I've found an automatic that doesn't like neutral coasting

[theholycow]

Originally Posted by Jay2TheRescue

Won't your child think its nornal, and ask their friend's parents why they don't shut off the engine while going downhill?

That's exactly what I'm worried about. Kid grows up thinking that's normal, next thing you know he's talking about it to everybody else and then I have to explain it, or trying it when he's 15 and already illictly driving without a license / 17 and has a bunch of distracting friends in the car...

I try to keep my EOCing to myself. I discuss it freely here, and there's a couple open-minded friends I have, but I don't let it go further than that. There's a lot of hate and absent-minded alarmists out there...and if you set too many people off it ends up on the news and in laws and next thing you know cops are trying to figure out if somebody is EOCing.

[theholycow]

Originally Posted by ihatemybike

I picked mine at a bone yard for $10.

Good point, but the wife would probably not allow me to monkey around with her car..

[ihatemybike]

She's not driving the right vehicle then. My wife just drove her vehicles before, but now that she has a Jeep she's a member of a forum, planning off-roading vacations, bolting on under body armor. I have to supervise and break a bolt loose sometimes, but other than that she wants to do all the work.

[shatto]

I've given up coasting with an automatic, as the engine revs up anyhow.
I do shift out of gear when stopped as it does reduce the load and therefore saves pennies of gas.
Good theory, eh?

[theholycow]

Originally Posted by shatto

I do shift out of gear when stopped as it does reduce the load and therefore saves pennies of gas.
Good theory, eh?

I've measured the difference with my fuel rate meter. It's tiny, but measurable.

How much does your engine rev up when neutral-coasting?

[Jay2TheRescue]

Even though the engine revs my Scangauge data seems to tell me that I get double the instant MPG ratings when I glide in Neutral. I just put a deposit on a new place today. On the way to work from the new place there are several good hills to coast down. One of them is just perfect. I figure I can probably glide for at least 1/2 mile or more. I expect my mileage to start climbing in the next couple of weeks after I move.

-Jay

[suspendedhatch]

Originally Posted by theholycow

it didn't eat babies...

Well there goes my theory.

[striegel]

We bought my wife a 2003 VW Jetta this past Summer and it displays some unfriendly behavior with coasting in N. There's some kind of brake-actuated gear lock that messes with the lever so that if you try to shift from N back to D, it doesn't actually make the shift even though the lever shows it should have.

I've found myself revving in N instead of moving away from a light. It requires a full re-application of brake and another shift from D-to-N-to-D to make it work right.

I wouldn't even bother except that this car's AT has LOTS of drag when coasting in D. Still, the fuel mileage is significantly better around town than the Odyssey -- that's why we bought it (when gas was around $4 a gallon).

[theholycow]

Interesting. Having a brake interlock for the N->D shift is nonstandard. How long do you have to apply the brake for it to happen? Do you just have to be on it enough to trigger the brake light, or do you have to really step on it well?

[dkjones96]

Have you checked the oil level in the transmission? Brake interlocks prevent the lever itself from moving, not the transmission from going into a gear. If it's revving in neutral like that there is probably something else going on...