speeds would probably have caused a mechanical over-rev (the ECU is powerless to limit the revs in this situation). You could check this by working out the gear ratios between fifth and second and factoring in the speed you were traveling at in fifth.

A severe over-rev is never good for an engine.

But since you said the power "feels" adequate, maybe you lucked out and it's just more grip in the tires.

Maybe you've just got better with manual. Cars shouldn't chirp into gear unless you're dumping the clutch with revs too high for the road speed.
Bear in mind those YouTube videos showing 'powershifting' are made by f*ckwits.

Sent from my GT-I9100M using Tapatalk 2

Chirping your tires should not be a display of a healthy car and or power. Lack of chirping could be clutch being worn in, tires now being worn in (if you have camber then not all of the tire surface will touch the pavement) and many other factors. If you are worried about your health of your engine, get a compression test done or slap it on the dyno and see what it makes.

Unless you're shifting very hard at red line, you shouldn't chirp the tires, i've chirped all the way to 4th on the drag strip, but that required short shifting

The car is easy to chirp second on purposely.. and it's fun to do. Obviously OP knows this, and he's not "gotten better" at driving manual. He wants to chirp on second and can't anymore.

If you are still running stock tires and since its winter it should be easy to chirp your tires in second.

Heck I have a hard time keeping my wheels from breaking loose in second even without dumping the clutch now that the temps are around freezing. Damn rubber is so hard on tires the back end slides around everywhere in first and second.

my guess is that the tires are cold and they slip. im sure your car would be fine in warmer weather

Oh, I don't reckon you have anything to worry about ...... unless you keep trying to get "second gear rubber", then your car's clutch may suffer.....:(

Above statement about winter does not apply in Southern California.

-alex

If you're really hard on your clutch (dropping it hard between gears with a lot of RPM separation, and slipping frequently at any RPM), it may be slipping a bit under hard shock loads like that.

I recommend trying to drive smoother. Chances are you'll run into more issues as the car ages. Remember it's still just a passenger car.

Thanks guys. Putting a little ease on my mind. I'll have to get her to a dyno/mechanic and get it double checked but I think (hope) my engine is ok. Whenever I hit the canyons or do some pulls it feels like stock (of course I want more power but I think I'm just getting used to it). Revs fairly willingly and feels healthy. Just the 1st -> 2nd chirp that's a little hard (and yes I mean only when I'm deliberately trying to get them to chrip). And I can't get them to chrip at all short shifting or anytime I'm not doing an aggressive 1->2 shift. I could be just shifting a little early or not pounding on it enough, I'll do some more testing later today ;)

And yes that 5>2 scared the crap out of me. I barely put it in second (accidentally) felt the engine REV and then almost instantly put it out into neutral. I think I was going ~70-75 at the time so definitely not within MPH limits of 2nd.

Just letting the clutch out in 2nd while doing 70mph won't instantly overspeed the engine, the OEM clutch simply cannot grab that hard. It will take a small amount of time because the clutch is spinning so much faster than the engine, it will slip quite a bit. This may have burned/glazed the friction plate a bit and might be causing a bit of slip. (Imagine Revving the engine to 7000rpm and letting the clutch out, that's kind of the same effect but in reverse order.)

If you heard the engine revving higher suddenly and your instinct was to slam the clutch in, you're probably OK.

I highly doubt you did any damage at all. I'm pretty sure everyone has missed at least one shift in their lifetime, I know I've done what you described and there's no way the engine spun up more than 5k, you know right away something is wrong.