engine brake or not?

If the jolt is bad then slow your clutch foot down. That will smooth it more. If your are doing it correctly then it's fine.

 

I have only had my Tacoma 6-speed for a few months now, a few 1000 miles, and have found the drive-by-wire throttle has too much delay for successful rev matching, so I've just been downshifting without it and easing the clutch, and its been fine. Anyways, in the truck, I'm not doing the sort of high-RPM gearbanging I used to do on my old 1989 Jetta (hey, 250000 miles of near redline double clutching and the tranny + clutch were still going strong)

 

The jolt is somewhat similar to hitting the brakes gently. I'm asking because it's possible to not have that feeling at all while engine braking (all I would feel is the RPM rising).

 

250,000 miles with that type of handling seems reassuring.

 

Continue to put it neutral, use the brake and also jam the skinny pedal to the floor, that way you will to engine breaking instead of engine braking.

 

As has already been said, there is no harm in using the natural engine braking to slow the vehicle. And it is indeed safer to stay in gear most of the time. Plus, who doesn't like saving brakes!

Keep in mind that 'engine braking' and 'downshifting' are not synonymous. You will start to engine brake just by letting off the accelerator. Yes, downshifting will increase the effect due to higher RPM and lower gear but just be aware of the terminology difference. They can be used together and separately.

Hell yeah, man. I use my normal brakes a lot less than I ever did when I drove an automatic. If you learn how much certain gears and RPM slow the truck and you know your route well, you can utilize engine braking in lieu of normal braking often.

All great info.

In modern vehicles, neutral coasting doesn't save gas. I haven't verified it to be the case with our trucks, but vehicles for quite a while now have a fuel cutoff that happens when you're in gear and not pressing the accelerator. It shuts off fuel injectors and basically uses the wheels to power the engine. This stops and injectors start firing when you put it in neutral.

Yeah I downshift to at least 3rd and sometimes 2nd during most of my regular routes. Rarely, but indeed sometimes, I will downshift to 1st. It's not easy and it's so unforgiving; you have to rev match it perfectly or you will notice it.
As I mentioned just above, engine braking does not use more gas (less actually), but downshifting will since you are pressing the accelerator. Though it should then activate the fuel cutoff if you proceed to coast. Plus, it's a negligible increase in fuel consumption just downshifting to slow down some.

 

Isn't hitting the brakes much easier than trying to rev match and down shift to 1st gear (at least on our trucks)?

Edit

 

Easier, sure. But since I not only find rev matching to be pretty easy in these trucks, and I know the benefits of using engine braking when I can, I don't go to normal braking first if I don't have to.

Oh and while we're on the topic of #justmanualstuff, we should open up can of 'heel-toeing' to make everyone lose their shit. That always seem to work lol

 

Sorry, I meant 1st gear on the previous post.

First time I tried heel toe, I decided it was my last.

 

Ah that edit is important. Yeah I rarely downshift into 1st. When I do, it's usually during a sudden heavy increase in traffic so I don't have to launch again or in some exceptional circumstances. Overall, I don't recommend it since its benefits are minimal and it's a pain in the ass to do.

Haha well if you ever have an urge to try again, do so! It's certainly not easy, especially in our trucks, but once you start to get it, you will notice yourself using it pretty regularly (or at least I did). It took me some time to get it right, and I still don't get it right every time (sometimes overrev, but under rev or totally miss the rev most often) but I get it right often enough and I continue to get better and learn ways in which it's useful. Especially when you feel like driving your truck like a sports car


And for what it's worth, I don't downshift into 2nd all the time. Since I know most of the lights in my regular routes, I will usually know when I will need to stay in gear or not and I will just stay in 3rd until about 1K RPM and then neutral to my stop. But if I am in an area I don't know the lights, I will be much more inclined to downshift into 2nd.

 

I've been driving exactly how you are until I needed to calm down a little to save gas.

But then again, it seems like you really drive aggressively that you're able to use the heel-toe technique regularly. I don't think I'll be driving fast enough on curves or corners to decide on re-learning the skill.

 

truth.

There's actually a lot of states that have laws against coasting in neutral, too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zzEtxJkC7Y&feature=youtu.be&t=30s

Any autos in here (who know what they're talking about) know about engine breaking in an auto and if it's bad??

 

Haha well I don't always drive...spiritedly. Just often enough. I actually quite like driving calmly. But when I realized how little it affects my fuel economy, I said fuck it, it's more fun. I notice very little drop in MPG. The only thing that really has a major effect on it is whether or not I go for any longer drives. Since I work 6 miles from home and all the stores I go to area that far or closer, I get roughly the same MPG whether I drive calm or not.

I do take corners faster than most guys I see driving pickups, and heel-toeing definitely helps. But I use heel-toeing even just for turning into my street or pulling into work. It just means I don't have to slow down as soon and I don't have to bother shifting and braking separately.

Engineering Explained ftw. My favorite automotive channel.

 

my father teach me how to drive when i was 10 and the first couple things i still remember is that you never want to go into neutral and use the brake alone. it dangerous, you do not have full control of the vehicle and you over heating the brakes.

 

Old habits die hard but it all depends most times I will engine brake getting off exit ramps and coming up to traffic lights on dry roads

My mind tells me I have a 50,000 pound coil loaded suicide so I drive accordingly

About the only time I use the brake is when I come to a complete stop

In the winter on snow and ice I come down off the hills in neutral

 

You're going to fast, slow down a bit more before downshifting.

 

If you don`t have a feeling of slowing down it really is not doing much to slow your speed

I have been doing it so long it is just habit when I get really tired I start reaching for the brake valves and trying to shift into the high side of the transmission

Ask me what gear I am in I have to look because I have no idea

 

Your father taught you well.

And/or practice rev matching. You can shift from 5th to 2nd smoothly at 50MPH if you match the revs accurately...not that I'd recommend it. Good chance you'll miss it and it's no fun on your synchros. But yeah, in general, it's easier to downshift smoother at lower speeds whether or not you rev match.

 

re: 1st, Ok, I rarely shift 2-1, even in that Jetta where I was the master of double clutch RPM matching in a blink... 2nd gear on my tacoma 6-speed seems adequate for virtually any speed rolling forward, 1st is needed only for starting from a full stop, and I shortshift into 2nd almost immediately. If I'm decelerating to a stop from speed, I'll go through most of the gears down to 2nd, then neutral and full stop with the brakes. in an all-out emergency stop, I'd probably just hard brake and put the clutch in rather than try and shift concurrently, although I might bang from 6 to 3rd to 2nd if there's time to think about it.