Today while sitting in a parking lot waiting for a friend I thought I heard faint clutch chatter. I pushed my shifter forward towards first gear and pressed it against the gate. The clutch chatter got quieter and my car began to move forward. I kept the shifter pressed against the gate and then once my car was moving fast enough my shifter slid into first. I never pressed the clutch at all during this and there was no grinding at all. It almost felt like there was a "slush box" in my car. I guess it has to be on a flat surface or decline because it didn't work on a very slight incline. Not enough friction I guess. Can Anyone explain this???

 

your clutch and flywheel is engaged when you dont press the pedel in. essentially you just changed gear and it bit, i dont believe its unusual, however wont recommend it at all.

 

I don't believe I'll be trying this one out on my G....

 

not unusual. you can do this in all manual cars.

 

Completely normal.

 

You used your 1st gear synchro as your clutch.

You'll find your clutch will last a lot longer at that job than your transmission synchros. It is not designed for that kind of abuse -- I wouldn't do that again.

Read about manual transmissions on HowStuffWorks.com and you'll understand exactly what happened. A similar experience (I came to a stop while coasting in neutral and had the stick grind while trying to select 1st sitting still) let me to read about it and everything made sense ever since

 

are you a new manual driver??

i realized that 3 days after i start driving a stick!

 

Thanks for the responses. I figured other people had experience with this. Thats why I asked.

I bought my first manual in 1989. It was a '90 Nissan Sentra
Bought my second manual in 1997. It was a Trueno (Right drive) like this one...
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...ae86_coupe.jpg
My third manual was a 1990 Honda Prelude (Right Drive)
My fourth manual was a '06 g35 6mt Coupe
and now I have a '08 g37 6mt.

Then I must be a real dolt. Go figure, I've been driving stick for 19 years shifting with both my right and left hands and never knew how it all worked. You have inspired me to go find out how my catalytic converter works. They have probably been in all my cars and I still don't know how they work. But, I'm sure you knew within 3 days.

 

at least you're willing to learn