In neutral, no rpm drop?

[zx3zetec]

I was driving my wife's new 2008 Ford Focus today.
It is an automatic transmission.
Anyway, I thought I'd try popping it in neutral while coasting down a hill to do a little "hypermiling". To my surprise, the RPMs stayed right where they were! (1500 rmp) I tried this a couple more times during my drive and experienced the same result. The RPMs stayed the same as just taking my foot off the gas and coasting in drive.
Idle in park is 900ish RPM, so I was quite surprised...

Anyone know what's going on???
By the way, the 2008 Focus is really really nice. We got 42 mpg on a trip last week by driving 60mph with the AC running.

[fanamingo]

It's not just your car. My '99 Mercury Sable (Ford Taurus) with automatic transmission does the same thing. Even worse, when shifting from overdrive to neutral the rpms increase to what they would be if I were just in drive! I haven't hooked my ScanGauge up to see the actual effects on fuel consumption. I think it's just a characteristic of the transmission, but I don't know why it's built that way.

[Memorytwo]

i know from the Taurus it also if you're doing a neutral coast at high speeds like 45 or higher, the RPMs will actually go up quite a bit. I believe its to have the transmission spin at the same speed the engine is so it wont destroy the transmission when you reengage Drive.

[BlackDeuceCoupe]

Originally Posted by zx3zetec

RPMs stayed right where they were! (1500 rmp)...

Idle in park is 900ish RPM, so I was quite surprised...

Anyone know what's going on???

Interesting!

My ride has a close-ratio, 5-speed tranny (S4C) with 4.4:1 final gearing.

I typically cruise @ 3000-4500 RPM (55-75 MPH).

Engine-on-coasting is 1100ish RPM, regardless of speed, 1-150 MPH...

As soon as the speedo hits '0' MPH, the idle falls to 900ish RPM too. Weird!

I *assume* this is due to some vagary in the ECU programming...

The ECU ultimately controls the idle speed in my car... probably yours too!

[zx3zetec]

Thank you all for your input!
I suppose it can all be attributed to all this drive-by-wire computer controlled stuff...
I guess it's a good thing, because once I missed neutral and threw it in reverse while going 50mph, and nothing happened :-)

[cfg83]

zx3zetec -

In my Saturn, at highway speeds, the "neutral idle" RPM is higher then my normal idle. My normal idle is between 800 and 900 RPMs. At highway speeds, the idle is usually between 1000 and 1200 RPMs. We have deduced that the ECU/PCM is changing the setting of my Idle Air Control valve because it is seeing higher MPH.

As long as your coasting-in-neutral RPM is lower than your coasting-in-gear RPM, then it's a win. But, not as good as it could be, .

CarloSW2

[ptsmith24]

The RPMs while coasting in neutral and while sitting still in neutral are basically equal. I've only tried at speeds of ~50 MPH and lower, though. I try not to re-engage Drive before completely stopping though. I do that because I am unsure of the consequences. Interesting side note: The instant MPG on the MPGuino (still calibrating, but seems pretty accurate) is about the same whether I'm coasting in D or in N (different RPMs). Fuel cut-off, maybe? I'm still not sure how cut-off works, though.

[Doofus McFancypants]

In my wife's PT Cruiser - the RPM drop VERY VERY slowly.
like over a 3 minute period they drop.
I was trying to gather data on coasting in gear compared to coasting in N and i noted the RPM did not drop.
Since i have the SG hooked up, i could see the MPG increase in both cases.

After playing with it some more - I have chalked it up to ECU Programming to try to decrease delta in engine RPM and transmission RPM.

[nascarnation]

I'm not knowledgeable about all makes, but some of this is intended to reduce the load on internal transmission parts when you go from neutral back to drive (if your vehicle speed is well above zero).

Also more engine speed to the converter means more trans pump speed means more lube flow - in some cases important to lubing various parts internal to the auto trans.

This is all made possible by the full authority powertrain electronic controls.

[Sean T.]

you guys beat me to it. I was gonna say, in my taurus, sometimes it goes up when I shift into neutral.