Teach Manual Driving And Keep Your Car Running

It’s frustrating when someone stalls your car over and over and…over again. Teaching someone how to drive a manual transmission without cringing when they jerk and stall (because you know it’s hurting your ride) is a valiant thing, but don’t you want to help your student and your car? Ride along with CARCHEX to learn how to teach someone stick without jeopardizing the health of your car.

  1. Show them the inner workings of a manual transmission – Don’t just tell them. Get under the hood and inside the clutch to explain what each part does. Visualizing each part helps a new manual driver conceptualize the right ways to utilize each gear.
  2. Go to a parking lot and run the gears – DON’T turn on the car while doing this. Have the student go through the gears (with the clutch in) to get a feel for where the gears are.
  3. Turn on the car with the clutch in – When the car is turned on, put it into first and have the student rev the gas to the RPM that suits the car in first gear.
  4. Have them let off the clutch – Once the RPM’s are in the correct range, have them slowly let out the clutch until the car starts to slowly move forward. Then, tell them to push the clutch back in. Do this several times, so they get use to the friction point of the clutch.
  5. Get the car rolling – Have the student get into first and moving. If they stall, and they will, remain calm.
  6. The other gears – Each gear after first is easy. Downshifting on the other hand is hard. Once the student is in third gear have them slow down to the lowest possible range for third and shift down to second. Do this several times.

 

Done! That wasn’t too bad, right? We have to warn you, there will be stalling, but it won’t be as bad as you putting a new driver into the hot seat and saying, go! Also, don’t worry, you can stall a manual transmission many times before the engine timing is off or your clutch is burnt out. If something does happen (and we hope it doesn’t!), make sure to have an extended auto warranty from CARCHEX to back you up.