Dumb questions from a Newbie...

[slowmomma]

Okay I know these aren't high tech or complicated questions so don't strain yourself, I just want to know one way or the other.
1. I have an automatic car does it shift based on the RPMs or speed?
2. I watch RPMs and try to keep them as low as possible. And don't make any fast stops or starts. What should be my next step to improve milage?
3. Is what I'm doing something that even makes sense?
4. Will coasting in neutral damage my (non-hybrid) car?
5. Does coasting in neutral help gas milage more then coasting in drive?

I just wanted to get a few basics straight before I tell my husband what I've been doing... he's a mechanic and I know he'll bring up a point I can't prepare for, but knowing for sure that I'm on the right track will help.
Thank you,
Shannon (slowmomma)

[SVOboy]

1. RPM and load.
2. Try throwing it into neutral and coasting as much as possible.
3. It does
4. Nah
5. It really depends on the vehicle. I would say go for neutral.

The best thing you can do is buy a scangauge!

Good luck!

[Bubba Bob]

Im sure your husband will tell you shifting back into drive while at speed will hurt the transmission. A lot of people seem to think this. A lot dont... Who knows? For me, I get a substantial jerk when putting it back in drive, prompting me to not do this. If your car reacts fine, i say go for it.


A few days ago I hit it into reverse while doing around 25mph. My gear selection indicator doesnt work and I thought i was in drive, when i was actually in overdrive. oops hehehe

[VetteOwner]

see i drive only manual vhelchls daily. when i haev to drive an automatic once ina great while when im shifting i always fly past whatever gear i want... now so much on the floor shifter but the stering columb shifter...

so if your not used to "driving" automatic i wouldnt suggest doing it...

stupid auto trannys....:D MANUAL FROEVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

[Hockey4mnhs]

^^^^^ true dat i wish i had one!!!!

[VetteOwner]

^^^^^ true dat i wish i had one!!!!

makes any car fun to drive no matter how slow or fast. fast is awesome with a manula tranny :D it annoys me when i go to auto shows and al these big time muscle cars have a auto tranny or these new corivettes with auto trannys...:mad:

[Hockey4mnhs]

yeah my friends dad has a c5 vett with a auto, we still got it up to 165 but it would have been better with the manual i bet

[atomicradish]

^^^^^ true dat i wish i had one!!!!

exactly!!

I love my Eagle, it has been a great car, but I'm so excited to get the 5 speed Mitsubishi fixed I can hardly wait :) Now all I have to do is master starting on our mountain inclines... that was the only thing I never was any good at.

Could be because the Festiva I was practicing on had a burned ring (something like that, i dont recall, but it smoked and required a lot of gas to start anyhow) and I had difficulty getting it going regardless of grade. either way, I'm so excited to be moving from auto to manual. :D

[zpiloto]

With an automatic you need to drive with the the torque coverter(TC) locked up as much as possible. Learn the shift points. The TC will lock up somewhere around 40-45 and then stayed locked usually 5-7 MPH lower than that, depending on the car. So generally the slower the engine rpm the better the FE.

Puts on asbestos fire suit.

With an auto I think the coasting in "N" is overated. It really depends on how much engine braking(how quickly the car slows down) happen when in "N". If you need a long coast then go for it. but 90% of the time just foot off the accelerator will do it. In some cars coasting in "D" the fuel acutal shuts off(once certain perameters have been meet) so you're better off coasting in "D" the "N" depending on the car. Without a SG(scan gauge) it hard to tell about the fuel shutoff and on some cars the SG reads incorrectly anyway. With an automatic you're just limited more than a standard.

Best bets biggest bang:
Drive slower and get the TC lock up and drive at a speed just above that if possible.
Check tire pressures.
Make sure cars in tune, air filter, plugs, oil, etc.
Coasting as necessary in "D" or "N" depending on traffic but as stated above it really depends, just use a light foot. I wouldn't get carried away with the "N" coast unless you have a long way to go.
Engine off at stop lights.

You'll see a pretty big improvent with just that. Good luck and as alway YMMV.

[slurp812]

A few days ago I hit it into reverse while doing around 25mph. My gear selection indicator doesnt work and I thought i was in drive, when i was actually in overdrive. oops hehehe

Sweet! I used to go from reverse to 1st at full throttle on purpose! :eek: Of course I was much younger, and most trannies will only do that a few times before they are toast. But still as a daily thing, I do NOT recommend neutral coasting in an automatic. However I drive a manual, so what do I know about automatics? I drove my womans car ~10 miles away, and back after resetting her FCD and got 32.7 for the trip. before I reset it, it read 26.4 wich is not too shabby for not even trying in a 2002 Monte Carlo SS (3.8l). Total trip was in drive...

[ma4t]

I was messing around in college in my very first car, and going about 35 tried to shift from 2 to drive, but ended up putting it in R. That was 1988, and I still don't like to mess around while driving an auto.

ma4t

[Gary Palmer]

If I were in your circumstanes, I would just continue to drive, easy on the peddle, and let the autotransmission do what it does. If your easy on the peddle, it will put it in as high a gear as it thinks as is appropriate, as soon as it can and it will lock up the torque converter, as soon as it can. I wouldn't fool with putting it into neutral to coast, I'd just let it do it's job.

Along the lines of what Zpilito said, 4th gear and torque lockup don't occur until your at about 43mph, from what I've experienced, so it's more economical to drive at 45 over 38, because at 45 it's in a higher gear with the torque converter locked up.

As far as telling your husband, I personally wouldn't say anything. I'd just go ahead and drive it as economically as you can, get as good a mileage as you can and not worry about giving him any ammo to show off his machochimisism, BTJMO.

[esobofh]

I would think if the fuel is not shutting itself completely off (again, need a scangauge to know), then coasting in neutral is actually worse because the car is always going to using fuel at the minimum idle rate. If it's in gear, at least that minimum amount of fuel is being converted to forward movement (depending on the vehicle, and mechanical losses) as opposed to just being wasted by idling the engine.

[ELF]

I agree with every thing that zpiloto said. the big thing is to get into OD as soon as possible, Watching the scan gauge on my sable the mpg jumps from 30 to over 40 mpg when the TC locks up.

also N coasting does little for my car, Neutral at long stops is good. Auto's just plain suck for mpg.

[zpiloto]

also N coasting does little for my car, Neutral at long stops is good. Auto's just plain suck for mpg.

But as you have shown you can get some excellent FE with an AUTO. :thumbup:

[slowmomma]

Thanks for all of the assistance guys! So... am I abnormal??? I clocked my commute last night (keep in mind I very rarely see another vehical in the middle of the night on my way home) it took over 20 minutes to drive 4.5 miles. Hehehe I admit it is hilly so I coast a lot and I coast to the stop signs. Am I over doing it if I am the only one around?! My Rpms don't even hit 1500 and speeds like 30/40/50 just don't apply. Although the speed limit is 35mph.
Feel free to laugh at me. I don't mind.
Shannon (slowmomma):p

[zpiloto]

Now I understand the nick name:) .Actually you might be going to slow for good FE. Might try cruising up to 45 mph getting into OD and cruising at 41 or cruising at 32 mph or so once it shifts into 3rd. Your best FE speed is probably 40-45 MPH in OD.

Might look into another route that flater and faster. But geez 20 minutes for 4 miles. At the end of the day you've spent an extra 30 minute on the road when you could of been home.:)

[slowmomma]

Yeah I had the strange feeling that when you find yourself rocking back and forth to get rolling again was just plain wrong. But that 4.5 miles have resorted in the most relaxing, stress reducing, amusing times. Well the speed limit is 35mph so... I may have to speed, just a little.;)
Shannon (slowmomma) or should I say really really slow momma

[zpiloto]

Yeah I had the strange feeling that when you find yourself rocking back and forth to get rolling again was just plain wrong. But that 4.5 miles have resorted in the most relaxing, stress reducing, amusing times. Well the speed limit is 35mph so... I may have to speed, just a little.;)
Shannon (slowmomma) or should I say really really slow momma

If it's that relaxing then go for it. Gotta keep the FE game in prospective.:thumbup:

[kitcar]

see i drive only manual vhelchls daily. when i haev to drive an automatic once ina great while when im shifting i always fly past whatever gear i want... now so much on the floor shifter but the stering columb shifter...

so if your not used to "driving" automatic i wouldnt suggest doing it...

stupid auto trannys....:D MANUAL FROEVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

I drive a manual daily too. Love it. In the 1970s though (for you young guys, this was right around the time we invented fire and the wheel), I bought a brand new kit car (hence my nickname)-this was a Plymouth Volare, 2 door high speed pursuit (http://www.kitcar.dynip.com/KitCar.htm) (2.75 diameter front torsion bars), 360 Cu. In. Direct Connection stock car engine, stock car wheels, adjusting blade NASCAR approved rear spoiler, window retainer tabs, no A/C, etc. etc..

With an auto. So the very first thing I did (with 60 miles on it) was take the transmission apart and put a B & M racing kit in it (even lost a ball bearing in the tranny and used one from my bike). Bada, bing, bada boom. We used to do what we called the jump to hyperspace which is where you start at 30 miles an hour and throw it into first. Just as it drops down nail the throttle and hold onto something because 100 came up in 6 seconds. From a dead stop this happened in 10 seconds or so, 1/4 mile in the high 11s. So, there's something to be said for auto trannys. If they're set up right. In case you're wondering, longest burnout 492 feet with 28 inch wide tires. Can you guess which car I miss the most?

[Snax]

Neutral coasting benefits are heavily dependent upon the transmission setup. I found it to be of significant benefit in our pickup because it always seemed to be providing limited compression braking when left in Drive. I could actually feel the gears dropping down as speed bled off, with first gear creating a significant braking effect down to about 5 mph.

[Bill in Houston]

I drive a manual daily too. Love it. In the 1970s though (for you young guys, this was right around the time we invented fire and the wheel), I bought a brand new kit car (hence my nickname)-this was a Plymouth Volare, 2 door high speed pursuit (http://www.kitcar.dynip.com/KitCar.htm) (2.75 diameter front torsion bars), 360 Cu. In. Direct Connection stock car engine, stock car wheels, adjusting blade NASCAR approved rear spoiler, window retainer tabs, no A/C, etc. etc..

What a car... I never knew a Volare could be "ricey".
http://www.kitcar.dynip.com/1.jpg

[slowmomma]

Ok sometimes I am undoubtedly going slow enough for that to happen especially during those times that I have to rock back and forth in my seat to get over the top of the hill. But once I start down watch out. sbayer

[LxMike]

slowmomma, what kind of car do you have??

[slowmomma]

A 93 buick skylark atomatic. It must have been made for crappy milage... power everything, no overdrive, and it's HUGE. In my defense... it wasn't my choice. I needed a car when my manual dodge neon took a poop and I needed something, anything to drive. My husband brought it home from work (he bought it from a co-worker who would take payments).
Shannon (slowmomma)

[BrettS]

My gear selection indicator doesnt work and I thought i was in drive, when i was actually in overdrive. oops hehehe

Most (all?) auto's will let you shift between neutral and drive simply by pushing up or down on the gear shifter without releaseing the lock. That way you can be sure not to accidently overshoot into reverse.

Brett

[diamondlarry]

Thanks for all of the assistance guys! So... am I abnormal??? I clocked my commute last night (keep in mind I very rarely see another vehical in the middle of the night on my way home) it took over 20 minutes to drive 4.5 miles. Hehehe I admit it is hilly so I coast a lot and I coast to the stop signs. Am I over doing it if I am the only one around?! My Rpms don't even hit 1500 and speeds like 30/40/50 just don't apply. Although the speed limit is 35mph.
Feel free to laugh at me. I don't mind.
Shannon (slowmomma):p

Your routine sounds very much like mine except I usually do it when it's still light out.:D So no, you're not overdoing it. I used to drive a '92 Gran Prix and, in that car anyway, it didn't make much difference between coasting in gear or in neutral. The best tank I ever did in it was 27 mpg which doesn't seem too bad for a 3.1 V-6.

One of my son's friends let me drive his '95 Camaro 6-speed earlier tonight. I was realllllly bad.:D After I got the smoky burn-out with 2nd gear squeel out of my system:p , I showed him a few hypermiling techniques. At 55 the engine was only turning ~1500 rpm's and bump starting in 6th was so smooth it was as if the engine just spontaneously started running. I really think that 30-35+ mpg would be possible with that car with the right amount of effort.