Not surprising...
The reason I masked is that with a 4 speed(or any standard), wear on the timing chain/gears can be accelerated by using the lower gears as brakes, as in downshifting to slow the car. This makes the gears wear more from the tension(drive) on the gears going from one side to the other, if that makes any sense. It's the acceleration/deceleration of the chain on the gears. While you are moving, the chain has tension on it on one side. When you shift gears, the chain has a little slack in it for a second or two, so it wants to just sorta "flop". Then as you apply the throttle after the shift, the chain tightens up again. This tight/slack tension wears the gears more than it does on an automatic, so you'll normally see more wear on the gears with a standard trans, for the same mileage.
Using the trans to slow the car down also adds to the accelerated wear for the same reason...tension/slop/flop/tension.
Hope this makes some sense. The real point is that standard tranny cars will have more wear on the timing chain/gears than an automatic.
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Joel Adams
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