Singapore Honda Club

Hi bros out there,


I drive my family toyota altis 09 car which has the normal D,3,2,L mode.
(I know its not honda brand but this forum has better participation than toyota forum)

If say i am travelling at quite high speed and the light changes to red, I have the habit of shift to 3 then 2 while applying brake at the same time as i find it easier to stop with the aid of engine brake as well.

Sometimes itchy hand, during launch i also like to put at gear 2 then raft to higher RPM then shift to 3 and D eventually to cruising.

Please advise if it will cause damage to the gearbox or engine if i do this all the time?

Thank you.

Wow, your habit of driving is like me previously. I was driving a Altis too.
I did exactly what you do. So far no problem for 5yrs.
With Civic today, I do it on peddle shift. Honda gearbox is more smooth than Altis positively.
I would think you should change your ride to Honda and feel the diff.

no problems de la...no need to worry...

bro pm me....i give u a demo what a basically STOCK...1.6 litre auto civic can do....

Sure can one lah....

rango wrote:bro pm me....i give u a demo what a basically STOCK...1.6 litre auto civic can do....

eh i oso wanna know lei

edwin641 wrote:Hi bros out there,


I drive my family toyota altis 09 car which has the normal D,3,2,L mode.
(I know its not honda brand but this forum has better participation than toyota forum)

If say i am travelling at quite high speed and the light changes to red, I have the habit of shift to 3 then 2 while applying brake at the same time as i find it easier to stop with the aid of engine brake as well.

Sometimes itchy hand, during launch i also like to put at gear 2 then raft to higher RPM then shift to 3 and D eventually to cruising.

Please advise if it will cause damage to the gearbox or engine if i do this all the time?

Thank you.

Auto gearbox are not meant to be shifted like manuals. If you want to trash your auto gearbox and launch, there will not be issues at the start. But how long your gearbox will last, I cannot guarantee.

Your launch may be different from someone else? The manufacturing of the gearbox may not be the same as your batch.

What bro Xiaonick say is true though...drive the way you want it at your own risk ...though mine is still good to go....been 7 years.. ..hope it'll last for the remaining 3 years haha...otherwise...the scrapyard may come a calling sooner than expected...

SpiNeFarM wrote:What bro Xiaonick say is true though...drive the way you want it at your own risk ...though mine is still good to go....been 7 years.. ..hope it'll last for the remaining 3 years haha...otherwise...the scrapyard may come a calling sooner than expected...

from the way u drive... i thought u should had changed at least 2 gear box.... surprise surpise.. heehee

XiaoNick wrote: Auto gearbox are not meant to be shifted like manuals. If you want to trash your auto gearbox and launch, there will not be issues at the start. But how long your gearbox will last, I cannot guarantee.

Not necessarily. Depends on what type of gearbox and what the manufacturers state also, and of course the type of 'load' the 'manual shifting' is subjected to.

Manufacturer's handbook for some cars also state in black and white it is fine to shift the gears manually as per needed in circumstances (not just for hill climbing, but for general use as well). It is so for the automatic EK4 and the auto EG ESI of which both I have owned before.

CVT gearbox cars, no matter how advanced the CVT, I would agree with you this is more of a no-no (unless of course the manufacturer provided for such manual shiftings vis a vis paddle switches or tiptronic style shifters). Conventional planetary gear-type autoboxes, this is fine. Just don't 'overload' the rev points in each gear, heck even manual gearboxes will pichah if you overrev once too often or shift like a retard (that, or the engine goes kaput first). No different in this regard be it manual or auto.

Invest in a good quality ATF cooler, invest in good quality ATF, check and change fluids regularly, don't 'launch' the car doing N to D flips, and you should be fine doing 'manual' shifting from 1 to 2 to D3 to D4 or 1 to 2 to D for most cars.

edwin641 wrote:Hi bros out there,


I drive my family toyota altis 09 car which has the normal D,3,2,L mode.
(I know its not honda brand but this forum has better participation than toyota forum)

If say i am travelling at quite high speed and the light changes to red, I have the habit of shift to 3 then 2 while applying brake at the same time as i find it easier to stop with the aid of engine brake as well.

Sometimes itchy hand, during launch i also like to put at gear 2 then raft to higher RPM then shift to 3 and D eventually to cruising.

Please advise if it will cause damage to the gearbox or engine if i do this all the time?

Thank you.

If I'm not wrong, the Altis should be on a regular torque converter with a planetary geartrain.
Using an automatic gearbox to aid in braking does put more stress onto the gearbox as opposed to braking normally. The gearbox is ostensibly designed to handle those stresses and no immediate catastrophic failure will occur. However, you may find that gearbox MIGHT wear out before the 10years are up because... you are using it more! NOTE: Please pay attention to your engine revs when switching down so as not to overrev the engine. eg, if you are going at 180 and slip it into gear 3 to help you brake, your gearbox will suffer damage. Some gear boxes have electronics to prevent engagement if it is over-revved. Some don't.

Holding the car in a lower gear when you accelerate is the same theory. You are causing the gearbox to spin more than if you were gentle. The gearbox would be designed for it but more wear occurs. You will find that simply flooring the car in "D" will cause the car to rev to redline automatically. Does not really make a difference whether you switch up manually. "N" to "D" drops with the engine revving is BAD. "D" engaged with brake engaged and foot on throttle is also bad, though that is the best way to lanch.

As Dirt22 said. Change your ATF often if you engage in 'spirited driving' on an automatic car.

for the record been with my ek 4 Auto a good 3 years plus now and i have changed every conceivable thing EXCEPT the gear box.....but as from day 1 that i bot my ride i had this nagging problem with the gearbox...when its cold very hard to engage reverse gear need to rev a lot and then it will engagge ...no issue when its wamed up....anyway a nice bro just scrapped his ek4 auto and offered to sell me his gearbox....so i guess finally i am going to change my tranny....and maybe some other stuff....

fiqueudrue wrote:

rango wrote:bro pm me....i give u a demo what a basically STOCK...1.6 litre auto civic can do....

eh i oso wanna know lei

can no problem... ..i in the midst of doing some stuff to my ride...intend to respray etc etc etc.... ...once swee swee...i let u know....

DIRT22 wrote:

XiaoNick wrote: Auto gearbox are not meant to be shifted like manuals. If you want to trash your auto gearbox and launch, there will not be issues at the start. But how long your gearbox will last, I cannot guarantee.

Not necessarily. Depends on what type of gearbox and what the manufacturers state also, and of course the type of 'load' the 'manual shifting' is subjected to.

Manufacturer's handbook for some cars also state in black and white it is fine to shift the gears manually as per needed in circumstances (not just for hill climbing, but for general use as well). It is so for the automatic EK4 and the auto EG ESI of which both I have owned before.

CVT gearbox cars, no matter how advanced the CVT, I would agree with you this is more of a no-no (unless of course the manufacturer provided for such manual shiftings vis a vis paddle switches or tiptronic style shifters). Conventional planetary gear-type autoboxes, this is fine. Just don't 'overload' the rev points in each gear, heck even manual gearboxes will pichah if you overrev once too often or shift like a retard (that, or the engine goes kaput first). No different in this regard be it manual or auto.

Invest in a good quality ATF cooler, invest in good quality ATF, check and change fluids regularly, don't 'launch' the car doing N to D flips, and you should be fine doing 'manual' shifting from 1 to 2 to D3 to D4 or 1 to 2 to D for most cars.

ah yah lah...change the ATF often and don't over rev the respective gear....perhaps thats why my auto gears still doing well...

SpiNeFarM wrote:What bro Xiaonick say is true though...drive the way you want it at your own risk ...though mine is still good to go....been 7 years.. ..hope it'll last for the remaining 3 years haha...otherwise...the scrapyard may come a calling sooner than expected...

Frankly speaking. NATSTEEL had been calling for a long time liao.