Two flubs within 20 seconds, I need your advice

Just had an incredible 120 mile drive home. I feel like I bonded with the car, my handling was smooth and precise.

Until...

I was approaching an EZ-Pass toll booth and gracefully brought the car from 6th through 3rd one gear at a time. However, I shifted into 2nd too early and rpm shot up to approx 4500-5500. Within 1.5 seconds I was back in 3rd gear.

About 20 seconds later I intended to go from 4th to 5th while building up speed on the Turnpike, but accidentally slipped into 3rd. Again, similar spike in rpm, then into 5th gear within a second or two.

Car drove the rest of the trip with no noticeable differences in performance and acceleration, with one exception.

I now hear a whirl/woosh underneath the exhaust tone that I didn't hear before. It only happens when I'm on the accelerator.

A/C, heat and windshield defroster were off, but it sounds like a rush of air. When I activated Sport mode, which amplifies the exhaust tone, it also amplified the woosh. Rpm was a constant 3000, so I don't believe it was the turbo. Which I think spools around 3500?

The sound is definitely more prominent in higher gears. Maybe it was there all along and now I'm "listening" for a problem? I really don't know.

When I parked out front, I blipped the accelerator slightly in neutral, couldn't hear it on the way up, but as rpm dropped there was a slight woosh.

Could those bad shifts have caused a bigger issue that is resulting in this sound?

Thanks and Happy New Year!
John

It's probably ok if you can't feel any difference. Most likely just the placebo effect based on the fact that you realized what you did wrong not once but twice. Keep driving it and try not to do it again.

Honestly you didn’t even hit the money shift like some members have (shifting at redline going from 4-5 but accidentally going to 3rd, or 3-4 redline and going to 2nd), and some of them were super fortunate to come out unscathed.

You didn’t even hit redline, so I wouldn’t worry for a second. Like he said above, likely a Placebo effect. Just don’t get into the habit of doing it!

you are fine, there is a fuel cutoff anyway that prevents over-revs.

What everyone said. You're fine.

Just don't mess up again, mister!

Anyone have thoughts on the woosh sound when I hit the accelerator?

skarkowtsky said:

Anyone have thoughts on the woosh sound when I hit the accelerator?

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that my friend is the sweet sweet sound of MO POWA BABEH!!!

just kidding. its the turbo you are hearing. not noticeable on low rpm but mor gradully on throttle

RKS17 said:

you are fine, there is a fuel cutoff anyway that prevents over-revs.

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Just want to throw this out there. You’re 50% right. There’s the electronic fuel cut off under normal acceleration when you hit redline and don’t shift.

However, if you downshift at or close to redline, the mechanics of the engine override the electronic fuel cut off and you’ll be revving crazy high (depending on motor, and which gear you’re in, around 9-10k rpm if it isn’t a high revving motor like ours). That’s mechanical overrev (aka money shift). That’s basically a one way ticket to new heads at a minimum if you don’t immediately catch it. Failsafes only go so far and not only that, his power train warranty would be kaput.

I get the same sound, but it's not the turbo. It comes up around 3k and vanishes around 4k. The sound is there whether or not I'm on the accelerator, so it's not Turbo. From what I've read on here, it's completely normal.

AegeanT said:

Just want to throw this out there. You’re 50% right. There’s the electronic fuel cut off under normal acceleration when you hit redline and don’t shift.

However, if you downshift at or close to redline, the mechanics of the engine override the electronic fuel cut off and you’ll be revving crazy high (depending on motor, and which gear you’re in, around 9-10k rpm if it isn’t a high revving motor like ours). That’s mechanical overrev (aka money shift). That’s basically a one way ticket to new heads at a minimum if you don’t immediately catch it. Failsafes only go so far and not only that, his power train warranty would be kaput.

Click to expand...

You are correct. Usually it's tough and takes a lot more force to put a car in the incorrect lower gear.

:: Woosh update ::

Seems to be pure coincidence. Driving to work this morning I noticed it again, but it has more to do with roadbed material.

Over fresh asphalt it's really pronounced, but over older roads and cement inserts on overpasses it disappears.

Must be a combination of material, tire amplification and sound resonance between the road and chassis.

Just want to add I've only been a member for a few days, but everyone has been really helpful and approachable. This is a great community.

John

I once had a 5-Speed Maxima SE that was awesome. I liked it so much that when the 6-Speed Maxima SE came out, I purchased it for my wife BUT drove it a lot when she didn't need it. One time on the highway I tried to shift my older Maxima into 6th and it survived.

I money shifted about 6 months back and sent the RPMs to the moon..... No problem tho you should be fine

To the point about the tires... I bought some winter tires a few weeks ago. The guy from the dealership said they'd likely be a bit louder than what I expected. I went along and didn't notice anything until maybe a week or so later when I got on it on the highway. From hard acceleration from 50 to 90 or so mph I really, heard the new tires and they made some very different noise.

I'm one of the ones who (somewhat unintentionally) didn't worry about the break in period for the car. I'm at about 26k miles with no noticeable effect. It purrs like a kitten that ate a Honda motor.

you'll be fine. I went from 5-2 instead of 5-4 at around 70 mph, caught it in a fraction of a second.. watched fuel trims and data logs for a week after and nothing is out of the ordinary. they're pretty tough little motors