Automatic Transmission

I recently purchased a 2014 TRD Sport with the auto transmission and this is my first automatic. I was chatting with a guy I know and he mentioned that when you stop at a red light shift your transmission into neutral, this keeps all the fluids flowing in the transmission but it releases the stran on the drive train. Ultimately prolonging the life on your transmission.
Any thoughts on that?

 

I had coworker do that in a old Honda accord, why I don't know. 165K on my Tacoma and I've never done that....shifts just fine. Changing the fluid will prolong the life.

 

My 04 had 230k miles on the original tranny fluid, I towed all the time, no issues. I'd say that is not a necessary thing to do, but probably can't hurt as well.

 

They taught us back in the 70s drivers ed to always hit neutral then set the brake before shifting into park especially parking on inclines. Supposedly to save strain on the tranny, but I never found out if that was a true issue or not.

 

LOLOL WTF.... no this will increase clutch pack unloading and loading reducing the life of the trans.

if you are moving leave it in drive.

That stated, when i park i always go neutral, parking break, shift to park. Old habbit from my chevy that if you didnt do this you could bind the trans so hard that it wouldnt come out of park if it was on a hill or something.

 

Don't be scared to shift through the gears while you're driving but just leave in whatever drive gear ( L-D ) you are in at a stop and as mentioned , I also do the N ~ parking brake ~ P routine when you are parking it

 

This.

 

Just leave it in drive.

 

Not necessary and may do more harm than good. The small amount of heat generated in the fluid from idling at a red light is easily dissipated by the cooling system.

If I'm at a long red light, for convenience, I sometimes shift into neutral and put on the parking brake just so I don't have to keep the brake pedal pressed all the time.

Yes I still see this advice in the Aamco literature. This so the parking brake holds the vehicle weight instead of the parking pawl in the tranny.