Stick - Driving tips ??

On Wed, 6 Apr 2005 03:47:25 +0000 (UTC), "C.G.Senthilkumar."
<cheetanc.TakeThisOut@pc49.cs.ucdavis.edu> wrote:

 >This question is regarding shifting down gears when coming to a full stop,
 >as at a stop-sign. When I'm driving at, say, 30 mph and approaching a stop
 >sign, I remove my foot from the gas and shift to neutral straight from 4th
 >gear even when I'm about 100 yards from the stop sign. I let the momentum
 >carry my car until the stop-sign.
 >
 >I think this would save fuel. But I'm afraid, this might spoil the
 >transmission and/or clutch. I'm not sure if this is bad to the car.
 >
 >Any thoughts?
 >
 >Thanks in advance.
==========================

It's pretty hard on the brake life.<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Stick - Driving tips ?? 

Doing that is highly illegal if there is any slope to the road. Nearly
all areas of the world say it is a 'big' no no to coast in neutral down
any slope.

It also appears to be a subjective law. The cop's word vs yours eh.

I 'have' been pulled over for doing exactly what you describe on a down
hill in Canada. Either the cop saw the shifting action or he noticed
the way the vehicle 'floats' with the suspension unloaded like he said
and other cops have said when it gets brought up. It is far too easy to
lose control.

Even sitting at a stop light in neutral isn't a good idea and is frowned
on in some areas. If you are in neutral, you might not have time to get
it in gear to get out of the way if someone misses the light or turn or
whatever.

I normally use 3rd while coming to the stop, then shift to 1st while
waiting to go.

Mike
86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00
88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT's

"C.G.Senthilkumar." wrote:
 >
 > This question is regarding shifting down gears when coming to a full stop,
 > as at a stop-sign. When I'm driving at, say, 30 mph and approaching a stop
 > sign, I remove my foot from the gas and shift to neutral straight from 4th
 > gear even when I'm about 100 yards from the stop sign. I let the momentum
 > carry my car until the stop-sign.
 >
 > I think this would save fuel. But I'm afraid, this might spoil the
 > transmission and/or clutch. I'm not sure if this is bad to the car.
 >
 > Any thoughts?
 >
 > Thanks in advance.<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Stick - Driving tips ?? 

J. Yazel <jyazel.DeleteThis@ds.net> wrote:
 > It's pretty hard on the brake life.
Why? It's just coasting. I'm not applying the break at all
until I get close to the stop sign.


--
Today's fortune:
"The porcupine with the sharpest quills gets stuck on a tree more often."<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Stick - Driving tips ?? 

On Fri, 8 Apr 2005 23:42:16 +0000 (UTC), "C.G.Senthilkumar."
<cheetanc.RemoveThis@pc49.cs.ucdavis.edu> wrote:

 >J. Yazel <jyazel.RemoveThis@ds.net> wrote:
  >> It's pretty hard on the brake life.
 >Why? It's just coasting. I'm not applying the break at all
 >until I get close to the stop sign.

you loose the engine braking effect, which contributes substantially
to the stopping effect, resulting in even more braking needed.

Heaven forbid should you ever have to drive in a mountainous area!
YOu'll probably crash on the first real downhill intersection. Where
we are, (mountains) we see this frequently when flatlanders come up
for the summer. By the time they are at the bottom their brakes are
smoking, the pads a glazed, and it is all they can do to stop. And,
sometimes they can't. As others mention, it is dangerous.<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Stick - Driving tips ?? 

If you're foot's off the gas, it wouldn't matter either way, but keeping it in gears saves the brakes. The only way you could use more gas with your foot off the accelerator is if you had a carberator AND a mechanical fuel pump, but that's a pretty rare combination on late model cars.
 >> Stay informed about: Stick - Driving tips ?? 

C.G.Senthilkumar. wrote:
 > This question is regarding shifting down gears when coming to a full stop,
 > as at a stop-sign. When I'm driving at, say, 30 mph and approaching a stop
 > sign, I remove my foot from the gas and shift to neutral straight from 4th
 > gear even when I'm about 100 yards from the stop sign. I let the momentum
 > carry my car until the stop-sign.
 >
 > I think this would save fuel. But I'm afraid, this might spoil the
 > transmission and/or clutch. I'm not sure if this is bad to the car.
 >
 > Any thoughts?
 >
 > Thanks in advance.

You won't save any fuel at all, or at the most, very negligibly, by
doing this. Neither will it damage the transmission at, since in
neutral with the clutch released, the engine and transmission are
completely disconnected.

It's really a matter of preference, if you downshift with the clutch
depressed, just depress the clutch and stay in gear, or shift to
neutral. While downshifting with the clutch will mean you'll be in the
correct gear (assuming you know how quickly or slowly to downshift based
on deceleration), it also means you have to keep depressing the clutch.

As far as transmission wear goes, you're actually "wearing it out" the
most by depressing the clutch and downshifting before a stop, since you
are wearing out the pressure plate. However, as far as the actual wear
goes over the life of the car, this wear is fairly negligible.

My personal preference is to shift to neutral as soon as I see a light
turn red and know it will still be red when I get to it. That's just
because I'm lazy and don't feel like holding down the clutch. However,
if you are just starting off with a standard, the best method is
probably to downshift with the clutch depressed, as long as you don't
try to rush the downshifting, and just downshift normally, so that if
you do need to declutch, you won't be in too low a gear and over-rev the
engine.

As far as technique goes at a traffic light, if I know I'll be waiting a
while, I shift to neutral. But if I don't know how long I'll be
waiting, I shift to first and depress the clutch so I can go as soon as
it changes, as a courtesy to those behind me.<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Stick - Driving tips ?? 

it wears on a clutch to sit at a light for 5mins with the clutch depressed. however you should always be ready to take actions if needed. When no one is around I almost always shift into netural when approching a stop, while in traffic I am ready to avoid the standard retards on the road and downshift when stopping.
 >> Stay informed about: Stick - Driving tips ??