2nd Gear

[anon26]

I know this may be a silly question but can you do any damage to your car if you constantly pull away in 2nd gear. I would have thought this would put strain on the engine and gear box over time.

[Siamsal]

And the clutch.

I woudl say 'yes,' when done inappropriately, you will cause excessive wear & tear and/or damage.

[jake-the-peg]

I would say it most likely depends on the car.

Many 4x4s have some quite low ratios and an awful lot of torque - I doubt they'd blink an eyelid.

Do a lot with a low power budget run-about and it's likely to be a different matter

[anon26]

its a 1.8 ford focus. Its my boyfriends and he always pulls away in second gear. He is now having some trouble with the car. It keeps cutting out when he slows down. I was just wondering if he could have caused any damage by doing this.

[homer75]

Premature clutch failure is the most likely outcome of his antics. Cutting out is not related to his habit of pulling away in second gear. Box his ears !

[Keeprockin]

He should be able to tell by engine noise and how easy it pulls away if it's struggling. It definitely won't be doing the clutch/engine any good if it's labouring. Lots of diesels will do it easily.

[Birt]

One of the jobs of a clutch is to dampen vibration created by the internal combustion engine. It does this well but when you start to labour the engine too much you will feel this vibration coming through the car. This means the damper in the clutch is being over worked. Eventual failure will follow and maybe even one of the damper springs will eject from the plate causing damage to the gearbox . All in all not advisable.