Car keeps chugging when I move up from 1st>2nd & 2nd>3rd??

jg3114

Ok so I passed my theory a week or 2 ago and I have started driving to get the hang of it with my EDT lessons starting on the 20th.

But when I am going up gears from 1st>2nd and 2nd>3rd the car jolts half the time. Its fine in the higher gears I can manage from 3rd on no problem and I have no problem going down gears its just moving up them and im not sure what I am doing wrong? Is it im releasing the clutch too fast or is it because I take me foot completely off the accelerator? I have been practicing most days for the last 2 weeks and still cant get the hang of it.

Any insight would be much appreciated! Also as a side note the cars a 2015 Toyota auris so its definitely nothing thats wrong with the car.

Atlantic Dawn

Combination of both I'd say, slow the clutch release down and give the accelerator some juice.

Bobthefireman

You need to keep your foot on the accelerator.

cantdecide

People seem to get flustered about the clutch right but in my opinion, throttle control is the key to smooth driving.

In this instance, I think you might be a little overcautious. You probably need to speed up the motion of changing gear and be a little more definite about going back on the throttle as you release the clutch. Basically, when changing gear you need to overlap releasing the clutch with pressing the throttle deliberately and confidently- it's a dual motion.

On a broader level, I say focus on your throttle control. The first thing I would suggest to you is whenever you sit in a car (you can even do this at home in the driveway), spend some time slowly revving the car up and down between about 2300RPM or so and back down to idle depending on the car (diesels may 2000RPM).

The second thing is this; you will over-rev the engine when learning to move off- don't freak out and instantly release the throttle and risk a stall. Over-revving is just a bit of noise. When this happens, take a breath and try and bring the revs down in a controlled way to the right level even if you spend a couple of seconds sounding like you're hurting the car (you'd have to over-rev regularly for extended periods of time to hurt the engine- modern engines are robust).

You will have to grasp the nettle and just start speeding up these maneuvers. Repetition is key and remember, you will stall and over-rev. Forget about how bad it feels and sounds when it goes awry; just keep practicing. Create starting and stopping exercises that you begin your practice with and don't give into the temptation of getting going and cruising around the gaff- when you master moving off and low speed gear selection, all the real world stuff becomes much easier.

Pro Hoc Vice

jg3114 wrote: »

Ok so I passed my theory a week or 2 ago and I have started driving to get the hang of it with my EDT lessons starting on the 20th.

But when I am going up gears from 1st>2nd and 2nd>3rd the car jolts half the time. Its fine in the higher gears I can manage from 3rd on no problem and I have no problem going down gears its just moving up them and im not sure what I am doing wrong? Is it im releasing the clutch too fast or is it because I take me foot completely off the accelerator? I have been practicing most days for the last 2 weeks and still cant get the hang of it.

Any insight would be much appreciated! Also as a side note the cars a 2015 Toyota auris so its definitely nothing thats wrong with the car.

Why is your full driver not telling you what's wrong, he should be able to confirm straight away if it's you or the car.

If you are just driving in a private place for practice, the only thing I can say is the clutch acelarator thing is something that comes with time and trial and error, if you not driving with a full driver then take one out to see what that person says.

jg3114

cantdecide wrote: »

People seem to get flustered about the clutch right but in my opinion, throttle control is the key to smooth driving.

In this instance, I think you might be a little overcautious. You probably need to speed up the motion of changing gear and be a little more definite about going back on the throttle as you release the clutch. Basically, when changing gear you need to overlap releasing the clutch with pressing the throttle deliberately and confidently- it's a dual motion.

On a broader level, I say focus on your throttle control. The first thing I would suggest to you is whenever you sit in a car (you can even do this at home in the driveway), spend some time slowly revving the car up and down between about 2300RPM or so and back down to idle depending on the car (diesels may 2000RPM).

The second thing is this; you will over-rev the engine when learning to move off- don't freak out and instantly release the throttle and risk a stall. Over-revving is just a bit of noise. When this happens, take a breath and try and bring the revs down in a controlled way to the right level even if you spend a couple of seconds sounding like you're hurting the car (you'd have to over-rev regularly for extended periods of time to hurt the engine- modern engines are robust).

You will have to grasp the nettle and just start speeding up these maneuvers. Repetition is key and remember, you will stall and over-rev. Forget about how bad it feels and sounds when it goes awry; just keep practicing. Create starting and stopping exercises that you begin your practice with and don't give into the temptation of getting going and cruising around the gaff- when you master moving off and low speed gear selection, all the real world stuff becomes much easier.

Thank you. The thing I dont really get is why is it just 1>2 2>3 and never the higher gears? Is it just move forgiving when you are underway? Thanks for help!

Pro Hoc Vice wrote: »

Why is your full driver not telling you what's wrong, he should be able to confirm straight away if it's you or the car.

If you are just driving in a private place for practice, the only thing I can say is the clutch acelarator thing is something that comes with time and trial and error, if you not driving with a full driver then take one out to see what that person says.

The full driver is my mom.. Not exactly Lewis Hamilton... I receive the response " I dont know I would have to do it to know" to about every question.

Pro Hoc Vice

jg3114 wrote: »

Thank you. The thing I dont really get is why is it just 1>2 2>3 and never the higher gears? Is it just move forgiving when you are underway? Thanks for help!




The full driver is my mom.. Not exactly Lewis Hamilton... I receive the response " I dont know I would have to do it to know" to about every question.

Lol have asked her to do the same thing to see if it happens to her if not then it's just practice.

Bobthefireman

jg3114 wrote: »

Thank you. The thing I dont really get is why is it just 1>2 2>3 and never the higher gears? Is it just move forgiving when you are underway? Thanks for help!




The full driver is my mom.. Not exactly Lewis Hamilton... I receive the response " I dont know I would have to do it to know" to about every question.

Ok. With gears, you need to remember a few things.
You need to have a rev at a certain level before you change up.

So.
1st gear. You're doing 10mph but your rev is at 40 probably!
2nd gear. You're doing 10mph, your rev will be about 5.

What my instructor told me is that you need to have the rev at 20 minimum before you change up a gear.

Mechanics will come on and explain it, but it's like if you're trying to light a fire for e.g.?

So, you use a lighter (the accelerator).?
Fire lights and gains its own momentum/combustion, it will still light, but you don't need to keep your lighter light.
Now you want to add fuel onto the fire to get it blazing?
You can't cut the accelerator completely (no fuel), nor can you cut off all air (clutch), so you gently open fan the flames and add fuel softly.
Fire takes off.

Bobthefireman

If you try to put too much fuel onto the fire before it's even lighting, it will chuck chuck chuck and quench.

Dravokivich

jg3114 wrote: »

Thank you. The thing I dont really get is why is it just 1>2 2>3 and never the higher gears? Is it just move forgiving when you are underway? Thanks for help!

I've only started driving the last 4 or so weeks and have noticed a few things. It's chugging while go up from 1st to 2nd, 2nd to 3rd, because you aren't giving it enough power soon enough. In higher gears you're cruising at higher revs so it's easier to get away with it.

Any time I'm getting some practise between lessons I spend about 15/20 minutes warming up before driving a bit. I do the following a few times to get used to all the dancing you do in the car.

With handbrake still on, practise releasing clucth till engine rises, press back down again.

Start off, go up to 3rd / 4th if the road isn't busy, pull over and stop. repeat.

Turnabout

Start off, go up to 3rd / 4th if the road isn't busy, pull over and stop. repeat.

cantdecide

jg3114 wrote: »

Thank you. The thing I dont really get is why is it just 1>2 2>3 and never the higher gears? Is it just move forgiving when you are underway? Thanks for help!

I think I understand the question now,

Dravokivich wrote: »

It's chugging while go up from 1st to 2nd, 2nd to 3rd, because you aren't giving it enough power soon enough.

Yes. For all intents and purposes, the engine makes more power the higher it revs and makes almost no power at idle- that's why it's easy to stall. If your car is petrol, you need to rev up to about 2500 RPM at least. If the car is diesel, you can probably change from as little as 2200 or so.

If you're 'short shifting', ie shifting before the engine revs up properly, when you select the new gear, the revs drop down to match the new gear and the revs are so low, the engine is making almost no power. This "chugging" is the engine 'labouring'- not making enough power to do accelerate and is actually trying to stall- what's keeping it going is the very little momentum built up.

Dravokivich wrote: »

In higher gears you're cruising at higher revs so it's easier to get away with it.

The car has momentum and the feedback from the road through the gearbox to the engine has a smoothing effect. When the car is cruising at 100km/h in top gear, it's still revving at at least 2500 RPM- the car will have been engineered to rev at this level to make the optimum power (keeping economy in mind) to keep the car trundling along without labouring or revving and wasting fuel.