cai causing bucking?

[JCunningham]

you should be in 3rd at 30. 2nd at 20. mine would buck bad in 4th at 30. then I asked and was told to be in 3rd driving around town. problem solved. I thought the rpms were to high in 3rd at 30 but its not loud. But also check your MAF. when I installed my cai it bucked worse and it turned out to be the k&n air filter was over oiled and covered the MAF. Cleaning it made it better then being a gear lower solved the bucking.

[ChrisBlair]

Originally Posted by JCunningham

you should be in 3rd at 30. 2nd at 20. mine would buck bad in 4th at 30. then I asked and was told to be in 3rd driving around town. problem solved. I thought the rpms were to high in 3rd at 30 but its not loud. But also check your MAF. when I installed my cai it bucked worse and it turned out to be the k&n air filter was over oiled and covered the MAF. Cleaning it made it better then being a gear lower solved the bucking.

I agree he is in too low a gear, but I disagree strongly with "be in 3rd gear at 30mph, 2nd gear at 20mph"

That is way too simplified. The gears are not there for 10 mph increments.

The "X mph for Y gear" school of thought is all the difference between making a manual transmission car go where you want it to go, and driving a car with a manual transmission. We should think in terms of rpm when giving advice on driving a manual transmission car. The rpm range for the type of driving you're doing, in any gear, is dependent on more than just the speedometer reading. For instance, every gear, as well as your rear end ratio, is a torque multiplier. Being in too high a gear, as we have seen, results in poor performance because engine rpm is too low for that gear selection. 100 mph (if you had the gearbox for it to lug the engine) or 10 mph, the car doesn't care. That said, you can select a higher than necessary gear in order to reduce available torque while keeping rpms in an acceptable range- a corner in the rain for instance. Our electronic gee-whiz can handle that invisibly but there is a mechanical aspect to address it, most manual drivers just don't understand that.

Anyway. 2nd at 20 mph 3rd at 30 mph 4th at 40 mph is too dogmatic in my opinion and I sure don't drive while shackled to that rulebook.

[PalmerGA]

You're lugging the engine. At the low speeds and high gears you mention, you need to downshift if you're going to get on it.

[JCunningham]

yes your right not 10mph increments. its just those are the gears im in at those speeds. Below 4th I keep the car above 2000rpm
i think i shift into 2nd around 15 and 3rd around 25. 4th around 40 5th around 50 and 6th around 60

[PalmerGA]

Originally Posted by ChrisBlair

Anyway. 2nd at 20 mph 3rd at 30 mph 4th at 40 mph is too dogmatic in my opinion...

Or in OP's case, too dogmanual. (Nice play on words, assuming you know what dogmatic means)

[ChrisBlair]

Dogumatic?

[JCunningham]

even when the car was stock it would buck if I was in 4th @30-35. its always done it. yes it does take a toll on the mileage but I put the windows down because I didnt want to sound like a ricer and it wasnt loud at all. Now with the headers and GMPP exhaust it might get loud.

[enyce0387]

the other day i noticed my car was bucking at low speed i popped the hood and the silver insulation on my cai intake had come off the enclosed box and wrapped around my filter! what kind of intake do you have?

[atma]

Originally Posted by ChrisBlair

What's the need for 4th at 20 mph?

the 1st --> 4th skip shift. when it activates, it's usually between 16 & 21 MPH. If your car is bucking because you're lugging the engine, you can goose the throttle and make it go away, or just shift to 3rd. However, it doesn't explain why your car is bucking beciase while the engine will lug in 4th at 16MPH, I've never experienced anything that could be described as "bucking."

[MADBADGER]

Originally Posted by enyce0387

the other day i noticed my car was bucking at low speed i popped the hood and the silver insulation on my cai intake had come off the enclosed box and wrapped around my filter! what kind of intake do you have?

I have cai intake. The foil insulation does not appear to be dislodged.

[ST1LE]

Have you checked to see if you have a weak or strong MAF?