Does it hurt to drive an automatic like a stick?> I drive a stick but a teg buddy I know drives an auto and he drives like a stick…shifts, down shifts, and swears its a stick. Does this hurt the tranny? P.S. I looked in the forum search thingy and I searched under “Shifting an Automatic” nothing came up. A simple yes or no will do. :0)
Eventually he will ruin it and then he can just do a 5 speed swap.
Depends on what the computer will let it do. If the computer won’t let the engine redline in normal mode, but will with manual shifting, then he is probably doing more damage to the trans. with high revs. When you manually shift it, the computer still decides if it wants to shift or not.
I drove mine though canyons shifting in and out of S3 and S4 all the time. Lasted 260K miles before I swapped it for a 5-speed. It was working fine at the time if the swap. I just kept replacing the fluid.
The S4 wont go go to S3 if its at over 5000 in 4th gear. I found that out before I did the auto-5spd conversion. And if you go to 2 from s3, thne that wears your sylinoids out.
Just think about it.
They dont call the transmission automatic for nothing.
:bang:
I got an auto and I don’t even know how to do the auto shitft thing. Im afrain it’ll kill my tranny faster. So do you go from 2 to S3 then S4??? Fake shifting or a dead tranny??? :hmm: just not worth it to me.
i do this sometimes with my auto teg and i was actually meaning to ask about it too. i go from 2-s3-d usually and then back down again (helps not to wear the breaks as much if the tranny gears down?)
but ya tranny is more important than breaks… it doesnt seem like its hurting it though
for instance: i want to slow down from s3 so i wait until my speed gets to about 50kms and then shift to 2nd. the RPM goes up higher and the car pulls back more… it feels just like a manual would 
then again im sure most of u are alot smarter than me with this kinda stuff and if u say its bad then i guess i should stop 
brakes are a whole lot cheaper to replace than a tranny
I put in in neutral when im slowing to a stop or coasting downhill, and downshift to 2 when I would with stick.
Ladybug is exactly right. there is NO point in shifting your auto tranny to slow you down. even to Nutral when you are comming to a stop. when you coast to a stop Your tranny knows what is going on , and knows that there is no longer a load on the engine and will go into a Free spin=Nutral basicly. there is no point to shift your tranny unless you are goin up a big moutian or down a big hill and wana prevent it from going to to Tq. converter lock up. but no you do not get beter 1/4 mile or 0-60 times if you shift the tranny yourself. there is NOTHING that shifts faster than an Auto transmission, i mean that is working like it is spose to.
Some super smart Honda Engenieres built the tranny, all the solonoids, and computer controls and crap which control the tranny and everything it does. they are a LOT smarter than us… and they built it for a reason. there is no point in forcing your tranny to stay in a gear longer than it needs just cuz you havnt done a 5spd swap yet. im not smashin or nothin. im just saying its not a 5spd dont pretend it is its not how the tranny was built to drive.
God Bless yall
ok cool, thats exactly the kinda response i wanted… no more shifting lol 
I took this excerpt from a user review on a 90 integra I found earlier online:
The gear shifter has all the standard functions, such as park, reverse, drive, and no overdrive. The additional feature is a “S3 to S4” switcher, which is like the 3 and 2 on normal gear shifters. When you move it down one from drive, it’ll be in S3/S4. You toggle between S3 and S4 with a small button underneath the main release button on the gear shift. While in S4, it’ll be just like in drive, meaning automatic transmission up to fourth gear. While in S3, it’ll be automatic, except it would not shift any higher than 3rd gear. The use of this is that you can keep the S3/S4 at S3, and while driving in “Drive” you can quickly knock the shift down a notch to immediately switch it down a gear to 3rd to give you a lower gear ratio allowing for faster power.
Your rpm’s will immediately jump, from somewhere around 3000 to about 5000 or 6000 depending on how fast you are already going and how fast you accelerate to in 3rd gear before switching back to 4th. This will give you a sharp jolt of acceleration in case you would need it, like switching into a faster lane. Believe me, this is completely safe for the engine, 4 cylinders run better on high rpms than low, and are meant for high rpms. Also, if you step on the accelerator hard enough, it’ll automatically shift down a gear to give you that extra acceleration, but doing it manually is much faster.
The full review is here
I have an automatic and drive it mostly in D mode, although I’ve occasionally used S3 only when I really need that extra ‘jolt’ to help me accelerate in certain situations. :run: I’ve also found it quite useful when I’ve had to use engine breaking really fast to avoid accidents going downhill a couple of times.
interesting… so the car will accelerate faster in s3? cool
so what is the significance of s4 then? just to make an easy shift? cause my friend was telling me before that he thought it was the overdrive, which tegs dont have. i have noticed that using s4 on the highway drains my gas ALOT faster than just leaving it in drive
I use my S3 when I want to do a quick start. The 1st gear revs up to about 4500 vs 3500-4000 on D, and when you’re on the highway you can put the 4th gear whenever you want (which means you can actually redline with an auto). I don’t know about S4 draining more gas, since my car drinks it like crazy anyways. But I would say that it is possible… to see if there’s a difference, when in S4, switch it back to D, and if the rpm drops, well there you go: fuel economy and you’re at your cruise speed. S3/S4 are meant for a more “sporty” driving I guess
it doesnt accelerate faster, with the s3 engaged, you are limiting the trans from shifting into 4th gear. you are basiclly manually downshifting when you accelerate. but the trans automaticly does that for you when deemed appropriate for acceleration, hench automatic trans. that s3/s4 is used for towing.
From the Helms:
S (Sports): For rapid acceleration at highway speeds and general driving; starts off in 1st, shifts automatically to 2nd, then 3rd (S3), and then 4th (S4) depending on vehicule speed throttle position.
from my pesonnal experience:
When leaving from a stop using D you rev up to about 3500-4000rpm in 1st gear, but when using S3 you rev up to 4000-4500rpm, hence the quicker acceleration.
s3 is good for driving in slippery conditions too.
I got an auto and I don’t even know how to do the auto shitft thing. Im afrain it’ll kill my tranny faster. So do you go from 2 to S3 then S4??? Fake shifting or a dead tranny??? just not worth it to me.
- When you put it in 2, it doesn't accelerate faster that D because it starts in 2nd gear while D goes from 1st to 2nd
- I don't know about the fater acceleration thing for S3 and S4 because when I drive in D it lets me go to redline.
- I heard that going from 2 to S3 and S4 messes up you rsyncros but I do it anyway, but I got 200,000 on my tranny newayz, I figure if it craps out i'll just get a manual swap
Actually, It starts in 1st and shifts only to 2nd. According to my 92 integra manual.