To skip the witty banter, If anyone knows if coasting in neutral and shifting into gear while moving could hurt the tranny, please let me know what could be damaged by it and how it could be damaged.
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I generally try to get the best gas mileage possible, and try to do so by coasting down hills in neutral, keeping the rpms under 3,000, and filling up with premium 93 octane gas.

I know that the former two, if anything, will help the car last; but with the neutral coasting I'm afraid that it could damage the tranny (automatic btw) when shifting back into gear, similarly to how a neutral drop would damage the tranny.

The closest things I could find on this were both 4th gen threads:

http://forums.maxima.org/showthread....30#post3152930
http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?t=327605

Neither of which specifically adressed if shifting in/out of neutral while moving could hurt the tranny.

So, If anyone knows if coasting in neutral and shifting into gear while moving could hurt the tranny, please let me know what could be damaged by it and how it could be damaged

 

Cruising in neutral to a stop light in an AUTO is the worst thing u can possibly do to your tranny....It will be slipping in no time if u do it....You see, the pump stops spinning, and stops lubricating the transmission, however, you are still rolling..a manual on the otherhand is designed to do that.

 

What he said. Plus it is dangerous. Let's say something jumps out in front of you (cat, dog, small child) and you need to hit the gas and steer out of the way. Slamming the auto from N to D would mess with the tranny and also be more time wasted not being able to get out of the way of danger.

 

well if it were a manual, the only thing you would need to worry about when doing this is the extra strain on your brakes (especially on bigger hills) but there's nothing to worry about for the tranny....and what they said about the autos...

 

Damn, alright, thanks.

 

would coasting in neutral theoretically save gas? i mean the engine is still running and yeah there is a limit on the output, but its really negligible considering youll increase in speed going downhill when in gear. I always stop the car completely if i ever accidentally popped into neutral before i shift to drive.

 

I've done it in my 4th Gen over the years and put the car in neutral or depressed the clutch pedal in 5th gear and let it back out without jumping the rpms. I'm not sure how much gas this saves but I have coasted for quite awhile on occasion and the car doesn't seem any worse for wear. I can't comment on doing this with an automatic as I don't know how to drive one. j/k

 

I usually pop it into neutral if I see a red light or a stop sign ahead...why bother rowing thru the gears and put more stress on the engine/tranny...when u can just pop it into neutral and gently apply the brakes....and if u have to get back into gear...I just rev match my RPMs to 2nd or 3rd, whichever gear I want to go into, and i'm off....

 

how much fuel are you saving with this technique anyway?? Like for every 200 times i fill my tank, you've only had to have yours filled 199 times?

 

For real fuel efficiency try this out. (you'll save on wiper blades too)

 

Agreed. Considering how little gas that you MIGHT save doing this, it's a complete waste of time.

 

Uh..where'd that come from? Though, it wouldn't really be "efficient" b/c of all that drag!

 

I read in a popular mechanics that doing this is killer for the trans. All the extra cycling of the various solenoids and valves really accelerates the trans. wear.
Don't do it!

 

the auto tranny on your car was not designed for you to shift the lever while the vehicle is in motion. If fuel costs put such a burden on your vallet that you have to screw up the tranny, then maybe get a fuel-sipping Civic.

 

I could not have said it any better, maybe you should check into a hybrid if you are that worried about gas!!!!

 

It's not that I'm that worried about gas, it's just that I'm not exactly rolling in cash ...

but then again, you're right, if I wanted to go spend more money for a slower and s.hittier car, I would've bought some civic.

 

Can shifting from D to D2 or D1 damage the tranny?

 

what do you think? do you think it's safe practice? You are probably wearing down your tranny quicker

 

wouldn't reccomend coasting...

 

dang, you must REALLY want to get to that 15th post! LOL!

 

The pump does not stop spinning or stop lubricating the trans.
I doubt you would do any damage to the trans but your brakes will wear out faster.

 

As far as I know Maxima (and some other cars) are design that if you coasting down hill (your computer see that you're not applying any gas but RPM is up) the fuel is cut down so the engine is running on minimum fuel. You car is actually burning more fuel on N than on D down hill.

 

Isn't coasting in neutral worse on gas milage? When in gear and coasting ecu cuts fuel but in neutral it's just like in idle, consuming your gas.

 

ahhhhhhhhhhhh grasshopper, if you are driveing on the hwy and put the car in nutral, you will observe that the rpm's do not drop drasticly, the computer will monitor your speed and keep the rpm's at a close range of the gear you should be in, just incase you do throw it back in drive. hurting the transmission, yes, saveing gas, no. anyway, i think it would be cheeper to keep it in drive than replaceing a tranny. just my opinion.

 

I see a lot about brakes here, but to be honest... I'd rather change out my brake pads as they are so much easier to get to than to constantly downshift and do a clutch job. Hell, when I'm on the freeway doing about 75, and the RPM's are at 3000, I drop into neutral when I get near my exit. RPM's drop to around 700 and I can coast wayyyyy down to the end of the offramp. It's not advisable when you are in traffic where you MAY need to hit the gas to save your a$$.

I'd *not* do this on an automatic transmission though.

 

why not lose some weight from the car? Take out your headrests.......hahaha.

 

i do this as well, but like you said, in an auto that's a big

 

as far as fuel efficiency n junk goes, just remember that generally, the more you push down on the gas, the more fuel youre deliberately pumping into youre engine (more gas means the engine speeds up; the engines current rpm also helps determine how much fuel is getting pumped into the engine a bit, though not as much). so if youre driving and barely puttin any pressure on the gas, youre really not usin much gas in the first place as long as youre engine is revvin low. but theoretically, you would save a bit of gas cruisin (since cruisin, youd be at engine idle speed instead of ~2-3 k rpm, and the ecu would see youre engine as not needing any power except to keep itself runnin instead of keepin the engine at like 2 or 3 k rpm). but like everyone else said its not especially good fo yo tranny. in an auto, another consideration is that your tranny will have to disengage and then reengage at some point, and its not really designed to do this when the driver wants (thast why its an auto). so when you do this youll prolly notice your car twitch when you put it back in gear. this is the TRANNY (not the throttle) forcing the engine to speed up to match the speed of the gears (and tires). thats alot of pressure on the tranny. its just like holding your clutch down until your engine revs to idle and then suddenly lettin the clutch up in between shifting in a manual tranny. but in a manual, coasting aint so bad, but just remember that each time you shift into neutral and back, youre wearin down the clutch a bit so when you reengage, you have to rev your engine to about what it normally would do in whatever gear your shifting to at whatever speed to minimize wear. so basically dont coast. what if a civic tried to drive by you. how would you show him what was up. oh ya and its its also illegal so dont do it. thats my essay on coasting. fini.

 

daaamn yo. that is an essay indeed