Any Big Savings In Coasting In Neutral With Engine On?

[cfg83]

thebrad -

Originally Posted by thebrad

Willing to try it "for science" if you can give me the XGauge coding.

I did some googling but no luck. 1996 Civic codes are probably harder to find. I think this is a Civic Tuner Forum question.

CarloSW2

[i_am_socket]

Without a gauge to show actual FE, I can only guess, but coasting in gear shortens the distance I can coast. When stopped, all I can go by is the tach: in gear is usually around 800 rpm vs 1000 rpm in neutral.

It also seems to depend on the speed sometimes; if I'm doing <45 and I coast in gear, the tach drops ~500 rpm but > 45 it doesn't drop noticeably (maybe 100?) and there's the engine drag.

Until I get the time to put a 'Guino together (I'm not paying for a SG), I'll just stick with my "neutral coast, stop in gear with engine on" policy.

[diesel_john]

if i need engine braking, of course, coasting in gear is the best, with or without injector cutoff as needed.

if i don't need engine braking, of course, coasting in neutral is the best, with engine off or idling as needed.

any vehicle getting better mileage coasting in gear, would have to have some kind of over-running clutch system, and a very smart ECU, that idled the engine at the same time.

the only one i have driven that did this was an Audi turbo-diesel with the transmission in E.

[koihoshi]

It definitely has advantages. Heading down a small hill that goes slightly up hill you can coast down, gain speed, level out at top and then go back into gear (Or just slowly let out the clutch and match rpms).

I've started coasting a LOT more as I come to stops, cover large distances when approaching traffic and in situations where it makes no sense to be engine braking and what have you.

This has saved me some good gas mileage So to answer the originating question:

YES

[MasterAlex]

Originally Posted by diesel_john

any vehicle getting better mileage coasting in gear, would have to have some kind of over-running clutch system, and a very smart ECU, that idled the engine at the same time.

kinda like a hybrid

[elhigh]

Don't do EOC in an automatic-equipped car. Coasting in neutral should be fine; I've been doing it for a long time in the Forester at speeds up to 75mph (we get some steep hills here in the Appalachians) and suffered no ill effects, but the front end of the tranny has to be turning to keep the rest of the tranny lubed. You can coast with the engine on, and turn the engine off at lights, but when rolling, the engine should be on.

And yeah, it's worth it. A Forester is heavy and shaped a bit like a LEGO block, but I've dragged its mpg up from an average of 25 to about 29.1.