Downshifting to slow down?

dont coast ur truck in N (in an Auto) i just read the other day the oil pump for the trans work off the engine speed so if u doing high way speed and throw it in N trans is still moving and does not get enough oil. I dont know if its true but everything that was said made sense. if u want more info u would have to search it i did save the thread.

 

It's always better safe than sorry. You engine break for 160k miles and your tranny drops, you'll be sorry. You break normally and you change your pads, what's there to be sorry about? That's normal! I *try* to drive slow to conserve fuel, so I tend to put it in neutral and coast to the red light or off ramp (won't do that anymore because if the tranny oil, never thought of that). I'd rather change breaks than a tranny... Is anyone here that says otherwise SURE? Are you guys FOR SURE that this is safe to do on a regular basis? I understand dropping it a gear to go down steep hills that are miles long, but doing this often sounds bad for the stuff under the hood that really matter.

 

If you are driving in the Rockies - say on I-70 very often and going very fast and don't use your transmission to control your speed, you could find yourself without breaks.

 

In my manual it suggest it. Toyota wouldn't suggest something that could hurt your truck.

 

I would rather shift into neutral and stop. Brakes are allot cheaper than trans.... besides it should help on gas mileage !

 

A balanced combination of foot braking and lower gear shifting (engine braking) is very effective for controlling speed when decending slopes or creeping through lower speed zones (e.g. school zones). I've been driving my cars and trucks - both auto and manual this way for years without problem. Just keep the tranny out of the red zone when downshifting!

 

I definitely click off the OD when slowing for offramps and when I want to slow down without brake lights. Sometimes you just have to.

I have put 100k on my truck driving this way, have drained and refilled my tranny twice and will be due for a refill in about 2500 mi. I also bypassed the cooler in the radiator, and mounted a cooler on the grill. If they didnt want it used, why would there be a switch?

I noticed it made a difference with the truck fully loaded with tools, or towing my beetle, that it worked better with the OD off, kept it from kicking down too much, especially up hills.

 

So U guys downshift, but do u stick it in neutral? I always thought that the tranny didn't do anything when it was in neutral, whether the vehicle is moving or not.

 

well from what i gather, putting it in neutral is bad when moving at speed because oil is not being pumped in so the transmission can overheat