Auto Driving Technique's

[bayslideblue]

Just wondering about something that I do whilst driving an auto.

When I'm stopped at the lights, or somewhere for for an extended period, I change in to neutral. I have always done this with autos, because I thought that it would cause less wear on the box and breaks than to keep it in drive whilst stopped. However I've never done any research to prove this theory.

Does anyone know if this would be true, would it make any difference?

What do other people do?

Cheers,

Dave-

Edited August 30, 2010 by bayslideblue

[M I K E]

i can tell you if it's any good/better, but i also do the same when driving an auto

[180fan]

At a complete guess, with no evidence to back it up, wouldn't constantly be changing to and from neutral be causing more wear than leaving it in drive?

I just leave it in drive, always have with auto cars, never really put much thought into it it though to be honest

[kjb_r33]

Most certainly does cause more wear. Everytime a gear is engaged there is a small amount of slippage in the clutches and bands. Selecting neutral all the time means reselecting first gear everytime. Most boxes the clutch for all forward gears stays engaged the whole time.

[KiwiRS4T]

Leave it in gear. At idle the torque convertor acts like a clutch and there is no need to select neutral. Learn left foot braking.

[-RBD2-]

If any one needs a "mint" condition auto box for an s1

mine will be available shortly

doesn't slip or flare,like brand new....perfect...

I Always leave it in drive,I never flip thro the gears trying to break something

[WTBN]

I also put it in nuetral

I always remember old shitty auto's vibrating away when stationary - Nuetral always stopped the vibrations

Mines nowhere near that atage but I thought that by putting it nuetral at lights it was way of avoiding that problem

However I can see the logic behind extra wear and tear - as every gear change causes this

[bubba]

There is no wear put on the gearbox by sitting there on the brake in gear (unless your foot is also on the accel ) as the torque converter isn't locked up and is just sitting there spinning fluid around.

[bayslideblue]

wouldn't constantly be changing to and from neutral be causing more wear than leaving it in drive?

Yeah I was wondering about that, I thought that it could possibly cause more wear changing from neutral to drive more often than nescesary.

Alright I guess I'll leave it in drive from now on.

Cheers

[Stagea_Neo]

and dont use the auto like a manual/quick-shift .... you'll soon wear out the torque converter.

[bayslideblue]

What about using the tiptronic function all the time. Is that more likely shorten the gearbox's life?

[_Ryan_]

Leave it in gear. At idle the torque convertor acts like a clutch and there is no need to select neutral. Learn left foot braking.

[chuckie]

look at Transfilter kit,

i think it`s made a difference to my Auto,but any filter is better then none

if your that worried DON`T DRIVE IT ,

[bubba]

What about using the tiptronic function all the time. Is that more likely shorten the gearbox's life?

It wouldn't be there if you weren't meant to use it..

I use tiptronic pretty much everywhere and I drive hard, even with all the flaring that used to go on on the 1-2 change, when I had the mild shift kit put in, the guy said the box was squeaky clean inside!

[pixel8r]

I also put it in nuetral

I always remember old shitty auto's vibrating away when stationary - Nuetral always stopped the vibrations

Mines nowhere near that atage but I thought that by putting it nuetral at lights it was way of avoiding that problem

However I can see the logic behind extra wear and tear - as every gear change causes this

hmmm, the reason for the vibration is because the revs were too low, and the engine wasn't idling properly. Putting it in neutral lifts the revs...and the problem goes away. Nothing to do with the auto at all.

I've spoken to a few auto transmission specialists (I normally try to extract as much info as I can when I go in for a service...yeah one of those annoying customers...but hey i'm paying for it), and they all pretty much say that modern automatics work best when you just leave them in drive and let them work it all out. The computer in the auto is probably as complex as the one for the engine, and it knows what to do in any given situation. Most auto boxes have stuff programmed in to protect the box no matter what happens.

Having said that, its fine to use tiptronic too. As has been said already, if it was bad for the auto, they wouldn't put the tiptronic mode in. Obviously the harsher you are with it the more it will wear...but under normal use there's no problem at all.

As for putting it in neutral...have a think about it. Autos are all electronically controlled these days - so if it was better for the box to go into neutral when stationary - it would do that by itself. The fact is, its completely unnecessary, and you may as well just leave it in drive because that's what they're designed to do.

[nickcorr]

Actually...

Some modern transmissions do shift into neutral when they sense the vehicle is not moving... All in the name of extracting better fuel consumption...

[kjb_r33]

Actually...

Some modern transmissions do shift into neutral when they sense the vehicle is not moving... All in the name of extracting better fuel consumption...

Actually they shift into second gear, to stop vehicle squat.

[pixel8r]

Actually...

Some modern transmissions do shift into neutral when they sense the vehicle is not moving... All in the name of extracting better fuel consumption...

lol I would love to know what difference it actually makes to fuel consumption. I'm guessing it wouldn't even be measurable.

[bayslideblue]

if your that worried DON`T DRIVE IT ,

Not really that worried, was just a habit of mine and I was curious to find out which would be better.

Besides I guess the quicker it wears out, the sooner I will be contemplating a manual conversion.

[nickcorr]

lol I would love to know what difference it actually makes to fuel consumption. I'm guessing it wouldn't even be measurable.

When I had Falcon and Commonwhore hire cars, I could see the trip computer drop by about 0.1 or 0.2 l/hr from drive to neutral.

Has to make some tiny difference as you are no longer sloshing around the fluid in the torque converter... I think this is one of the reasons why CVTs have such good fuel consumption, as they actually have a clutch pack that completely disengages whilst stationary...

In the UK people who have driving lessons in autos are taught to move the transmission into Neutral and apply the handbrake when stationary, as this is what you would do in a manual vehicle. Prevents accidents caused by people who might accidently take their foot off the brake pedal.