Shifting to Neutral?

Question

While I'm driving on the highway at around 55-65mph, I tend to shift into neutral to let my car coast while going downhill. I then put it back on drive and start driving normally again.

Does this hurt my transmission? I'm not asking if it'll save me more gas or not, because based on personal experience, it sure does.

I'm asking if doing this will hurt my transmission and make the cost of repair greater than if I were to just keep it at a steady pace.

Answer 1

Yes it does cause unnecessary wear on your transmission. shifting into neutral and then shifting back into drive while the car is still moving causes wear on the internal transmission parts, especially the torque converter. Don't keep shifting into neutral and back into drive unless you don't carry about the transmission. (A transmission rebuild will out weigh any amount you saved in gas)

The wear doesn't really happen when you drop from D to N, it happens when you back to D when your car is already in motion. Plus most cars nowadays save fuel if you just let off the gas when going down a hill or something. letting trans off and shifting it back into gear while moving takes a lot of energy, it generates a lot of heat, and heat = lower transmission life.

Not only does it cause excessive wear on the transmission, its dangerous. If a car cuts you off and you cant stop and need to accelerate to go around it, your not gonna go anywhere when you push the gas cept right into the back of the car. It is illegal also (you can get a ticket for it) in most states. I've seen people who neutral drop and and then hit the gas thinking they are in gear, causes a really loud sound and high revving, definitely not good for your engine or gas mileage. I can think of a few times where i've had to accelerate and change lanes to avoid rear ending a car, if that ever happened to you and you were in neutral - you'd be screwed. Not to mention you'd get a nice ticket and the accident would automatically be your fault since its a rear end collision and involves you operating in Neutral. Also if you accidentally put it into reverse,  have fun with that.

Forget if anyone says its not causing wear, it does, go to your local transmission shop and they will tell you it does too.

Answer 2

it wont hurt a thing. its just odd because its an automatic. in manual tranny cars its really typical to use the nuetral gear for similar situations. but no. its fine! i dont see what it benefits thouugh..

Answer 3

Only if you shift to a low gear and let the clutch go very fast.

Shift back to a high gear, low RPM.

Answer 4

Obviously you have an automatic because you'd do this all the time in a manual transmission...

I don't think it hurts, otherwise why would you have the neutral option?

Answer 5

No, Your not hurting anything.

Answer 6

It is dangerous and does wear the clutches in your tranny every time you shift back into gear.  Especially on an automatic.  And you do some goofy math because the engine uses more gas in idle mode (out of gear) than any RPM with zero throttle.  Compression turns the motor when you let off the gas and coast in gear which uses almost no gas.  So all in all you are doing damage to your car and to the environment.

Answer 7

Oh yes it does hurt it.

In an auto, the tranny fluid also act as a lubricant also.  And it is driven (pumped) from the FRONT (or the engine end) of the tranny.  If the engine is not revving high enough, the rest of the tranny is not being fed enough fluid for the speed it is traveling.

Every body who owns a collectible car know to tow it on flatbed tow truck only.  That's the same reason.

Good Luck...

Answer 8

No it wont hurt the transmission its no to bad because it can save on grinding.

Answer 9

That sounds really dangerous..

Answer 10

Don't be mean to the Tranny or the Tranny will be mean to you and leave you stranded on the Highway....

Answer 11

It depends on how your transmission re-engages.  My old car would always go into second gear when it was put back in drive no matter how fast it was going.  My new car is electronically shifted and re-engages at the right gear for the speed so there is a lot less strain on the unit.

Answer 12

I don't think so cause my boyfriend does it all the time.