free wheelen!!

I have a 2018 trd offroad 6cyl auto. with my old Nissan frontier manual I quite frequently kick it into nutral & coast to known spots for stops & turns. will it be harmfull to put the auto tranny in neutral with engine running, circulating fluid in transmission, & roll along to stops & corners . don't want to do anything to hurt my new baby. The
Nissan has 255m on the clock with 20m of just roll. any input would be helpful from a mechanical viewpoint. my longest roll is 1/2 mile downhill to a stop. Thanks

 

I used to drive a MT, 180k miles on one set of brakes. 210k and yet to replace the clutch. I actually used the gears and engine braking to my advantage.

I think the neutral thing won't hurt but why? Fuel mileage?

 

No need to do that with an auto. I don't know if it will hurt anything but it seems very unnecessary. With a manual it's what you're "supposed" to do, but they're 2 very different transmissions.

 

Really unnecessary from a mechanical standpoint, given the fluid connection of an auto trans and torque converter. The only thing to consider is that these trucks do have a downshift program to help engine braking. Arguably, that increases engine wear ever so slightly by increasing RPM's slightly.

Overall, think it's better just to leave it in drive.

 

You will likely decrease mileage by putting it into neutral versus coasting in drive.

Hanging RPMs while coasting in Neutral/clutch pushed in.

 

You can do it, and it likely won’t hurt anything, but they design them to be left in drive the entire drive cycle. I guess it would save it from the downshifts as you decelerate to a stop, but it’s really unnecessary with an automatic, and may do more harm then good.

I remember some article about taxi drivers doing that thinking they’d save gas - i think the difference was like the cost of a turn bulb or something over a year, but the engineer expressed concern

And new cars shut off fuel as you coast above idle rpm, so you’d actually be in the negative comparatively

Owner’s manuals almost always tell you how to drive the automatics. Basically, only put it in drive, reverse or park at a stop, let it do it’s own thing, you can manipulate shift points by how much throttle you’re applying. It’s all quite intuitive.

On Tacomas, the “S” mode allows manual control of which gear it’s in - handy for engine braking on steep grades - and “ECT POWER” is like a sport or tow haul mode, increasing rpm before upshifts and thusly making the engine more responsive to throttle input, likely at the cost of fuel efficiency

 

OP is asking if there is any mechanical benefit, as in reducing wear.

 

Doing this is dangerous and can cause the clutch drum or other components like the planetary gear set to explode . This can send shrapnel thru the case and thru the floorboard injuring your feet

Even though your tachometer shows for example 4k rpm the parts in your transmission are seeing 4x's that rpm . I've seen nasty carnage at the dragstrip from auto trans being put into neutral at the top end . Even on the street heard of and seen pics of blown up automatic transmissions after putting into neutral at freeway speeds

 

Thanks 4 all de gud advice. guess its just a holdover from the manual tranny days. de learning curve sure gets longer as we age!!

 

You'll save fuel by leaving it in gear while coasting vs putting it in neutral. Your engine actually stops burning fuel while coasting when connected to a transmission/drive train. The second you disconnect it from transmission it'll need to burn fuel to keep revving. That goes for automatics and modern manuals. Old school cars are different.

 

Wow, a year later