[am_ver]

So I am doing about 70 mph on the freeway, and feel this rush to accelerate. So I downshift from 6th with the intent to go to 4th. However, I think I put her in 2nd gear instead. The car slowed down (slight jerk), and the RPMs went high - loud engine sound (revs?). I realize whats happening, and press the clutch. Then move to 5th.

Could I have damaged anything?

[MrClean]

Yes. That's called a "money shift". I don't know what 70 mph means in terms of engine rpm - someone who does will surely chime in. If you clutched immediately, probably no big deal, but otherwise bent valves are a common over-rev problem.

[jmsent]

How is it running? If everything seems ok, then you've likely dodged a bullet.

[rje]

I don't think you've damage something assuming your Rev Limiter is working. This prevents you from going to the red line on every gear especially the lower ones, to protect you from blowing up your engine.

[LOLrance]

Originally Posted by rje

I don't think you've damage something assuming your Rev Limiter is working. This prevents you from going to the red line on every gear especially the lower ones, to protect you from blowing up your engine.

umm no. Rev limiters work by letting you bounce off of it while accelerating. Meaning if you dont shift, it will just keep bouncing at 7k and not go past redline. But when downshifting, you can easily over rev and jump past redline.

Only way you'll know if you did any serious damage is to do a leakdown and compression test.

[Icedog_16]

A combination of what the ones above me said. Depending on how far you overrevved the engine, it's entirely possible you put a valve into the piston - not good if that's what happened. However, if it's running fine now and you don't hear any weird noises, you may be OK.

[pittyinSC]

Well since it was only 70, I think you just barely dodge this one since what 72 is the
end of 2nd gear?
Get it checked out anyways

[Majikthese42]

If it runs OK, sounds OK, and you're not getting any strange engine noises, and there are no warning lights on the dash, you may not have let out the clutch completely, and ....you may be OK. Yes, it's easy to do a mechanical overrev on a downshift if you miss a gear. Hence, "money shift" ($$$$).

[mithiral67]

Yea, if u were only doing 70, probably not a "money shift" Just be careful and practice safe shifting.

I am not sure how you grip the shifter. For me, 1st, 2nd and 3rd, i hold the shifter with the palm towards me and for 4th, 5th and 6th, i shift with my palm facing away. It helps me prevent money shifts.

[am_ver]

its running and sounding fine. The only thing I noticed was that the 'low oil' indicator came up yesterday (its been a year since I've had this car). I put in a quart and its now saying that oil is ok.

What kind of noises should I be looking for?

[am_ver]

Originally Posted by l4wr3nc3

leakdown and compression test.

Do I just ask the dealer to do these tests? Anyone know the typical cost associated?

[am_ver]

Originally Posted by mithiral67

Yea, if u were only doing 70, probably not a "money shift" Just be careful and practice safe shifting.

I am not sure how you grip the shifter. For me, 1st, 2nd and 3rd, i hold the shifter with the palm towards me and for 4th, 5th and 6th, i shift with my palm facing away. It helps me prevent money shifts.

The motion for 2, 4 and 6 is just about the same. Pull down (towards you).

[ATSR]

Originally Posted by am_ver

So I am doing about 70 mph on the freeway, and feel this rush to accelerate. So I downshift from 6th with the intent to go to 4th. However, I think I put her in 2nd gear instead. The car slowed down (slight jerk), and the RPMs went high - loud engine sound (revs?). I realize whats happening, and press the clutch. Then move to 5th.

Could I have damaged anything?

Hopefully you didn't damage anything, but if I were you I would still get it checked.

You should also change your signature. Instead of "Next: Motion Sensor" it should probably say "Next: driving lessons"

[Andrew@ET]

i did it at 78 mph engine stopped would not start. end result was i jumped timing.

[MrClean]

Originally Posted by mithiral67

I am not sure how you grip the shifter. For me, 1st, 2nd and 3rd, i hold the shifter with the palm towards me and for 4th, 5th and 6th, i shift with my palm facing away. It helps me prevent money shifts.

+1000. the very first day I owned my e36 M3, I missed 4th on a downshift at highway speed (80+) felt the car jerk slightly and watched the tach climb and very quickly realized what was happening and pushed the clutch in. The e36 M was famous for this because the engine torque would rotate the transmission enough for you to miss shift. I think retrofits were available to help prevent this, but I adopted the above shifting technique and had no further problems.

[wj4]

How high did the needle on the RPM go up to? If it's driving fine, it most likely is. And like Lawrence stated, rev limiter doesn't work with downshifting.

[ucdbiendog]

yup thats about right, same for me when i floor it in second.

Originally Posted by umcool911ok

Well since it was only 70, I think you just barely dodge this one since what 72 is the
end of 2nd gear?
Get it checked out anyways

[nidget]

Originally Posted by am_ver

So I downshift from 6th with the intent to go to 4th.

From 6th, you should go to 5th, not to 4th. Then if you need to, from 5th you go to 4th. This will avoid this kind of problem, because then you don't have to really grip the shifter. You just change the speeds by pulling or pushing a bit on it and it will go into the correct one smoothly. When I was learning to drive, it happened to me a few times until I talk to a friend who is a driving teacher and who explained me this.

[mithiral67]

Originally Posted by nidget

From 6th, you should go to 5th, not to 4th. Then if you need to, from 5th you go to 4th. This will avoid this kind of problem, because then you don't have to really grip the shifter.

I dont see any problem with downshifting to 4th, its not like you have to run through all the gears like an auto. In theory, the only way you will likely money shift is hitting 1st (if you're over 40mph), 2nd (if you're over 70mph) or 3rd (over 95mph).

In my experience, its impossible to accidently hit 1st, when I am downshifting to 1st heading fast into a corner (above 30mph), the transmission fights me the whole way trying to get it into 1st. To me that almost a built in safety.

2nd is the general money shift you see and 2nd is easy to avoid a money shift by using the method I mentioned above, as 4th and 6th should be made with your palm faced away from you. For second, you have to pull the shifter towards you and back, something that feels very wierd if your hand is facing away from you.

Finally, 3rd is similar to avoid then second. If you are in the triple digits, you shouldnt be hitting any gears but 4th - 6th. As i noted above, all shifts with your palm away. So a mis-shift into 3rd would mean you were going for 5th, which should be a strong push away and fowards and easy to not mess up.

Just my throughts.

[chaz58]

Its doubtful you hurt anything, as the car will go close to 70 in second gear. But, yes if you go above redline on a down shift you can easily hurt the pistons, valves, timing belt. I believe BMW records over-revs so your dealer should be able to verify how high you got it. A leak down test would be the best way to verify any internal damage (i.e. bent valve), but in your case it doesn't sound like a problem. If you were going any faster it could quickly become an issue...

[noro]

At 70 you can't do damage in 2nd... so consider it your lucky day.

[achien]

70mph = 112km/h, I have done this while accelerating on 2nd gear (on uphill) and the RPM is 6,800 (before shifting to 3rd).

Consider yourself lucky this time...

Originally Posted by am_ver

So I am doing about 70 mph on the freeway, and feel this rush to accelerate. So I downshift from 6th with the intent to go to 4th. However, I think I put her in 2nd gear instead. The car slowed down (slight jerk), and the RPMs went high - loud engine sound (revs?). I realize whats happening, and press the clutch. Then move to 5th.

Could I have damaged anything?

Originally Posted by MrClean

Yes. That's called a "money shift". I don't know what 70 mph means in terms of engine rpm - someone who does will surely chime in. If you clutched immediately, probably no big deal, but otherwise bent valves are a common over-rev problem.