So I am in Taiwan for a little bit, visiting my girlfriend. I've noticed that everybody here who drives an automatic will pop the car into neutral when they are sitting at a light (another interesting thing is that red lights have a visible timer that tells you when it will change).

I asked my girlfriend's brother about this and he said it's taught at the driving schools and the stated reason is for saving gas.

Everybody seems to do this, including taxi drivers.

I just find it interesting since some States have laws that specifically prohibit putting a running car on a public road in neutral. Does this really save gas? What about wear and tear on the tranny?

 

I dont see how there would be any significance in gas savings and it will be harder on the trans, most autos are designed to idle in gear, switching in and out would be harder on the internals.

 

 

Wow, that is odd especially that they teach it. I would think it would be killer on the tranny especially if you were to hit the gas a bit too soon and in effect, perform a neutral drop

 

x2

 

There was an article in Car & Driver a while ago about this very topic. C&D wrote to Ford about taxi drivers putting it in neutral in their Crown Victorias.

Ford's response was that the car was designed to idle in gear with brakes applied, and that there is no reduction in gas consumption. They added that it's only adding wear and tear to the shifting mechanism inside the transmission.

 

My friends dad used to do this all the time, until their Corolla needed a new tranny at less than 100k miles.

At the same time, it also drives me nuts when people keep their MT cars in gear at a red light, then when the car rolls back a bit, they slip the clutch to go forward a bit, then repeat.

 

 

I like the red light timers. Apparently it is supposed to relax people as they know how long they are going to have to wait.

 

putting it into neutral would def alleviate some stress on teh torque converter, but the motor would still be running so i don't see the gas savings. When the car is put back into gear, that will wear on the motor mounts as the motor shifts from the change in the transmission as well as stress on the trans shifting back into gear.

when driving manual, if you keep the clutch pedal down while stopped, that will def shorten the life of the clutch. creeping at a light will also shorten the life.

 

Is there really a point to having the neutral gear in an automatic transmission? All you really use is P, R and D unless an emergency occurs.

 

^ - Car wash? And it makes sense to have at least one gear where the car can move freely

 

When I drove an automatic, I put the car into neutral all the time?

I'd just engage the e-brake, and that way, I didn't have to worry about having my foot on the brake, and with the e-brake engaged, I didn't have to worry about my car moving.

 

Its been a while but I remember reading that transmission cooler flow is sometimes non-existant in park, but for an extended idle time, its better to put it in neutral because the transmission gets more cooling in N than in P.

 

I don't see any benefit to doing this.

 

Don't you have those in NorCal?

We have them down here in SoCal....a timer countdown at the crosswalk signal countsdown how much time the pedestrian has to cross the street.

 

It has also been proven that putting your car in neutral while rolling down a hill at speed will waste fuel, rather than saving it. This sounds counter-intuitive but it's not. When you keep the car in gear and step off the gas, most modern cars will shut off the injectors. But because the wheels continue to turn and keep the gears in the transmission in motion and hence the engine, it will not stall. When you put it in neutral, the car has to run the injectors to keep the engine running.

 

If you car dies for whatever reason and you need to push it, you will be glad that you have a neutral gear.

 

We have those but I think the OP means an actual timer next to the red light. There are plenty of lights that don't have the pedestrian signal (if no ped is crossing it isn't counting down). And even then, it doesn't mean the light will turn for you, as there are those making left turns, etc.

When I drive into SF the countdown thing is pretty useful

 

I self-admittedly don't really know much about the Manual Tranny and it's workings, but could someone explain this to me please???

I would think that if you have the clutch depressed, you've disengaged the tranny (so you might as well keep it that way). So why would it wear out the clutch? I would fig. constant press/depressing of the clutch would actually cause it to wear out faster!???

 

Not only is this stupid but dangerous

If someone is coming up from behind you and not stopping you probably won't have time time to think about putting the car in gear to move.

 

dallison is incorrect. You are wearing out the throw-out bearing, not the clutch. Maybe someone else can shed some light on how the pressure plate is affected.

 

I do this on hills and inclines to let the idiots behind know not to stop on my ass.

 

somthing gets worn, i wasn't sure which part it is

 

I do this all the time. haha it's fun. I'm definitely not trying to show off that I have a MT car. I mean come on, I drive Mazda.

 

im not sure about most cars, but on my montero sport when the transmission overheated (which happened alot) the instructions were to put it into park or neutral to allow the tranny to cool down.

 

I always put my car in neutral at stop lights but mine is a stick. Its easier on the clutch from what I understand...

 

This is an image from the web. I forgot my camera's USB cable at home.

 

I do it too since it's a pain to go in and out and in and out of neutral on a hill but whenever I see someone doing it on a flat road, I get the urge to give them a dirty look....

I'm pretty sure anyone who actually cares that you're driving stick knows that MS3s only come in stick.

 

Really? I put mine in neutral all the time at lights.
I don't know if it saves gas or not, but if the light is going to be 1 min or more, I'll rest my left leg.

 

False.

 

I was a hypermiler in my 97 Accord when fuel prices were outrageously high. I had a ScanGaugeII which told me instantaneous fuel economy and fuel consumption. As far as I can remember, idling in neutral generally consumed a little less gas when the car was warm than idling in drive.

As for wear and tear, the load is probably lower in neutral, but when you shift into neutral in an auto it has to be wearing something.

As PortlandRL said, coasting in gear does indeed have lower fuel consumption due to injectors shutting off. The tradeoff between the D/N is in drive you use 0 fuel when coasting if you're over ~25 MPH, while in neutral you run at the idling fuel consumption rate, but you can coast farther in neutral because there is no transmission resistance. Try it down any hill (warning: it's illegal to coast in neutral in CA and probably elsewhere) -- you will gain speed much faster in neutral than in drive. But again, it's a tradeoff. Which is better depends on the situation IMO.

If you're really bent on saving gas at stop lights -- turn off your engine when you know you'll be at the light for >10 seconds. Once you hit that point, you're generally using more fuel than engine start uses. That said, I don't do that because I don't want to wear out my starter motor or anything faster than I should.

I don't really hypermile anymore, especially since I drive an S2K now (too much fun to drive it fast ), but I have remained a sensible driver. Here are a few things I do that I wish other drivers would do:

-]Don't race up to a light once it's red, there no point... just coast up to it.
-Try not to tear ass off the line at stop lights / signs.
-Don't tailgate. It's dangerous and it costs you fuel.
-Daily driving shouldn't be a contest. Trying to "beat" other drivers just causes stress and will get you to your destinations only a few minutes faster. This style of driving also contributes to jams. People so other drivers as enemies and try to box people out. Ever notice how freeways always slow down at merge points? The number of cars is a big reason obviously, but drivers never leave enough space for others to get in and it causes jams like the one below. I always leave enough space in front of me to coast and hopefully not hit the brakes at all when I see a jam approaching.

Sorry for the long rant, but I commute a lot so some of these things really piss me off!



Links:
http://www.smartmotorist.com/traffic...ffic-jams.html
http://www.cleanmpg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1510

 

Yeah, that thing would be awesome over here.

 

We already established that. There some part of the clutch assembly that wears when you keep your foot on the clutch.

 

It pisses me off when people fly up the road, ignoring all of those in line to do something, all in order to try and muscle their way to the front of the line.

 

I believe the only issue this presents is extra stress on the hydraulics and clutch master/ slave cylinder.

 

You mean the release bearing? The part that normally outlasts the clutch?

 

What about a cable operated clutch?

 

I don't post this shit for the fun of it. Sit at a light with your clutch depressed and enjoy.

http://www.theclutchmart.com/clutch.shtml


Traffic Lights

When you come to a traffic light put your car in neutral and take your foot off the clutch pedal

Even though you have the clutch pedal depressed, your clutch will still wear because the clutch components are engaged. Each time you sit at a traffic light with your foot on the clutch pedal you are removing miles from the life of your clutch.

 

dumbass, know your facts before you tap your gay fingers on the keyboard.

I haven't been repairing cars for 20 years for nothing.

http://blog.marketplace.nwsource.com...y_repairs.html