Fuel economy and gear shifting

[Kaiman]

I am not used to manual transmission, so please excuse my ignorance.
Is it OK to change gear from say, 2nd to 4th or 3rd to 5th or can this damage my clutch or gear box.

Also, will driving in 5th gear at lower speeds, say under 40mph damage anything?

I have noticed it is far more economical to drive in the highest gear possible, but I dont want to cause problems.

 

[Rory]

I am not used to manual transmission, so please excuse my ignorance.
Is it OK to change gear from say, 2nd to 4th or 3rd to 5th or can this damage my clutch or gear box.

Perfectly OK, this is called block changing.

Also, will driving in 5th gear at lower speeds, say under 40mph damage anything?

Depends on the engine. A V12 will happily drive along at tickover.

But with a 4cyl engine you'll rattle the car to death! It can't be good for things like crankshaft bearings, engine mounts etc. An expensive repair bill will more than wipe out all your economy efforts.

Driving in too high a gear is also bad from a car control point of view, as the engine can't react to slow you down or speed up if necessary.

 

[Kaiman]

Thanks, thats kind of what I wanted to hear.

 

[Parrot of Doom]

I have noticed it is far more economical to drive in the highest gear possible, but I dont want to cause problems.

Not always. When you're riding a bike, would you always ride it in the highest gear?

You'd find it extremely hard going - and so does your engine.

 

[TomTanderson]

Is it OK to change gear from say, 2nd to 4th or 3rd to 5th or can this damage my clutch or gear box.

It is an advanced driving technique (used appropriately of course!)

It is more economical than going through all the gears when you are increasing your speed quickly.

 

[Xtractorfan]

And of course diesels will be much happier pulling in higher gears as they have more torque than petrol engines