Why does a manual transmission cause stalling?
2 Answers
The reason a manual transmission causes stalling is due to poor coordination between the clutch, gear shift, and brakes. A manual transmission car uses a manual gear shift mechanical transmission to adjust the vehicle speed. It involves manually moving the gear lever to change the gear meshing position inside the transmission, altering the gear ratio to achieve speed change. The gear lever can only be moved when the clutch is fully depressed. The correct method to start a manual transmission car is: 1. Fully depress the clutch with your left foot and shift into first gear; 2. Turn on the left turn signal and honk to alert vehicles and pedestrians in front and behind; 3. Release the handbrake and gently lift the clutch with your left foot; 4. When reaching the semi-engaged state, gently press the accelerator with your right foot; 5. After moving forward, fully release the clutch; 6. Adjust the gear according to road conditions.
When I first started learning manual transmission, stalling was a daily occurrence. The main issue was poor coordination between the clutch and throttle: releasing the clutch too quickly during startup without matching it with throttle input would cause the car to choke and stall instantly, like it had lost its breath. This happened most often when starting from a red light, with cars behind honking impatiently—the more flustered I got, the more likely I was to stall. Another scenario was shifting to a higher gear at low speeds without revving enough; the engine would immediately give up under the load. Hill starts were a nightmare—forgetting to use the handbrake for assistance and lifting the clutch too abruptly could cause the car to roll back and stall. Later, I discovered a trick: slowly lifting the clutch to the biting point with the left foot until feeling slight body vibration, then applying throttle—this method almost never resulted in stalling. After stalling a few times, the dashboard would light up with a warning indicator, but it would disappear after restarting the engine.
