WOW! I hadda got 35 MPG !

Better save that extra gas money; use it to get the transmission rebuilt :)

Ken

I was wondering the if putting it in neutral like that would cause a problem.

Nah, it's not the neutral. It's the Neutral to drive while moving.

"Tim or Linda snipped-for-privacy@comcast.net" I was wondering the if putting it in neutral like that would cause a

And what problems is that supposed to cause? I'm talking verifiable, "I moved my trans from neutral to drive while moving and it toasted the trans, and I did it to the next trans and it toasted that one too, and the one after that" .....not just....another internet myth.

Ian

Seems like an awful lot of work to go through just to gain an extra 5mpg...

Eldred

Ian:

It's another Myth like the one about shifting your automatic your self causing it to burn up. Sure I have nuked a few TH350's over the years. Sent part of a second gear assembly in to the pavement, even lost every gear but first and reverse. Yet only one was from self shifting. A weak rebuild being a 430 Big Block Chevy with a 3,800 RPM stall converter. Too much torque (going from 6,900 in first to second gear), only new parts were the clutches, the rest all stock.

On the trans I lost everything except first and reverse, I slammed the transmission pan in to the valve body, and barely limped it home. I also killed the sump on the oil pan.

Most of my transmissions died from high heat & high torque. A few couldn't take the driveline shake from the tires hooking traction.

If GM didn't intend you to shift thru the gears, shifters would not go past Over Drive or Drive. Charles

snip

snip

Maybe his radio doesn't work and he's bored.

Brian

I did too, Nashville to Atlanta on June 25th.

I went interstate, I had no reason to dawdle.

Good for you.

I ran between 70 and 75 on cruise control and was passed far more than I passed.

Ok, but a little dangerous.

VERY dangerous and, depending on the state, illegal.

1990 Buick Century Limited, 156,000+ miles. I know I got 26.9 mpg down and part way back, cold air flowing from the a/c the whole way. Drove around town from the fill up outside Atlanta (6/29) until this afternoon and averaged 22.9 mixed driving. No tricks, no gimmicks, normal driving without breaking the law. In town driving generally gets me 16.7-18.2.

Popping the transmission in and out of neutral is a near useless, dangerous and sometimes illegal exercise for the bored and the slow witted.

Almost 700 miles with gasoline from 1.819 to 1.649. Bertha Buick may be an old gal but she only sags in the headliner. I had to replace the radiator about 1,200 miles back and the harmonic balancer on the way back, but the engine doesn't use oil and around town performance leaves little to be desired. No stop light bandit, but I hold than in reserve for my next Honda.

Kent Finnell wrote

Please enlighten me. Why is this so "VERY" dangerous?

Ian

I'm assuming it's a loss of control thing... I'm sure any law about it has to do with heavy trucks... here in Ky... it's actually illegal to shift a manual until you clear an intersection... but it's never inforced. (or at least w/ light duty vehicles). I guess once upon a time coal trucks had a problem with nuking transmissions in intersections.

-Bret

Why? Automatics don't have rear pumps anymore.

I've heard this theory, but I'm interested as to why people think that you will lose control of the vehicle by shifting it into neutral. I've done it myself many,many times and have never noticed any difference in handling..etc.

Ian

In Pa:

The law is written specifically for engine braking, and the extra load being placed on the braking system.

One thing I'd like to know, how the hell can the police find the car is in neutral anyway?

Refinish King

It probably comes from area's like Hazzard. Where some intersections are on steep grades. Charles

It is a "loss of control thing". At one time it was called "Georgia overdrive" back when automatics were not the norm and it applied to both automatic transmissions and manual (obviously). There is the loss of engine braking, vacuum (when that was important to lots of things like brakes and windshield wipers). Even today, what happens if the transmission is in neutral and power is suddenly needed in an emergency? SOL unless the driver is quick enough to shift back into Drive. In my 45 years of driving, there have been times when I've been able to "power" my way out of trouble. Had I been in neutral ... well, I wasn't and I'm glad of it. This is especially true of FWD cars but any good driver can steer with the accelerator. Damn hard to do if the transmission is in neutral.

I can't see a problem with it either in a LD vehicle... a 60 ton class

8 coal truck going down a 8% grade on KY80 would be an entirely different thing... if it's an older truck with a non syncro'd or air shifted trans... you're f*cked if you miss a gear... you'll never get it back in gear until you stop.

-Bret

Hazard's not that bad... you've got to go a little farther west before it gets really bad on KY80. the worst place I've seen is on I 68 in WV... 8% grade off ramps into a T intersection. At one point there was a brake check stop for all heavy trucks, before a long 6 and 7% grade descent.

-Bret

intersections

I know of some steep grades in WV. Places like my family's grave yard. That hill up it is over 24%. Carbureted cars have problems with keep fuel in the fuel bowls.

I think it was Ester KY I was in when I burned the brakesup in my truck, and over heated the engine. The idiots I was hauling for (long story), said we were an hour out from hazzard. I had to go up a hill that was over 15% grade. Driving my old 84 Chevy 1/2 ton with highway gears, and a load well over the weight limit of the truck or trailer. Only time my old truck didn't have the balls to make it. I had to get pushed up the hill!

It reminded me of some of the WV grades I have taken. Almost as bad as Rosemount hill used to be (127 in Ohio, off SR23, short cut to SR52).

I do know about medium duty trucks and getting caught between gears. I was driving a 99 GMC C-6500 and was about 5 tons over legal (that always happens to me). I was going up a hill when some idiot pulls off a side road, and comes to a stop in front of me. I was going from First low to First high. My splitter got stuck between low & high range. Took 15 minutes to get it back in low, then hump her up that hill.

Stuff like that might be why Kentucky has that law. Charles