NO Damage to auto transmission by EOC

[Will]

Originally Posted by SuperTrooper

The most comprehensive list I've seen for vehicles that CAN be flat towed is Motorhome Magazine's towing guide:

Dinghy Towing Basics

The Tundra is NOT on the list for 2007 vehicles.

Uh is this for towing a Tundra behind an RV, or towing an RV behind a Tundra?

[jonr]

I wonder if anyone ever uses the towed vehicle to add power for accelerating? Ie, when pulling into traffic or going up a hill, the towed vehicle starts up and adds power, then shuts off the engine.

In theory, this would allow one to use a smaller more efficient engine on the towing vehicle.

[trikkonceptz]

That would be an awesome idea for RV'ers, the problem is that the dingy would have to be automatic and probably the size of a full size truck in order to move an rv from 0- whatever. I can't see a yaris making much ground on a full size bus RV ..LOL

Then of course you have 99.9 percent of all automatic tranny's can't be towed behind an RV.

[jonr]

Good point - the wheels on the towed vehicle would need a freewheel/ratchet installed - it can then push forward, but when turned off, the transmission wouldn't move.

Would be useful even if the towed vehicle was just accelerating its own weight.

[adrive7]

I tried EOCing in my 2005 Chevy Cobalt once, and despite it being on that dinghy towable list, I won't be trying it again. I was on a long down-sloping stretch of country road with nobody around, so I popped it into neutral and shut the engine off. I was rolling at about 40mph, brakes and steering felt ok, so I kept going until I got to the stop sign at the bottom of the hill. I kicked the engine back on so I had my power brakes back and came to a stop at the sign.

When I pulled away from the stop the car was acting like a manual trans. with very poor clutch work. Shifts were hard and jerky, and coming to a stop the RPMs would drop to around 500 shaking the whole car before it popped out of gear. It did this the rest of the way home. The car sat for about 30 minutes before I needed it again and the problem was gone, I think it just drained too much fluid from the torque converter, and it never got a chance to refill, or something. I don't know all that much about transmissions. It hasn't been a problem since then (3 months).

[azraelswrd]

How long did you EOC adrive? Good to hear nothing bad happened permanently.

[adrive7]

It was probably .75-1 mile tops.

[texanidiot25]

Your service manager probably wants your money when you burn up the tranny.

The tranny gets it's lubrication pumped from the spinning of the engine. When you put it in N and shut off the engine, the drive shaft is still spinning gears inside the tranny. This is why in manuals they say the car should never be towed above 25-30 mph for short distances in N with out the drive shaft pulled out.

Leaving the engine on and coasting in my '90 Firebird along with other driving style changes shot from an average 12 mpg to 20 mpg. Keep the engine on and keep cash in your pocket.

[Arminius]

You guys are freakin' me out about the EOC.

[elhigh]

I read a couple of days ago that Ford's next version of - I think it was the Fusion - will be flat-towed capable.