HELP! I am seeking the help of any expert/guru/generally knowledgeable person on downshifting for the purpose of engine braking in a 5AT coupe. is it bad for the transmission? yes, i know that "replacing brakes & rotors costs less than replacing a fried automatic transmission," but I thought that engine braking for the 5AT was okay since there is rev-matching. however, whenever i do downshift, i only do so @ 1500 rpms or less (regarldess of what gear i'm in or what gear i'm shifting to).

pleaseee. any input is appreciated, especially definitive answers!

thanks in advance!!!

 

I don't downshift coming to a complete stop. I do downshift when coming
to a corner where I don't have to stop or when I'm passing someone I'll
downshift one gear and nail the throttle. With my car that scares the
drivers around me with the sound my G makes.....intake/plenum spacer
and exhaust.

 

hehehe scaring

 

I dont think there is anyway to hurt your tranny from downshifting. The car was designed to be used with tiptronic as well as drive. So I doubt it would be on the car if if could damage your tranny just by downshifting.

 

I wonder if you could ask Nissan directly.. maybe their engineers can answer the question or something. That would be better than members' speculation..

 

no speculation here, 108K and downshift regularly (as in daily) no problem when it even hit 5K downshifting

 

++1

 

thats retarded to do on a automatic, no point.

 

thanks to all of you who replied. anymore answers? if you have answers like that of turk that don't help whatsoever, though, please keep them to yourself.

anyone else have any answers (definitive or not, yes or no to downshifting)?

 

when your in tip and slowing down to a stop the tip downshifts automatically...when i take turns i do downshift at times..and if people cut me off and **** me off i do get on the tip and downshift and pass them up....but i dont see any problems with downshifting at times

 

I don't really do downshifts to slow my car down, but more like downshifts to get myself ready to hammer out of a corner in twisties or on roadcourse

 

No problem as in no problem with tranny like replacing it? I hope that's what you're saying because I always downshift when braking and my car is at 22k... If you hit 108k w/o transmission problems or replacement that's a + but I'd like to hear more people backing it up, one input doesn't mean much, you might just be lucky. Any others at high mileage that always downshift while braking have any experience to add I'm eager for answers since I definitely prefer to downshift while braking.

 

I wouldn't want to downshift in a automatic tranny. To me I think the clutch packs would wear out fast. Has anyone check there auto tran fluid for the people that downshift ???

 

im at almost 70k and i downshift all the time too... ive had no problems as of yet (knock on wood)

 

^^have you ever changed your tranny fluid? with the 3x3 process