drive to neutral to reverse...

[toolsplus]

when I'm coming up to traffic lights for instance,I change the auto box from drive to neutral
and coast to a stop.
just wondering if it's possible to make a big mistake and select reverse instead while you're coasting forwards?

cheers

 

[flint]

Should only be possible if the button on the gearshift is pressed.

 

[chadr]

No.

It's something that I started doing a few years ago and has become second nature. As said above, you can only shift up and down the "N-D-3-2-L" part and "R" is locked out, until you depress the button on the shift lever.

 

[Steve Wright]

What I want to know is why do you put it into Neutral? First thoughts are you are loosing engine braking, so in fact you wear out your pads quicker, plus as soon as you take
your foot off the gas it cuts the fuel off, so you are not wasting fuel

 

[Juddian]

I thought the general reasoning was to leave an auto in drive, even when stationary if the period was likely to be less than a minute, reasoning being causing more wear engaging drive than letting the TC tick over gently.
I used to chuck old lorries into neutraul (colloquially known as Irish or Aberdeen overdrive) and coast for miles back in the bad old days, it was apprently frowned ona nd possibly illegal due to ''coasting'', funny how the new automated manual boxes nearly all do this automatically disconnecting drive for miles in some cases but now its ok, whatever.
Never done it with a TC auto car or 4x4 though.

 

[Chris]

If you do try to engage reverse, trust me, the box WILL let you know quite loudly. And probably all the people standing in that bus queue over there and the people coming out of the shop on the corner.

 

[Tractionman]

Flint, Chad, button, what button, there's not one to press on a 120, not on mine anyway.
Juddian, the old Scotsmans 5th or Aberdeen booster coming down Shap, eh ?

 

[Shayne]

Park on a hill and try it at a snails pace .

 

[chadr]

Flint, Chad, button, what button, there's not one to press on a 120, not on mine anyway.
Juddian, the old Scotsmans 5th or Aberdeen booster coming down Shap, eh ?

There must be some mechanism - a button or by pressing the lever down or some such that allows you to engage reverse.

What do you do to get it out of park for example?

 

[chadr]

What I want to know is why do you put it into Neutral? First thoughts are you are loosing engine braking, so in fact you wear out your pads quicker, plus as soon as you take
your foot off the gas it cuts the fuel off, so you are not wasting fuel

On my 90 auto (V6 petrol) there is negligible engine braking in "D". At lower speeds, such as approaching a red light, the braking force required to stop is actually less in N than in D, as there is no "creep" for the brakes to overcome. Also the engine revs drop by about 200rpm in N (from around 900rpm in D to around 700rpm in N), so perhaps slightly less fuel usage too (though I don't do it for that).

However would be interested to know about potential wear to the TC, as I didn't know about that.

 

[flint]

Flint, Chad, button, what button, there's not one to press on a 120, not on mine anyway.

Must be a 5 speed rather than the earlier 4, in which case it must be more than just the dog leg stopping reverse selection if still moving forward. If not, it will stop very quickly indeed.

 

[Tractionman]

Yep, mines 5 speed. Just move the lever down the dog leg gate. Have to go through reverse and neutral to get to drive/d4 and low range from P. No buttons, no lifting or depressing the lever, to engage anything, just follow the gate. Whereas the old school like my 78, and other series, has a T shift with a button on the side to engage reverse

 

[chadr]

Must admit, I've never driven a 5 speed auto LC of any kind, only the 4 speed ones which have the "T" shift. However I've driven plenty of autos of other makes, which have either a dog-leg gate or similar and they have all had some resistance built in, when shifting from N to R - which makes it very hard to accidentally shift into R on the fly. I believe the newer electronically controlled autoboxes won't give you reverse, even if you were to select R on the shifter, when the car is still moving forward at speed.

Would be interesting to see how many times this has happened to people? The consequences certainly may be even more interesting......

 

[Chris]

Is anyone else thinking "Why on earth of we even having this conversation?"

 

[chadr]

Is anyone else thinking "Why on earth of we even having this conversation?"

I suppose we're only one post away from a picture of a badly packed kebab or a wizard's sleeve - if some of the other threads are anything to go by!

 

[toolsplus]

thanks lads
I often coast to a stop in neutral because it requires less braking
and you dont feel lile your braking against the pull of the engine
even on tickover my 120's got some torque
cheers

 

[Steve Wright]

Sorry don't understand that comment! "I often coast to a stop in neutral because it requires less braking" surely, its the other way round ! you need more braking in
Neutral than in drive

 

[Chris]

Come on someone. With a bit of effort we can get this to at least two pages.

 

[Tractionman]

Work in progress, you know what these threads are like.

 

[toolsplus]

put your car in neutral at 10mph and coast to a stop
when you leave it in gear and brake from 10mph the engine torque on tickover requires more braking

I'll call in and ask my 4x4 mechanic today about the possibility of finding reverse on the move