Mis-shift into 1st gear
 

Hello all,
So I just got my Camaro SS 2010 M6 a few months back. Last night, I was trying to see what time I could get on a straight-way, and I accidentally mis-shifted from 2nd gear into 1st (speed ~90km/h, rpm ~6000). I engaged the clutch and the car obviously lurched and made a ungodly roar. I disengaged within 1 second. I cruised and pulled a u-turn, and the same thing happened when I tried to time myself a second time (I'm trying to improve my shifting capability, and so far have been unsuccessful).
Question: I obviously over-revved the car, have I caused any permanent damage to it? It was driving fine this morning.
Appreciate your responses.

Nope.... BTW, welcome to the forum. :chevy:

You should not try to "place" the car in gear. Use your palm with fingers open to move it up to 3rd gear. Try it at lower revs to get the feel.

A lot have found this easier than gripping with your whole hand and fingers wrapped around the shift ball.

I doubt you hurt the beast...

Agreed. Don't go "looking" for 3rd. The shifter has a spring that will guide it, pulling it to the right which lines it up with third. You're hand should be relaxed using an open palm and it will shift fine. Don't manhandle it. I haven't had the stock shifter for a couple years so I don't remember how strong the stock centering spring is, but with the MGW shifter it's impossible to hit 1st no matter how fast you shift.

if it only went to 6000rpm you have absolutely nothing to worry about.

Thanks for the reassurance, and your hospitality on this forum.

Cyberpredator: the engine was at just below 6000 rpm in 2nd gear, so when I (accidentally) dropped to 1st it must have speeded up to 7000+rpm (I believe), but again I only engaged clutch for no more than 1 second (both times).

In any case I just drove back home from work, and it drives perfectly - so I think you're right - it is fine.

aj2ssrs / ckaram: thanks for the shifting advice. I actually have no problem at all shifting when driving normally. Its only when I wanted to reduce my shifting time to drag-race-like speed that I faced this problem. I guess I should just practice.

Umm yes, then. If you miss-shifted from 2nd @ 6k RPMs and slammed it down into first, you very well could have caused damage.:yikes::yikes::yikes: It is called a mechanical over-rev and there is nothing the car can do to protect you here. The rev-limiter and other systems cannot save the engine. That said, if it runs fine and isn't smoking/stuttering/backfiring you might have gotten really lucky and be OK. A word of VERY strong cautionary advice... learn to hit that third gear shift at a much lower RPM... If you keep doing what you were doing, your gonna kiss a piston with one of your valves and be up the proverbial creak with no paddle. I almost positive your warranty would be invalid and you would be on the hook for (probably) a whole new engine, at the very least new pistons and valve train...

Remember at first when your learning, repeat this under your breath, slow is smooth, smooth is fast.

You're quite lucky.... Others have not been so fortunate...

Just re-discovered this post too that might help you, http://www.camaro5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=102115

Pretty much the same problem your having, it happens when your just starting off with the manual tranny. I tried but could not find a link to that BMW training video, i have seen it before but i couldn't find it for the life of me. Try and find that and follow what it shows. One of the posts on page two of that link above gives a good text description of what the video i was looking for instructs.

If you bent any valves, it would have a miss and check engine light. So if you don't get a check engine light in a few days of driving, it should be ok.

As mentioned before, a slower open palmed push to 3rd works better, pausing for a split second to let the shifter spring center the shifter in line with third. So it's kind of like a push with a slight pause in the center. The better you get you can eventually do it quicker without the pause.

You have to be carefull with the 3 - 4 shift also to not grab 2 by mistake. Do that shift with an open palm, thumb down, pulling it straight back with your fingers. Don't grab the shifter like a baseball, always open palm - thumb up or down.

Maybe it's because I've been driving manuals so long, but I can't even comprehend a missed shift. My advice is to do some serious practice before ever driving it hard. You shouldn't have to consciously think about shifting.