EOC / P&G on auto... smells??
 

okay guys i need advice/opinion

i drive a 2005 corolla AUTOMATIC

yesterday i tried P&G with the engine OFF for the first time

after doing that on about three long downhills (restarting my engine each time) i started to smell something through my vent

to be honest, it smelled somewhat like a stinkbomb.. so then it got me confused. i don't know if it was a stinkbomb or do you think perhaps my engine oil was drying out or things in my car were heating up? i dont know if i should be doing EOC in an automatic...! the smell really worried me.. it could've been coming from under the hood

please advise.

My 03 civic si sometimes has this issue with short trips. It's the catalytic converter, it's sulphur and smells like rotten eggs. It has to do with the cat temperature. I'm guessing when you turn it off the cat cools below it's operation temp and you get the sulphur smell tll it heats back up. On the forum for my car(ephatch) there's always someone talking about this with short trips.

You shouldn't be doing EOC in an automatic unless the manufacturer specifically says your car can be flat-towed (4 wheels on the ground, in neutral). Damage may result from lack of lubrication.

I have no idea what the Corolla's status is there.

so is it OK? is it bad for the air, for the car, anythig?

do you think it is in the owner's manual or should i call toyota?

It should be in the manual. Most have a paragraph about being towed.

yeah i just found it. all automatic corolla drivers... don't do it!

well 2005, at least.

thanks metro

i looked it up.. i should NOT be flat-towing.. which means all my EOC techniques die here. does that mean i have no hopes of getting super high MPGs?!?!?

Not necessarily: http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...pump-4149.html

Now I can't speak for all Automatic tranny EOC'ers here but, my own logical approach tells me that if/when I switch to a synthetic oil in the tranny pan, it will stay on the gears longer than traditional tranny oil. I personally do not EOC for distances longer than 1.5 miles as the terrain doesn't allow it. But in those distances I have never experienced any strange noises or smells.

What makes me cringe is having to start the engine at speeds close to 40mph and dropping it back into gear. Fortunately that doesn't happen very often.

i wouldn't do it if it says it can't be flat towed,
2005 is still pretty new, and the few mpg you could gain that way could be lost in the repairs of the vehicle.

Synthetic oil isn't necesarily going to stick any longer, it will just be effective for a longer time period(won't break down for 40,000 miles instead of 30,000 miles just an example). If you changed to a thicker oil it would stick longer, but it would cause more resistance resulting in damage in some cases and lower mpg's in others. If the owners manual says no to flat tow i wouldn't do it.

Oh, and as for the smell caused by the cat, cooling and heating the cat that many more times may reduce it's useful life. Also the smell of sulfur normally means it's not catylizing at normal efficieny so you may also have s slight increae in emissions...but you may save more with having the car off while coasting. Not saying people shouldn't eoc or anything though

yea you're right. i didn't do it on purpose though, i just didn't know about the whole flat-tow business.

i went to get an oil change on friday and during the inspection or whatever the guy comes into the waiting room like... "hey, is that 05 corolla yours?" at that point i already knew something was bad

anyway he came to show me the color of my transmission fluid and asked me if i drove it hard.. my car only has 24k miles on it but the fluid was dark purple / black, like it was all burned (hmm...i know why.....) so i had to do a tranny service as well. luckily i talked down the price but then again how do i know i still wasn't cheated??

btw anyone know the cost for a auto tranny service, typically??

I don't know the cost because i do my own, but i know alot of places scam people by saying they need it and then say they do it but they don't, so i would check your fluid and make sure it's nice and red now that you got the service. I think the places around here advertise like 120 bucks for a fluid exchange but don't quote me and those are the oil-x-change places not actual mechanics shops.

yeah good call, i should wipe it down and check it out. my fluid was bad, no doubt about that so it DID need changing, but i should check to see that they really did it. thanks.

After you get the fluid changed, check it regularly and if it starts to go dark/bad again, get toyota to install a new tranny or sell your car. Don't mention anything about EOC of course.
If that bothers you ethically, I really, really, doubt your 3 times EOC has anything to do with the condition of your tranny. I did probably 100 miles of EOC (in 0.5 mile chunks) in my auto neon before I did some investigation and found out that it could be bad. The fluid in the tranny looks/smells brand new and it might be 100,000 miles and 13 years old as initially Chrysler stated that it never needs to be changed in the owners manual. I guess I should change it but I haven't bothered yet.
Ian