Jerky ride in 2nd/3rd between 15 and 40

mcl5000 · Jul 30, 2009, 07:12 AM

Hey guys. I have an 09 manual GTS and, while I love it, something really pisses me off about it, and it has to do with my tranny.

I'm stuck in a lot of traffic on the highway, going between 15 and 40 mph. Now, on the lower side of that I'll usually be in 2nd gear. If I let of the gas for a second and SLOWLY give it gas again, my car will jerk like I just pushed the clutch in and popped it out. The same thing will happen in 3rd around 30/40.

The strange thing is that this even happens when I take my foot off the gas. You know how sometimes you'll have a short distance to go and hit 40ish in 2nd and just coast to the light/stop sign? That works fine, but if I tried to do that while going 25, I would be jerking.

Is this a normal problem with these cars? It's super annoying, and I'm wondering if I should get it looked at. It's done it since day one, so I figured that's how they are, but I'm close to the point of trading it in.

Thanks!

EngRWW33 · Jul 30, 2009, 08:43 AM

Let off the gas slower/lighter, push in the gas slower/lighter. I had experienced the same things but learned to drive it smoother throughout time.

My commute home from work is 15 miles and it takes 1-1.5 hrs, so you can imagine how much traffic I deal with everyday too.

mcl5000 · Jul 30, 2009, 09:00 AM

I appreciate your input, but that isn't the problem. There's no way that I can push the gas any lighter. I've tried everything as far as that goes.

Compounding on my first post, if I come to a stop from 40ish in 2nd gear, it will be smooth until about 15 mph and then jerk. It isn't getting ready to stall, because it will be smooth for a few more mph after the jerk.

Basically, you know how people with exhausts drive around town? In low gear, and coming to almost a complete stop in 2nd? I can't do that without spilling drinks out of my cupholder. I don't have an exhaust, but it's just a comparison.

MasterAK · Jul 30, 2009, 01:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mcl5000

I appreciate your input, but that isn't the problem. There's no way that I can push the gas any lighter. I've tried everything as far as that goes.

Compounding on my first post, if I come to a stop from 40ish in 2nd gear, it will be smooth until about 15 mph and then jerk. It isn't getting ready to stall, because it will be smooth for a few more mph after the jerk.

Basically, you know how people with exhausts drive around town? In low gear, and coming to almost a complete stop in 2nd? I can't do that without spilling drinks out of my cupholder. I don't have an exhaust, but it's just a comparison.

in what RPM are you usually driving in 2nd? It's not a problem and it's unavoidable because it's a heavy car and when you take the foot off the gas the small engine can't slow down the whole car effectively.

Keep a longer distance between you and the car in front of you so you can be smoother, and also reduce the number of times you shift.

Slyy · Jul 31, 2009, 02:44 PM

hmm, I'm about to head out. I'll pay more attention to what gear i'm in and see if this happens to me. I'll let you know

mcl5000 · Aug 1, 2009, 07:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MasterAK

in what RPM are you usually driving in 2nd? It's not a problem and it's unavoidable because it's a heavy car and when you take the foot off the gas the small engine can't slow down the whole car effectively.

Keep a longer distance between you and the car in front of you so you can be smoother, and also reduce the number of times you shift.

I'd say I'm usually between like 1500 and 2500 when this happens. Like I said, the best example of it is when I'm going very slow in traffic in 2nd gear and then just tap the gas lightly to close the distance between the car in front of me and myself. I always have a LOT of distance between me and the car in front of me, and I let out on the gas very slowly and push down on the gas very slowly, or else it probably looks like I have no idea how to drive to everyone around me.

Even as it is, I'm sure it looks like I'm almost stalling to everyone around me.

I sure hope it has nothing to do with the weight of the car, because I've driven much larger manual cars/trucks and I didn't notice this at all. If Mitsubishi didn't have engineers who realized that the car was too heavy for the engine, then I don't really want to own a car made by them.

I'm going to take more notice to what RPMs I'm at in traffic on Monday.

Slyy, try driving around 20 mph, giving it a little gas then taking your foot off the gas a few times. Like I said, I've driven plenty of manual cars and NEVER had any problem like this, so I honestly don't think it's the way I drive. I would like to think most of those cars were way crappier than my GTS.

planetasia415 · Aug 1, 2009, 04:54 PM

Bay be cause.... "You a jerk, I know, You a jerk, I know, You a jerk, I know."

kalpakiotis · Aug 3, 2009, 06:11 AM

i don't think its the car, ive never had a problem in any speed range with jerking. when ever i let my gf drive for practice she exhibits the same behavior u are talking about. Its an inherent feature of a standard transmission, any input to the engine gives a direct output to the tires. the only compensation u have is ur clutch.

mcl5000 · Aug 4, 2009, 06:06 AM

I guess a different way I could explain it is that when I press the gas, it seems like there's a 1/4 second or so delay before my wheels match the gas. It's not the car jerking because of too much gas, it seems like it's almost the car jerking because of not enough gas.

It's definitely strange, and I haven't experienced it in any other car. I had a couple of my friends drive it, too, and 2 of them noticed what I noticed and another didn't.

I guess since nobody else seems to notice this in their Lancer (and 3 out of 4 people notice it in mine), I'll have to go get it looked at. Ugh... Between paint basically peeling off my 6 month old car and this, I'm starting to regret my purchase. :-P

jer301 · Aug 6, 2009, 11:23 AM

While i have never had this issue with my Lancer, my guesses are:

ENGINE
1) Throttle Body is sticking.
2) Injectors are clogged
3) Timing is off

TRANNY
1) Torque Converter will not lock up when it is required to, or Locks and unlocks (this happens in my F150 when i am trying to haul or tow a load with overdrive on.
2) If it only happens while shifting, clutch needs to be adjusted or replaced.

It is really hard to say without driving it. I would not be discouraged about your purchase. Things happen. the paint thing sucks. mine is not peeling it is chipping in a couple of spots, but sometimes i get too close to big trucks on the interstate. You should definately take your car in and have it checked. As for weight of the car, the lancers power to weight is comparable to the acura TSX, Mazda3, and other small sedans. That most certainly is not the problem.

mcl5000 · Aug 7, 2009, 02:45 AM

Thanks, Jer.

Kinda funny - I drove my mom's 99 miata last night, and I was in heaven. The fact that a 10 year old car's transmission was so much better than mine (not even close, not one bit) really drove the point home that I guess I should go get it looked at.

My girlfriend turned and said to me, "Wow, I guess you really aren't that bad at driving stick." She always complains because I can't keep my car from jerking... :-P

Thanks!

kalpakiotis · Aug 7, 2009, 06:01 AM

Nice, it just goes to show that our fathers (and mothers...) where much better at designing things 10 20 years ago than the crap we get today. My brothers 87 RX-7 feels a lot nicer even though its underpowered compared to the lancer. Ohhh and I believe that RWD will jerk slightly less than FWD...gotta love physics

Solofantasy · Sep 14, 2009, 09:28 AM

Its all about the driving. Really, I still get jerks sometimes.
It will get better with experience.
Actually, "rev match" is pretty important. again, that comes with experience. The closer your RPM to your gear ratio, the smoother the shift will be.
I believe, here is a basic range for our 09 GTS manual.

roughly:
1st: 2500rpm @ 10mph
2nd: 2000rpm @ 20mph
3rd: 2000rpm @ 30mph

use this to estimate your rev match. when later on, you wont need to. as you drive more, it come naturally.
approx, I forgot, but I will change them after I get off work

kalpakiotis · Sep 15, 2009, 05:31 AM

idk about rev matching...for around town i can be silky smooth without the need to rev match. If you pick the right point to shift you shouldn't have any problems. I can't say where that point is because it def matters on the roads u drive on. it all just comes with experience. i've only found rev matching to be useful when driving hard.

yitzac1990 · Sep 15, 2009, 10:49 PM

im pretty sure this is normal in almost all manual cars. if youre in a low gear going slowly (like first gear going 5 mph) and give it gas, then let off the gas, it will jerk. i honestly cant explain it, but its probably something like the wheel gears (output gears) get "caught" by the tranny gears, start spinning with the transmission, then the tranny gears slow down faster than the wheels do because of momentum, causing the car to jerk a lil bit while the tranny gears catch up to the wheels.

maybe? but im pretty sure this jerking you are talking about is normal. happens to me all the time when im in slow traffic too. thats why when youre behind a manual car at a stop light, you can tell because when they start going, you can see the car rock back and forth a bit usually.

/thread, seriously lol