Hyper-miling

My Subaru has an automatic transmission and I want to know if it would damage the transmission if I put in nuetral when going down hills.

Please tell us why the dozens of threads already covering this topic do not answer your question and then we will be glad to help.

If the transmission doesn’t have a rear oil pump, then, yes you would damage the transmission. Whether it has a rear oil pump or not, going downhill in neutral is:

  1. Dangerous, due to loss of engine compression braking, and is illegal in many jurisdictions
  2. Not something that actually causes the engine to use less gas

Don’t do it!

FWIW,truckers coasting down long grades in neutral was called “Georgia overdrive” many years ago. The trucks could reach speeds beyond the red-line of the engine and then ‘coast’ up the next hill until slowing enough to shift into gear.

Well wise ass, I have better things to do than sit around searching for dozens of threads already covering this subject. Who made you the question policeman?

Well wise ass, I have better things to do than sit around searching for dozens of threads already covering this subject.

Do you hear yourself?

Many of us have already invested a significant amount of time addressing this topic in numerous previous threads.

If you can convince me and the others in this forum why 5 minute of your time (searching) is more valuable than our collective time to simply repeat ourselves, then I’ll gladly reply again here.

If you have better things to do than use a simple search engine, I have better things to do as well.

Well wise ass, I have better things to do than sit around searching for dozens of threads already covering this subject.

Well wise ass…you think we have better things to do then answer your lazy *ass questions.

Hmmmmmmmmmm, let me see. You have better things to do than answer my lazy ass questions but you do have time to respond with wise ass answers.

My question was legitimate and did not merit the response from you and Ron-man.

My understanding is that this is a site where you can post a question and get a legitimate response.

I guess I was mistaken.

My understanding is that this is a site where you can post a question and get a legitimate response.

Let me see you have all this time to post responses yet no time to do a simple search. Admit it YOU’RE LAZY.

Since your engine will be running, I don’t think transmission damage will be an issue. However, you will save pretty much no gas doing so, and you put a little extra stress on the drivetrain shifting in and out of gear. Then there’s the issue of legality as mentioned by VDCdriver.

Admit it YOU’RE LAZY
You forgot IGNORANT and SELF CENTERED.

Of course, you may already know this is one of my pet peeves. People who are ignorant of BBS etiquette AND, to top it off, ballsy enough to admit that they believe their time is more valuable than yours. It’s prevalent in society today and that’s the really sad part…

and even without all the colorful language these threads end up as arguments very often. OK guys , what else can we argue about since we’re no where near each other and have no idea who is whom ?

Coasting in an automatic transaxle while in neutral is not going to harm the unit.

That being said, I think you’re a bit out of line OP. You’ve spent more time posting the question and typing in the wise xxx word than what would have been spent clicking on the “search” icon at the top of this page.

Since I assume you want to “hyper mile” as per the title of your post, then you should inflate your tires to 60 PSI, take 25 MPH curves at 50, and run border-line red lights, which are all marks of the serious hyper miler.

There is a very active forum just for hypermilers run by the king of hypermilers himself, Wayne Gerdes. Do a google search on “clean mpg” and you will find it.

They get their share of trolls also.

If you’re going to practice these driving habits, be aware that it’s illegal in some states to deliberately turn your engine off at a stop, deliberately place your transmission in neutral while on a public road, and roll through stop signs. Police are aware of these practices, and are starting to ticket those they catch driving like this.

Tester