newbie question re: sequential shifting and "redlining&

[JadedEMOlush]

Hey everyone... 3 weeks in and still loving my SLE V6

2 questions though.

1. Can I damage my car using the sequential shifting... example from today... I must have been distracted while in 2nd gear, and noticed the car redlining into the mid 6's in second gear. Of course I have never driven a stick car before, so i panicked. I slid the shifter into Auto D again, the car moved forward a little bit, and kind of kicked back a bit(it wasnt a good sound)... the engine also smelled a bit for the last 5 minutes of my trip. Now I wasnt redlining it for more then 4 or 5 seconds... but i dont think anything bad happened. Unfortunetly I know redling is bad, but I just dont have any clue HOW BAD it is for the engine.

2. What happens when you redline a car??? Is it worse in lower gears??? Does this cause damage to the engine. I am by no means a racer, so excuse the ignorance of this question. I just plan on keeping this car for a LOOOOOOOOONG time... so I dont want to cause any long or short term damage.


From what I can tell in the manual... the car won't let you down shift when in sequential shifting mode when you are driving too fast, it gives 2 tones and does not shift. However why would it let me redline it if it also causes damage??? I really hope toyota thought about all the amatuers playing with this feature, and built in some safety features so I dont blow up the engine.

Thanks for any advice and answers... up until today I have been following the guidlines in the Manual

Shift out of 1st gear by 30 mph, shift out of second by 50 mph, and shift out of 3rd by 80mph.

[Raven]

1.yeah, it will let you burn a motor, sounds like the transmission had a hard time too going from redline to auto.
2.when you redline it causes too much heat, which kills engine parts.

I'd leave it auto till first 1000 mile break in period, then get use to manual shifting where there's no traffic. One redline probably won't screw up the engine and if you're going to baby the car down the road it might not make any difference at all. Good Luck.

[mattyboyl]

This car is idiot proof. A monkey can drive with the sequential and couldn't screw this car up. You may think that you redlined, but you actually were approaching it because the saftey feature will just kick in and shift for you and won't allow you to redline. Also, if you leave your car in say 3rd gear while in sequential mode, the car will automatically shift up and down up to 3rd gear then approach redline if you are going fast enough in 3rd and will shift automatically into 4th if you didn't already. Toyota is well aware of any issues that could be had and installed saftey mechanisms for people who never drove a stick and never had the foot-eye-hand coordination to drive one. That's why this car is truly an automatic with a toy for those stick shift, F-1 racing wanna-bes like myself.

[kingkong]

ok, so can anyone explain to me how the sequential shifting actually works. i test drove one but they only let me go around the block. ( in cerritos) and there was a lot of traffic so i couldnt really get a feel for the car. im planning to go and test drive it again.

pros and cons of the sequential shifting?

thanks

[LunarMistGray]

ok, so can anyone explain to me how the sequential shifting actually works. i test drove one but they only let me go around the block. ( in cerritos) and there was a lot of traffic so i couldnt really get a feel for the car. im planning to go and test drive it again.

pros and cons of the sequential shifting?

Like mattyboyl said, the car really is idiot proof. When you are in sequential mode the gear number will appear in the dash; it shows what range of gears the car will AUTOMATICALLY shift to. For example, when you put the car in sequential mode it defaults to 4. The car will automatically shift from gears 1-4 for you. Now you could do the shifting yourself ie shiftng from 1-2, 2-3, etc. I've tried both ways and I must say there is not much difference except you probably will lose a little gas mileage by shifting manually yourself. I've never seen my car searching for the right gear to be in and it seems to have the right amount of torque/power in any gear, so I let the computer do the shifting.

[Ikhandi]

I never really understood the sequential shift when the sales guy explained it to me. I have had the car for almost four weeks and have never used that feature. Doubt I ever will. I will just keep driving it in automatic mode

[Pakin]

Redlining a car a few times won't kill it immediately.

For this car in particular, I think there is a buffer zone after 6K to be "idiot proof".

-paK +2

[Shoe]

if you want to understand the shifter try this:

go to your favorite hwy on ramp use automatic and just pound it.

the next time you go to the on ramp ( usually there is a part of the on ramp where u need to drive slow) take it into manual at this point and down shift it from the default 4th to 3rd now pound the gas pedal dont shift hesitate a lil you will feel more of a throw from the car. the gear will hit its peak and you wont feel the throw in speed so shift up to 4th agin you will get a throw.

You should be able to take the on ramp in 3rd once your on the freeway go up to 4th and 5th and then for safety sake throw it back into automatic you may forget your in manual and need to slow down further along the road.


what the triptronic does is basically gives you an option of telling the car when to shift i find it usefull for getting a little bit more of a punch say on an on ramp

shoe

(ps this shifter is more real like than the 1 in my dads 2000 acura TL) you can feel the throw backs and you can feel the effects of downshifting when your not supost to. ( helped my girl frfiend better understand it because she could feel the effects with the solara))

[Lone Solara]

I'm still breaking in my SLE V6 (almost out of it), and I haven't revved it higher than 4200 RPMs, but I do love the sequential shift. I'm still experimenting with it, since it took me a bit of time to get used to the up-down shifting. I used to drive stick shift, I actually learned to drive with stick shifts, so 3-4 shifts in the Solara proved to be a bit confusing in the beginning as I was downshifting instead.

Anyway, I found the sequential shifting to be highly useful in at least a couple of situations so far. First, when you truly want to select your shift point, no matter how soft or aggressive you drive. Second, and I really love doing this, downshifting for corner exits. Just drop it to a lower gear, and instead of the 1300-1400 RPMs you usually have, you suddenly get 2400-2500 RPMs or more, where you get some usable torque. Of course, the tires are of absolutely NO help whatsoever in this situation, but it's still fun.

Going back to the original question, I don't think you can get a real feel for it in just a quick drive, unless you're already used to sequential shifting. If you're not, I would suggest trying to find a dealer that will let you take the car out for a couple of hours to test drive. It may not be easy to find one, but it's worth the effort.

[Lone Solara]

Oops, my reply was for kingkong. Sorry for the confusion.

[chuchurocket]

okay, you can NEVER damage the engine by using triptronic, it's still an automatic in every way possible.

the only thing triptronic does is like adding an "permission" buttom to your automatic shifter. normally when u accelerate to a certain speed, say from 2nd gear to 3rd, the car changes itself. with triptronic, when you accelerate to a 2nd gear speed to a 3rd gear speed, you have an option of either "leave it be" and let it run slower in 2nd gear, or "do it yourself" and shift to 3rd gear. so really..... you can't relaly damage any part or your car, and likewise it won't give you any performance enhancement either.

[TW85]

You do not need to shift out of the sportshift mode once you're at speed. The car will automatically shift up to and down from the gear you have selected. If you manually shifted to fifth gear and you suddenly have to slow down, the transmission will automatically downshift to the most suitable gear.

The biggest advantage I have seen with the sportshift is when merging or passing. I can hold 2nd or 3rd gear so I have immediate power rather than waiting for the transmission to downshift by 1-3 gears. When trying to merge into 45-50 mph traffic from 10 mph, it really helps to have immediate power.

This car (with the V6) is fast whether you're in automatic or sportshift. Sportshift has its advantages but in no way is it truly manual.