Downshifted to 1st doing 75 mph on the highway

[kseriesparts]

Oh, you pulled a Clutch Masters. It nice your car did not blow up.

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[HarleyHellboy]

Hey guys, long time lurker here, I don't know how I feel about this so I'm posting to get some feedback. Last night I was challenged on the highway and I went for a quick third gear downshift and got first instead. I still can't believe I was able to get into first so easily, I noticed nothing strange about the shifter, but as soon as I pulled the clutch out my tires squealed like a barking dog and my engine buried the tach at 8K+, I would imagine it got to 11-12K RPM before I pushed the clutch back in. With that being said, no lights on the dash, no noises from the engine or trans. Is this engine a ticking time bomb now or am I just paranoid? Thoughts...?

If the engine is running like before...no engine lights...no knocking or strange sounds you should be fine. SO RELAX AND ENJOY THE CAR. Just chalk this up as a learning experience and you got away lucky. THE GOOD NEWS IS I'M SURE YOU WILL NEVER MAKE THIS MISTAKE AGAIN. MORE GOOD NEWS IS YOU BOUGHT A HONDA....ROCK SOLID

 

[BrashSi]

The dreaded Money $hift. I've done it once in my S2000. In that case it was a 3rd->2nd instead of 3rd->4th. Luckily the gears are pretty short in that car and the over-rev was only about 2,000 rpm over redline and again it was for a fraction of a second. I've driven that car 15,000 miles with regular exercise in VTEC and it's not shown a hickup. Did a full compression test, valve retainer check and valve adjustment since then and no issues with the valvetrain. Biggest thing I've learned since then is to not use the thumb at all to shift. Palm and fingers are all that is needed.

Consider yourself lucky that it didn't decide to punch a rod through the block or make a firm introduction between piston face and valve head. Definitely get a compression tester and check compression. If any of the cylinders read at less than the required, do a leakdown check to see which valves may be having issues.

 

[choffman41]

So why are you shifting into 3rd at 75 mph on the highway?

 

[Brian17Si]

Hey guys, long time lurker here, I don't know how I feel about this so I'm posting to get some feedback. Last night I was challenged on the highway and I went for a quick third gear downshift and got first instead. I still can't believe I was able to get into first so easily, I noticed nothing strange about the shifter, but as soon as I pulled the clutch out my tires squealed like a barking dog and my engine buried the tach at 8K+, I would imagine it got to 11-12K RPM before I pushed the clutch back in. With that being said, no lights on the dash, no noises from the engine or trans. Is this engine a ticking time bomb now or am I just paranoid? Thoughts...?

One time I let someone drive my Acura RSX type s, on highway while I was in car. He shifted at redline from 3rd gear accidentally into 2nd vs 4th. Same thing happened. He pulled over and I check under the hood.....

My oil cap on engine literally popped off! I bought a new oil cap next day but noticed the clutch was slipping...

Amazing the engine was fine and I made the driver replace the clutch and I moved on...

Long story short.... Honda makes engines that handle amazing abuse. Things other than engine could be impacted too. Driving it will tell you just about everything you need to know.

 

[BoostedDreams]

I put a little pressure into 1st gear at 20mph and it does not want to go in. No idea how you say it went in smoothly at 75mph.. does sound like it was 3rd gear. I can’t imagine doubling the rpm limit and being okay lol

 

[dantwan1]

Hey guys, just wanted to update in case some of you were curious of the long term effects of this. It's 6 months later and the car is completely fine! Still runs like the day I bought it, didn't find any metal shavings in the oil or anything. These engines have some serious durability!

 

[Brian17Si]

Hey guys, just wanted to update in case some of you were curious of the long term effects of this. It's 6 months later and the car is completely fine! Still runs like the day I bought it, didn't find any metal shavings in the oil or anything. These engines have some serious durability!

Amazing! Honda

Great to hear, glad you didn’t crash when doing that. Prob threw you forward hard and tires prob locked up a little prior to pulling out of 1st gear.

As I previously stated... I let a jack ass drive my RSX Type S (K-series). At redline in third he shifted into second. It literally popped my oil cap off engine and blew clutch. But the engine was fine. Honda motors are rock solid.

 

[ne0guri]

I did something similar once. Downshifted from 5th to 2nd but I was going under 50 so it just revved up to about 6k I got lucky I wasn’t going faster since I was slowing down on an exit.

Same for me but luckily I hit the clutch immediately before it got too high. Have the Acuity shifter now and I can guarantee that will never happen again.

 

[TheCanadian]

Any updates OP?

 

[SI(ck)Civic]

Sounds like a close one there eh

 

[dantwan1]

Any updates OP?

I’m happy to report that I’m now 75K miles in and not a hiccup from the drivetrain. Absolutely love this car. I got into a minor accident a few weeks ago and I just got it back with a shiny new headlight, fender, bumper, steering wheel cover, and seatbelt. Life is good!

 

[markon]

Here is my contribution to the community ?

As per attached tooooo close to exposing everything inside the motor to the public!!!!

Just after ? shift into 2nd instead of 4th rolled in idle for about 500meters. Idle was steady at all times. Made some pulls (not full) after ensuring that transmission was all in one piece and working and nothing was wrong. No smoke,no nothing.
Today's cold start was without any problem.
Car has been driven now for about 20kilometers and nothing seems wrong.

I hope I just have only the "brown pants " to remind me this moment!

Note: Civic 1.5T-non Si

 

[dantwan1]

Great news!! These engines can take a lickin and keep on tickin.

 

[MaxPower]

I love that this thread is nearly three years old and we're still getting positive updates from OP. I mean, there are a whole lot of sob stories on this site about a variety of catastrophic (often user/mod-initiated) issues: overrevs gone awry, sheer unrestrained horsepower blasting rods through cylinder blocks, OEM clutches unable to handle ridiculous amounts of torque without slippage, etcetera, etcetera. But amongst these various nightmares, there are also stories like this, where Honda durability still seems to be a thing.

Most people don't go out of their way to extol the virtues of an item they're happy with. I know that wasn't OP's original intent in starting the thread, but it's just nice to read about a positive experience for a change. One that (imo) only gets better the longer those reports remain positive.

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