To coast or not to coast

[WDaniels]

Speaking of fuel savings, the back of my truck has just been open ever since I've had it. Well, I sold the house this year and the garage along with it so I put a nice Leer topper on it to keep out the snow. I expected to get a milage increase with the installation of the topper but not one drop of increased milage did I get.

Ok, the coasting rant can continue. :-laf

WD

 

[mhenon]

Coast in gear not neutral. Anytime the engine is above idle and there's no demand from the accelerator. . it basically becomes an air pump and no fuel is being used. In other words it's a free ride. If you coast in neutral the engine is burning fuel to maintain the idle RPM. It's not much but it is consuming fuel.

As we tow alot and heavy I like the engine to just hold me back when decending a hill. With the NV5600 you can always find the right gear to ease you down a hill or coming to a stop. Floating in neutral is a bad option. . especially with a load.

Mike

 

[Flinty]

On the topic of hills... if I pull a nice steep, long hill then throw'r in N it's like running a race then getting thrown into a ice cold shower, VERY hard on the valves. Where hills are concerned, keep'r in a gear.

 

[FullSack]

Coast in gear not neutral. Anytime the engine is above idle and there's no demand from the accelerator. . it basically becomes an air pump and no fuel is being used. In other words it's a free ride. If you coast in neutral the engine is burning fuel to maintain the idle RPM. It's not much but it is consuming fuel.

On the topic of hills... if I pull a nice steep, long hill then throw'r in N it's like running a race then getting thrown into a ice cold shower, VERY hard on the valves. Where hills are concerned, keep'r in a gear

Makes sense to me. Most of his coasting is done in hill country, if there is a nice slope, he shoves it in N and lets it ride. He throws it back into gear in the incline.



I'm not so much concerned about the legality, because he won't listen to me about that. I'm MUCH MORE CONCERNED about any damage to the gears, or if truely he is not gaining MPG.

 

[Texas Diesel]

Most diesels don't fuel the engine at all when over-running (e. g. coasting down a hill in gear), so if you have to use the brake to slow down when coasting in neutral, you are probably using more fuel than coasting in gear.

Thank you.



This is a carry over from the days when autos didnt have over running clutches that allowed the engine to return to idle RPM when coasting. :-laf



What about wear to the auto from all the extra D-N & N-D cycles? What if you were to hit a bump and accidentally hit R instead of N? What about setting up the mental habit of leaving the auto in N with the engine running?



What you do habitually is what you do when you are distracted.



My dad used to coast in N up to parking spots. I remember him jumping out and leaving it in neutral by mistake. See above.



Bad idea, sooner or later it will get you.