My girlfiends dad says that you shuold always put your automatic in neutral at stop light, etc, so you dont have to always ahve your breaks on, and then shift into drive when its time to go as this is easier on the breaks. While that must be true (the breaks arent on) i wonder if this is bad for the car? Also he says its ok to put it in neutral and cost to a stoplight.
I dont think you should do this, but i dont have techincal explination. Am I right? Is there some techincal stuff to back it up?

 

It's not necessary but it doesn't hurt anything by putting the transmission into neutral. I'd recommend leaving your foot on the brakes so that anyone behind you sees your brake lights and will stop.

I do the same thing with my manual transmission. I'll shift into neutral and use my ebrake until the light turns green (less work for my left foot, too)

I leave it in gear while decelerating to use engine braking. For an autotrans, engine braking is not an issue since the transmission generally keeps it in a higher gear, thus, keeping the rpms low and no engine braking.

 

Yeah i do that with my manual too, but for some reason i thought it wasnt good to do an automatic?

 

In my auto i usually leave it in "D". Putting it in "N" will not really save your brakes.

Usually when people put their tranny in "N" is so the tranny cools off. I usually do this if i sit in traffic or when im at the drag strip.

 

Whats wrong with having your brakes on all the time? i ocassionally "coast" to a stop light, but i doubt its going to make a noticable impact on pad life.....

 

I ruined my auto tranny in my 88 Acura Legend doing that stuff. At a stoplight all your brakes are doing is holding the rotors...not wearing out. Your girlfriend's dad doesn't know what he's talking about.

As for coasting to a stop....it's HORRIBLE for an auto tranny. When you shift into neutral or park in an auto...the tranny fluid pump stops working therefore not lubricating your transmission. This is fine at a stop becuase nothing is moving, but rolling without proper lubrication can lead to transmission problems.

 

I think your girlfriends dad is on crack, think about it, if you step on the brakes for a 100 years, will they wear out???? NO!!!

the ONLY way that the brakes wear out is by generating heat, ie friction, when you are at a stop light, nothing is moving, nothing is generating heat, therefore, you are not wearing out your brakes. so just ignore him and step on that brake

 

Thanks for telling me, I was doing this for like an hour friday. AHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!

 

I think we're looking at "wearing out the breaks" from the wrong point of view. Not the pads, the rotors.

Damage can be done to the rotors (warping!) if the pads are really hot and the rotors have cooled faster and you hold the brakes on for an extended period of time.

 

during normal driving, unless you have your foot on the brakes the whole time, this should NEVER happen

 

When I'm slightly uphill on my auto, I just take my foot off the brakes and the car won't lurch forward (only when you're slightly uphill). Come to think of it though, I haevn't done that lately.. heh

 

My girlfriend and her brother used to do that all the time. I told them it wasn't really a good idea and that you're not saving your brakes at all. Awhile later their transmissions started slipping and now it shifts really rough. I asked her brother why he even did it in the first place; he said he felt like it was a little closer to a manual tranny. Since then he bought a Type R Integra (finaly got his manual) and my girlfriend is stuck with two crappy transmission.

In the "brake saving aspect," there is no movement hence no friction to wear the brakes down. It's like clamping a piece of sandpaper on a piece of wood without moving it. The sandpaper won't wear down at all and the wood would never get smooth. Perhaps we all need a little more knowledge in physics.

I guess the only thing that should be affected is the brake fluid temperature, but then you want the fluid to be war, (not boiling...just warm).

 

Doesn't that put more strain on your engine...it is trying to move, but it doesn't have the pwer to go.

 

Well when i was still part of the Civic group... everyone back there says putting it in neutral and manually shifting all the time on an auto actually destroys your tranny, albeit slowly.

I don't know if this applies to Maxima's or Nissan's in general however.

 

I don't see how manually shifting an auto can destroy your tranny...if it does then why do they make it like that?

 

come on, you're not that dumb, they make it so if your car is loaded, you can put it into a desired gear, so it wouldn't shift from one gear to another all the time, also used for towing. under normal conditions you should always have the shifter in D

 

I know that, but I still don't see how manually shifting is bad?

 

it's not really bad, what's bad is coasting in neutral as it was mensioned earlier, but in general, why would you do that? if you wa nt to shift manually then get a tri-tronic or a real manual car

 

i would think it has more to do with the idea that most performance minded people who buy civics but can't drive manuals tend to manually shift the car quite a lot and the civic's tranny wasn't made for that kind of abuse (e.g. overheats, slips, etc.)

 

i put my car in neutral at a stop all the time, usually at a familiar light that i know takes a while to turn green, and only on a level surface, no point of putting it in neutral if the car is slightly up or down hill. i never thought of it as saving the brakes, i thought of it as saving my foot

 

Briguy....putting the car in N and coasting is NOT bad for the auto. The pump keeps going. It doesn't shut off everytime you put it in D or N. If that car is on, the tranny is circulating fluid.

What IS bad is poping from N to D. Thats added stress of engaging first gear. Everytime trip you take, you have to engage the automatic. Thats 1x3000 "trips" you make in the life of the car. Poping it N then to D at every red light is hard on it. Do it 10 times a "trip". Suddenly your engaging drive 10x3000!

Here's a thought....you're driving with your window down....its cold so you roll it up. At the stoplight you get hot cuz the sun is beating on you....you roll down the window. You start to drive and the cold air blows in....you roll up the window. Do that everyday and I assure you your power window will break in a week

I have heard what EJ said....and I think its true....but i'm not sure our rotors get hot enough for that to happen.

 

the only time you wear your beakes is when you are moving and apply them.....break pads wear down bc of friction...if the rotors arent moving there is no friction between the discs and the pads....

if anything it can be a little ruff on the tranny if you are switching from N to D and not at idle (your foot on the gas a little)

jersey and his $.02

 

BriGuymax, when you mean coasting is bad, is that putting it into Neutral? is that the definition for "coasting"?

 

so u are saying popping from N back to d is bad,soinanotherword, dont shift toN at all cause uneed toshiftback eventually.

 

Lucent: Yep...thats what i'm saying. The normal N to D or P to D is fine for normal driving. Poping it in N then to D at every light is much more use/abuse to it. Think of how many times you hit a red light or stop sign on an average 10-15min trip. I hit alot!

 

The rationale for putting the transmission into neutral at a long stoplight is to cool down the transmission. This is a trick used by the Honda Odyssey people, since they have been experiencing massive transmission problems in recent models (hopefully to be fixed by the new 5-spd auto for 2002).

It has no effect on the brakes. When the brakes are holding the car in place, there is no wear, just pressure on the hydraulic system. But that's normal.

 

theres tranny problems on the honda odyssey? is there a site or anything? Our family has a odyssey.. uh oh.

 

I dont see how shifting from N to D will decrease tranny life. I can see that it puts more wear on the solenoids but not the transmision itself.

 

I'm sorry about my misinformation about the tranny pump.....I heard wrong from my buddy who is a mechanic.

Anyway, what we have learned from this thread:
Auto guys....please for the love of pete leave your trannies in D (unless manually shifting from 1 up) that's why you bought an AUTOMATIC transmission....so you didn't have to do any work!

 

wow your one of those few members that admit to something the misinformed.. How neat..

 

i'm not sure if anybody has mentioned it, but shifting to N all the time will wear out your gears. especially on an auto.

 

ive been driving my 89 max like that for years now,(putting it in neutral letting it coast to a stop light.) not one problem with my automagic.

 

Please explain to the rest of us how how shifting from N to D will cause excessive premature wear on the planetary gears, clutch plates, and torque converter... there is virtually no load at 700 rpm when you engage the transmission from neutral to drive.