gas mileage Europe made cars/ auto

[katana*GFR*]

Originally posted by atholon
Most people shift into neutral...which would save more gas than downshifting.

Nope. And switching intro neutral is also a danger, for you and others around you when your still rolling.
Doesn't matter how fast your car is, but if you suddenly need to speed up your to late..
Doing neutral while rolling is just plain dumb... Always keep the engine connected to be able to adequately respond to situations around you.

[SilentTrigger]

Originally posted by atholon
Most people shift into neutral...which would save more gas than downshifting.

Zero gas usage is less then idle gas usage

I've never met anyone that shifts into neutral to slow down, only case when anyone goes into neutral in Sweden is when they are going from one gear to another and possibly when turning off the engine but mostly not even then, especially not in the north.

[atholon]

Originally posted by katana*GFR*
Nope. And switching intro neutral is also a danger, for you and others around you when your still rolling.
Doesn't matter how fast your car is, but if you suddenly need to speed up your to late..
Doing neutral while rolling is just plain dumb... Always keep the engine connected to be able to adequately respond to situations around you.

It takes less time to shift into the appropriate gear from neutral than from any other gear.

[katana*GFR*]

bullcrack, i can shift to any gear from any gear.. As fast as i can from neutral almost..
And the whole topic was about saving gas.. And by putting the gearbox in neutral you consume more gas then when it is in gear.

[SilentTrigger]

I agree with the privious speaker.

[atholon]

I guess that just doesn`t make sense to me then.

[SilentTrigger]

I'll try and explain:

Any car that use a Catalytic converter will shut down the fuel flow to the engine if the RPMs of the engine is above a sertain limit and the throttle is not pushed, this is because unburned fuel can come into the Catalytic converter which will make the ceramics in the Cat to overheat and melt.

There is however an exaption (besides when you're using the throttle) when the engine is not connected to the driveshaft (or we can say tyres) as the engine needs fuel to keep running, for example phusing the clutch pedal or putting in the Neutral gear. This is the reason to why it's better to always have a gear seleted as much as possible, hense why it's good to go down in gears when needed.

Not the best explenation but I hope it helps atleast some

[atholon]

Yes it did, I had no idea about that. I guess it wouldn`t have mattered a while back since I didn`t have one hehehe.
Guess I better start downshifting then. Often stops are abrupt and I don`t think fast enough to downshift so I just go into neutral.

[katana*GFR*]

Which means you don't slow down Because your forward momentum is not limited by the engine.

Try rolling down a hill in neutral and when youre in 2nd gear, then you'll get what we mean .

Might want to read this also:
http://auto.howstuffworks.com/under-...od-channel.htm

[peregrine falcon]

So should we be manually downshifting with an automatic?

[SilentTrigger]

Not sure how a automatic works in the sense when you release the throttle if it will go into neutral (doubt it). As it should still be in gear it would just be to release the throttle and it should downshift on it's own

[Hellfighter]

Originally posted by peregrine falcon
So should we be manually downshifting with an automatic?

it automatic down shaft when you hit the brake paddle to slow down and it will speed backup if release the brakes.

change gears by the speed the wheel are moving or drive shaft going down hill free moving forward without any drag.

best lightly press the break paddle will keep track of the speed to stay in a gear.

being in Neutral the engine will still need fuel to keep the rpm up to keep the engine running around 2000rpm for sample very on the make and model of the car/truck.

can't say if taken out of Neutral back into drive will do damage to the transmission it may do some ware and the bands in it forcing to change gear to get the right settings as will. transmission shop be able to tell you if it does or not.

hummer use the clutch for breaking i think i never work on a hummer to know 100% if it has breaks pads in it. killerbee may know for a fact, last time i drove one in the Army it use a clutch in the front of the hummer to break with and don't think it had any break pads i know of any. its is full automatic that much i remember

[peregrine falcon]

2000RPM is a very high idle usually its between 700-1100

The automatic automatically downshifts but im not sure if the gas shuts off the whole time ur decelerating I would think it would but it may need to manually be downshifted which generally wont hurt them because they will not shift if RPMs are to high.

I can see saving gas driving up and down hills but I wouldn't think downshifting would make a noticeable difference in town on flat ground, I guess that would depend on traffic and speed limit.

I think at normal idle u use about 1 gal/2-3 hrs thats a lot of downshifting hehe