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124 Spider Abarth 2020 (manual transmission) seems to be automatically downshifting when accelerating (problem or feature?)

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5.6K views 13 replies 10 participants last post by  Culprite  
#1 ·
Hey guys, I've had my fiat for a little over a year now and I noticed recently that whenever I am in 5th gear (going to use 5th gear as the example but it does occur in 4th and 6th gear aswel) and running about 3,000 RPMS, whenever I accelerate (putting the pedal to the floor) the rpms rise very quickly and the number representing the gear I'm currently in goes down one gear (to 4th gear) without me ever pressing in the clutch or shifting gears myself. If I press in the clutch while rolling at 3000 RPMS and then downshift myself, the rpms match what they rose too whenever I was just accelerating in 5th gear and the dash said it jumped down to 4th gear. Once the speed picks up and the gear I was originally in can keep up, it shifts back. I'm really not sure if this is my car getting a little wacky or a feature I just never knew about for a manual transmission. If it is an issue, than I'm unsure what the cause of this would be.

Thank y'all
 
#3 · (Edited)
That's what I was thinking but the clutch is showing no other signs of giving out. It feels fine and shifting feels smooth as it had the first day I bought it. How would the clutch slipping cause it do this? I get way more power from this downshifting as it would be in an automatic and works its way back into 5th gear. (Not really relevant but I forgot to share in first message, my mileage is at 21k right now)
 
#9 ·
Agree with the others, your clutch is shot. Either the friction plate or the pressure plate has given up.
 
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#13 ·
The problem with answering that is that it's hugely a matter of the prior owner's driving habits and what type of driving they were performing. Literally as few as maybe 20,000 miles or as long as over 150,000 miles. As I don't know how much experience you have with MTs, there are a lot of good articles on this topic on the web, and here's a link to one that you might find useful:
How Long Does a Clutch Last? (Bad Clutch Symptoms) - Off-Roading Pro
 
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