Manually downshifting auto tranny

I often do it if I see a red light kinda far ahead. Chris Said the injectors turn off at 1800 rpm I believe when you let off the gas. So it saves gas.

I never heard it will shorten the life of the tranny, I'm not saying your wrong though.

 

that's probably it, i forgot sorry.

 

I agree with your buddy, if toyota wanted you to downshift to slow down they would have it automatically do it for you, I would much rather be replacing breaks then engine/tranny.

 

I hear u guys talking about the downshifting... I like the info the only thing is when is it really the proper time i.e speed and rpm, to use it..??? Call me a newb and all but i commute to my school a lot and if u guys are familiar with the 14 freeway it has hills and it would be nice to save my brakes a little....

 

If it was alot of trouble for the tranny or engine wouldn't the owners manual say use it sparingly in some fancy words, or it would say not to do it.

 

that's cuz it's a dodge. jk.

 

I bought an automatic so I wouldn't have to shift it.

 

lol nice, thats what I say if you wanna shift your gears on your own buy a manual.

 

That is wise.
Downshifting just to do it = Dbag

 

I think a good "for example" would be going freeway speed at 1800 rpm, dropping out of overdrive on a grade and engine goes to 2500 rpm, this example varies from auto trans to another numbers given wont match a diesel's rpm . A "bad" shift would be more like a race car high rev down shift.
If a person is driving reasonably the new pad vs new transmission statement becomes irrelevant, both will last.

 

I guess some would need to do it depending on circumstances. There are no hills here, I never tow, and I don't speed around town like it's a race track so I have no need to shift manually.

 

When i had a dakota, i would turn off o/d no problem, only shifted 3rd to 2nd when i was towing dads trailer on gravel roads. Of about 5 problems that truck had at least the trans wasnt one

 

I downshift my automatic, but not very much. But when I do it is when I need to stop when a light turns red fast and it will help me slow down better or at least I think it does. You don't need to do this but it is just a habit of mine. I also downshift into a lower gear when I'm going uphill or driving in hilly areas.
When I do this I also make sure that I'm off of the throttle and on the brake, and that I'm not going that fast.

 

Here is another fun time to downshift.... when i drove the paint striper(paints the yellow& white road lines) you see a deadpestrian... err pedestrian cross illegally, i would sometimes down shift 1-2 times and turn on the engine brake hehe. It has an 11 liter cummins with a 6 speed auto trans. Since it is muffled , its loud but still legal.. unmuffled eng. brakes are illegal in most towns btw.