My husband and I have a debate going on. He says when I reverse the car out of the driveway I should wait until the car comes to a complete stop before I shift into drive. He thinks doing otherwise is hard on the clutch plate in a car w/ automatic transmission. I say it probably doesn’t matter much, if at all. (I’m too impatient to wait for the car to come to a full stop to shift.) Any opinions on this?
You won’t hurt the trans to shift into drive from a rolling reverse.The engine is just truning about 200 rpm above idle anyway. I don’t think I would shift at a reverse speed of 20 mph or so though.
LEE
your husband is correct,it wont do the transmission much good!!you should come to a complete standstill before shifting,surely you cant be that impatient?
We’re talking about going from reverse to drive with an idling engine and the car going backwards at a walking pace here, right?
Would it be easier on the transmission to come to a full stop? Probably so but not by much.
A normal 1st to 2nd shift while accelerating probably involves a bigger engine rpm change and a bigger change in input shaft rotation. It’s just going fast and then suddenly going slow instead of reversing rotation.
The trans is not all that can be effected. The transaxle and drive axles on Front wheel drive cars. Drive shafts u-joints and rear ends on rear wheel drives.
over time it will cause extra slack in drive train, LISTEN to hubby!!
Click and Clack recently answered this question. As a previous poster noted the real wear and tear is on everything else that is connected to the transmission, such as u joints and other parts.
As a youngster I did this with a manual transmission and my father flipped. He was concerned about added wear and tear on the clutch plate.
If it is not good for a manual, I would infer that it can’t be good for an automatic which is so much more complicated.
Actually, not only is it hard on the drive line, as far as the transmission is concerned, its not good on the low roller (Sprag). This is a one way clutch inside the transmission. Listen to your husband on this one.
transman
Patience can be learned. It’s worth the effort.
Transman puts in the right answer yet again.
Transman is THE authority on transmissions. I can only add one thing. In situations like this it is usually best to tell your spouse that your found out they were right and you have gained additional respect for them. In the long run a good spouse is wroth a lot more than a car.
BTW since the car has to come to a complete stop anyway, it takes no more time to stop it with the brake (brakes are far cheaper than transmissions) than to stop it with the transmission. You are not really saving any time.
I know in my wifes Accord manuals (87 and 96)…both stated that you MUST come to a complete stop before putting it from reverse to drive. That’s the ONLY car I have ever seen that written in the owners manual.
All of us here recognize Transman as the ultimate authority on transmissions. When it comes to trannys, he is “the man”.
Learn to come to a complete stop.
Your husband is correct. Patience is, after all, a virtue.
If you don’t believe us, go to the cartalk.com homepage and listen to this week’s show. Tom and Ray settled the same debate. Are you are the caller from the show? Are you looking for more opinions because you are refusing to admit you lost the debate?
You can either learn patience in the car, or in the waiting room at the repair shop.
Which one is cheaper?