starting in second gear

[cantaloupe]

Is it bad for the car? I accidently did this yesterday and it seemed fine.

[husker741]

You may have caused the flux capacitor to malfunction.

[radroach]

Explain what happened? Were you on a flat surface? Did you lug the engine drivetrain?

I think on the automatics, snow mode starts you in second gear.

[cantaloupe]

was at a stop sign, flat surface, no lugging.

[KSC]

1st is so short on this car, if you gave it a little more gas than normal when taking off, you probably wouldn't even feel a difference than if you were in 1st. Don't sweat it. I wouldn't make a habit of it, but being in a higher gear than necessary every now and again isn't going to harm anything.

[ihaskrayon]

Not bad. If you're ever in the snow, you should start in second gear as it would give you slightly more traction

[rhoyle]

You might check the blinker fluid. Starting in second can cause it to prematurely wear. Just add more as needed.

[cantaloupe]

^ hah had to actually look up blinker fluid. thanks

[hobojoker]

Starting in second will not *damage* your car in any way.

Slipping your clutch often will cause excessive wear on your clutch. Starting in second, provided you're not applying full throttle at idle (lugging badly) will not cause any damage other than the wear from slipping your clutch.

Relax.

Also, starting in second does not provide any more traction. The difference is that by starting in second you're providing less torque (gear ratio amplification) to the rear wheels which means they are less likely to break traction.

So much pseudo science... come on guys.

[Moshpit37]

Actually if you had an automatic, as I do (blasphemous, I know!!) You'd have a little button that says "snow" which serves the function of starting in 2nd gear all the time so as to limit wheel spin. So, no, shouldn't be a problem at all.

[Black Tire]

Originally Posted by hobojoker

Starting in second will not *damage* your car in any way.

Slipping your clutch often will cause excessive wear on your clutch. Starting in second, provided you're not applying full throttle at idle (lugging badly) will not cause any damage other than the wear from slipping your clutch.

Relax.

^^ this.

It is said that the original Lamborghini Countach had so much torque that you could put it in top gear, drop the clutch at idle, and then start adding power all the way to its top speed. Our cars have less torque than that, so starting in second will indeed cause a small amount of clutch wear from slipping the clutch.

[wheelhaus]

2nd gear is fine if you get moving slowly, just don't lug the engine once engaged. You might smell some clutch if you do it frequently because it requires more slip than 1st. I often start in 2nd while the engine is cold and 1st is finicky to get into.

[Porsche]

Originally Posted by cantaloupe

Is it bad for the car? I accidently did this yesterday and it seemed fine.

No, it's not bad. You have not harmed your wonderful new car; rest easy.

Just ease into the throttle until your revs are up over, say, 2000 rpm before accelerating harder; you want to avoid lugging the engine, but even that isn't likely to harm a modern engine.

As noted above, starting in second gear is actually a good strategy if you're on ice and you cannot find enough grip to get moving. If you keep spinning your wheels, try second gear with very little throttle to get the car rolling and off the patch of ice. This is safe because it's not possible to put any strain on the engine because the wheels will just spin before that happens.

So, no it's not harmful.

The admonition not to slip your clutch excessively is always true, of course, but I'm guessing you engaged your clutch normally since you were unaware you were in second, right? Sometimes people will slip their clutch more than necessary out of fear they'll stall the engine. You want to minimize any clutch slipping, because YOU'RE ERASING IT!

You don't want to do that, unless you consider it normal to replace a clutch in less than 100,000 miles. Properly driven, most clutches should last far longer than even that.

I frequently encounter this situation, not from a stop though, where I'm rolling up to a traffic light that finally turns green when I'm going 5 mph in second gear, and rather than change down into first gear, which is awkward with someone behind me (usually on my rear bumper), and I'll just leave it in second and gently accelerate away until my revs are up over 2000 and I can use more throttle to move along and get the clown behind me to stop his rude beeping!

HOWEVER, standing at a stop with the car in gear (second, right?), and with the clutch disengaged, pedal to the floor, and waiting for a while until it's your turn to proceed ... THAT is NOT good. (Did I guess right? ) It won't break anything, but it causes unnecessary wear on the clutch throw-out bearing. It's mildly "abusive," so don't do it.

When stopped, put your car in neutral and take your foot off the clutch pedal.

It is also, arguably, safer; if someone rear-ends you while you're stopped, your foot won't slip off the clutch shooting the car out into the path of a speeding semi-truck, leading to your fiery death.

Basically, your clutch should be depressed only for the few seconds required to shift gears, and otherwise the pedal should be up and your foot off of it.

Some people will tell you otherwise. I'll leave it to you to decide who to listen to.

Was that helpful, cantaloupe?

[jmaryt]

"the pedal should be up,and your foot off of it!" this works!
never rest your foot on the clutch pedal while driving. (shift,and get your foot off immediately) whoever tells you otherwise
just doesn't like you is all!