# How bad is stalling a car on the engine/transmission? **URL:** \ **Category:** Maintenance/Repairs\ **Created:** [May 29, 2009, 5:04am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/how-bad-is-stalling-a-car-on-the-engine-transmission/31128 "2009-05-29T05:04:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![malman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9dc877/32.png) [@malman](https://community.cartalk.com/u/malman)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2009, 5:04am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/how-bad-is-stalling-a-car-on-the-engine-transmission/31128/1 "2009-05-29T05:04:40Z")
I have an Audi s4 and i consider myself a decent driver but i will stall it maybe twice a year or something, on a hill not giving it enough gas most the time. I get very mad at myself when i do it, and im wondering how much damage i am doing when i stall the engine? or is it just on the clutch? thanks. ---
**Author:** ![mark9207](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71c47a/32.png) [@mark9207](https://community.cartalk.com/u/mark9207)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2009, 7:43am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/how-bad-is-stalling-a-car-on-the-engine-transmission/31128/2 "2009-05-29T07:43:10Z")
You’re really not doing it any harm. It’s much better to stall it once or twice a year than it is to overcompensate with the gas to try to avoid a stall, as many new drivers do. I learned to drive in my father’s 1990 Chevy Cavalier five speed. The car had 60,000 miles on it when he bought it, with the original clutch. Learning to drive, I didn’t overcompensate with the gas since I knew what it would do to the clutch, but I did stall it an average of two or three times a learning session, and even occasionally a few months after I got my license. My father, and his Cavalier, went through this also with my younger brother and sister a few years later. The car now has, last I checked, between 190,000 and 200,000 miles on it, still with the original clutch. The only clutch-related thing he ever had to replace was the hydraulic assembly (master/slave cylinders and pipe), which was leaking due to age. There’s no reason to get mad at yourself. You’re human, and anybody who has ever driven a manual has stalled it at some point. If people behind you are flipping out over you having to recrank your car on a hill once a year, that’s their problem. Those kind of people usually can’t drive a stick anyway!!! ---
**Author:** ![mcparadise](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/mcparadise/32/32_2.png) [@mcparadise](https://community.cartalk.com/u/mcparadise)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2009, 10:54am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/how-bad-is-stalling-a-car-on-the-engine-transmission/31128/3 "2009-05-29T10:54:06Z")
You’re not doing any damage. Stop worrying about it. ---
**Author:** ![the\_same\_mountainbike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@the\_same\_mountainbike](https://community.cartalk.com/u/the_same_mountainbike)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2009, 6:17pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/how-bad-is-stalling-a-car-on-the-engine-transmission/31128/4 "2009-05-29T18:17:32Z")
I taught both of my kids how to drive a manual on the same '89 Toyoota pickup, and I cannnot tell you how many times they stalled it…as well as smoking the clutch, chirping the tires, making the truck shudder scarily, and every other clutch-related event you can imagine. It was probably hundreds of times. It did absolutely no harm to the vehicle. And it does no harm to yours. By the way, I got 338,000 miles out of the vehicle with no major work…until it got totalled. ---
**Author:** ![malman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9dc877/32.png) [@malman](https://community.cartalk.com/u/malman)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2009, 10:21pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/how-bad-is-stalling-a-car-on-the-engine-transmission/31128/5 "2009-05-29T22:21:55Z")
Thanks so much guys i feel much better! i appreciate the help a lot. ---
**Author:** ![Beadsandbeads](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c57346/32.png) [@Beadsandbeads](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Beadsandbeads)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2009, 3:50am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/how-bad-is-stalling-a-car-on-the-engine-transmission/31128/6 "2009-05-30T03:50:10Z")
If you don’t stall it at least once in a blue moon, you are probably revving it too much or slipping it too much causing the clutch more wear than you need to.