Coasting in Neutral... what if you can't come to a full stop after?

[Sean T.]

well, I tried the rev matching and it worked. Nice and smooth.

but if I don't push the accelerator, the car jerks awfully.

(in reply to the Kia comment) I can shift from reverse to drive without it jerking.... just not from neutral to drive while going forward... weird.

[99metro]

Each vehicle has a sweet spot where it will shift in Drive without thumping or jerking. I find that 38 to 44mph works for the three automatic vehicles I have. I also wait for the torque converter to lock up before accelerating. It takes a couple extra seconds. It doesn't hurt to give it a 250 to 500 bump in RPM off idle before shifting to drive, BUT leaving it alone also gives good results.

"Rule of thumb", according to me, is to shift to drive about 5 to 8 mph above where the car normally shifts to overdrive. All of you should know where that is by memory if you practice hypermiling. That way you are shifting to Drive when the vehicle will be in overdrive and NOT the next gear down - probably where the thumping and shuddering comes in.

[Doofus McFancypants]

i have a rental this week ( doing some field work in Baton Rouge) - so i am playing with automatic tranny ( mine is manual in the Altima)

car is an 08 Ford Fusion - V6. Really nice BTW - for the 10 mile drive from hotel to site - getting about 30 mpg - mostly 4 lane highway with some lights on it.

Have had no issues with the N to D shift - i have been tapping the gas just before i shift back ( psuedo rev match) no noises and no odd sounds.

I have even been playing with EOC to stop lights a little.

based on what i have seen here - ( and supporting what others have said) this is probably a bad idea - I know each car is different - but for the Ford Fusion - automatic - the tranny gives off a FOUL SMELL if you EOC to stop lights - indicating that the tranny is not being properly lubricated.

Neutral coasting - not an issue. EOC with this particular car - Bad idea.

Steve

[wagonman76]

Mine only likes to go back into D if Im going 30 mph or less, then it does so seamlessly. Anything faster than that and it drags you down, takes a few seconds to run through the gears to get itself back into the right gear then another couple seconds to decide to lock the TCC again. Rev matching before shifting into D makes it worse. So needless to say, I only go to N when I know Ill be going back into D when Im going slow or stopped.

[Sean T.]

I have been doing this and it has been working really good...

except that I have only been doing it where I will shift back to drive approaching a yeild or a turn, or a stop that I can just not make it to in N.

I haven't tried doing this at speeds over 20mph, but I might try it sometime in the future.

[Z man]

I just stick it back in Drive while coasting, even at 60mph sometimes.

It just shifts back in the final gear real quick and I accelerate up the next hill.

[saunders1313]

I P&G in my Monte all the time, auto trans. It's no problem at any speed to go from N to D, although I have found that if the engine and trans aren't warmed up enough there can be a bump and a RPM rev going from D to N. Anyone have this problem and what can I do about it?