993James993

For those of you with manual transmissions, while waiting at a stop light do you shift into neutral and let out the clutch pedal, or do you put the car into first gear and keep the clutch engaged? To me it's second nature to put the car in first with the clutch pedal depressed. A conversation with my son raised this question. Does it matter either way? Does one method cause more wear on the clutch than the other?

PK

Always put in neutral and let the clutch out to save TO bearing.

epj993

Yep - if it's going to be any length of time at a standstill, go to neutral & release the clutch.

kkim

At stops, I'm in neutral with my foot on the brake and no foot on the clutch pedal at all. I believe there is less wear and tear on the clutch and throwout bearing by doing this. I may be wrong and if I am, I sure I'll hear about it.

swmic

I'm with the first three.

flyenby

foot off clutch in neutral, as light turns amber depress clutch and put in gear, have been doing this since my first 914.........

kkim

Hope you also know to never to rest your foot on the clutch pedal while driving.

Only time your foot should be on that pedal is when you are using it to shift or are taking off from a start.

chris walrod

Or, for those 'both feet in' moments

I save the T/O bearing as well while at lights..

ca993twin

Here's another tip from an "old timer"... when you're ready to put it into first gear... put it in fifth BEFORE you put it in first. Think about saving that 1st gear synchro. When you are in nuetral with the clutch out, the transmission input side is spinning. When you select a gear, you bring it to a stop. This is done with a tiny bit of wear on the synchro. Fifth gear synchro is pretty much expendable, where as first gear synchro is nice to have working properly.

f_scaife

sidned

I'm with the majority here - save your thrust bearing and always leave your car in neutral with the clutch out when idling.

agdamis

neutral and clutch out always.

sptschoice

always...will try the 5 gear thing now

Darrell E

One other tranny-saving tip I got from a P-car master. Never rest your hand on the shift lever while driving. It transfers some leverage/torque to parts that don't need it. Shift and then remove your hand.

Rob 97 993c2

Dont know if this is accurate, but my shop told me when putting the car in gear to:
"go from neutral to second and then straight into first, so, N-2-1. This will release the synchros in a better way"
Is this correct?
Is this a variation on the 5 to 1 listed above by Steve?