Has anyone with a manual transmission noticed any odd behavior with the upshift indicator?
Specifically, sometimes I see the upshift indicator turn on just as I depress the clutch while upshifting. It doesn't seem to be very useful if it tells me to upshift while I am upshifting anyway.
I noticed the exact same thing, but I also noticed that the upshift light
doesn't appear to be a static light that always comes on at the same
mph.
It seems that the light is timed by an algorithym.
when you accelerate very conservatively, it comes on at just about the
mph the owner's manual tells you to shift at.
But, if you accelerate even a little more rapidly than Ford thinks you should
for maximum fuel economy, then, the shift light waits longer before it tells you
to upshift.
So, after reading your post, I got to thinking that maybe it is not
depressing the clutch pedal that is turning on the light, but rather
taking your foot off the gas pedal (which we all do before depressing
the clutch).
In other words, I think the car is holding off turning on the shift light in
order to give you smooth performance for the acceleration you are
requesting.
But, when you take your foot off the gas in order to shift, the car no
longer sees your request for additional acceleration and, because of this,
the algorithym decides it is a pretty good time to turn on the shift light
for maximum fuel economy.
In order to test this, when I was driving around tonight, I would accelerate
just mildly above what I would normally do for max. fuel economy.
Then (when I would normally upshift, but before the light came on) I
took my foot off the gas, but didn't depress the clutch!
Every time I did this the shift indicator light turned on as soon as I took
my foot off the gas.
So, my guess is, it is the intelligent nature of the upshift light algorithym
that is giving both of us this (not so intelligent) response.