Shifting into neutral safe?

I have a habit of shifting into neutral when I need to make a hastey stop. I just wanted to make sure this was safe to the tranny.

I sometimes also shift into neutral when coasting down hill to a stop. Most of my neutral shifts are because I realize I\'ll be needing to stop or go to a much slower speed.

When I do need to get out of neutral from a rolling car I try my best and \"blip\" accelerator to get the engine within range before shifting to D

Just wanted to make sure I wasn\'t causing essesive wear to the shifting mechanism. Does anyone know if this is safer / better for the tranny than stomping on the brake and expecting the ATX to figure out that it needs to stop studdenly?

sometimes a neutral shifted stop is to help slowdown faster on the highway when you make a turn and hit an unexpected gridlock.

I believe the manual states NOT to shift to neutral while in motion.

when I took driving lessons my instructor told me that throwing your car into neutral is a safety measure in case you need to suddenly stop fast.. but he never mentioned anything about shifting back into gear while the car is moving.. the way he worded it I assume that you should only do this when needed and not on a regular basis and I always thought that it\'s best to shift back into gear when the car is at a complete stop..

are u talking about shifting to neutral on automatic transmission?

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Originally posted by astatik


are u talking about shifting to neutral on automatic transmission?

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He did mention ATX in the post. It says in the manual not to but I do this all the time. Just make sure you\'re at a complete stop before putting it back into drive. Unless you want to hear your transmission bang into gear. (Not the best sound)

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Originally posted by vortex-5


I have a habit of shifting into neutral when I need to make a hastey stop. I just wanted to make sure this was safe to the tranny.

I sometimes also shift into neutral when coasting down hill to a stop. Most of my neutral shifts are because I realize I\'ll be needing to stop or go to a much slower speed.

When I do need to get out of neutral from a rolling car I try my best and \"blip\" accelerator to get the engine within range before shifting to D

Just wanted to make sure I wasn\'t causing essesive wear to the shifting mechanism. Does anyone know if this is safer / better for the tranny than stomping on the brake and expecting the ATX to figure out that it needs to stop studdenly?

sometimes a neutral shifted stop is to help slowdown faster on the highway when you make a turn and hit an unexpected gridlock.

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It sounds like he\'s talking about shifting a manual into neutral. Either way, providing you are shifting propperly into neutral and taking your foot off the throttle after doing so then you are doing NO damage to your car. It is mechanically impossible.

Ya I wouldn\'t worry too much about this as well. Shifting into neutral shouldn\'t be a concern as long as you do not try to shift into gear while the car is moving.

The reason for this is (i think/heard) is that automatic trannys cannot match rev from neutral to the gear/speed that you need, and I think if you do shift into gear, it\'ll automatically start at G1, then you\'ll hear clunk, (experience a very hard kick/shift) then it\'ll pop to 2-3 depending on speed.

But, if the car is moving and you are in neutral and you do hit the throttle. I think this might be the same as reving your car while parked.

I think this is the jist of it, but someone can follow up and correct me if I\'m wrong.

i\'ts an automatic tranny, why do you need to pop in and out of D while moving?

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Originally posted by skunk2


i\'ts an automatic tranny, why do you need to pop in and out of D while moving?

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Ya that\'s true.

Also, Engine breaking by downshifting gears will help you stop faster than shifting into neutral.

Well for one thing shifting into neutral on slipper / ice roads is alot safer than leaving it in gear and trying to suddenly stop. The car\'s dynamics will match the ground alot better and you\'ll come to a stop alot safer this is true for those that don\'t have traction control or ABS. The pumping trick still works but is alot more effective with the car in neutral.

(personally I forgone ABS because if I spring a leak I lose all 4 brakes vs just 2)

As for the poster commenting on always going back into G1 that\'s not true i have shifted it back to gear while cruising at 40km/h the car knows to go back to 3rd gear everything feels smooth no clunk because 40km/h normally 3rd gear is only doing something slightly above 1000rpm anyways (close to idle speed). I would not recommend shifting back into gear above 80Km/h without at least an attempt to match revs. AT 60Km / h the tranny is once again smart enough to go back into 4th gear dispite what gear you might have been when you started (3rd gear going down hill 4th gear during shift back at 60km /h). However for 4 speed tranny\'s you don\'t have anything greater than 4th and by 80Km/h our engines are already at 2000 - 2500 rpm a shift back to gear at these speed you\'ll feel a very unpleasent jerk.

To smoothly shift back you need to do the same trick as on a manual transmission however it\'s alot more dangerous because you can\'t control the clutch (aka hydrolic clamps) or when the gears actually engage your at the tranny\'s mercy on this one. However if you raise the engine momentarily to 2.5K rpm let go of the accelerator while immediately shifting into gear you should not feel the shift provided you are successul at matching revs (it can be done it\'s a bit hard though).

That said I only use neutral braking for emergency situations such has when there\'s a possibility of hydro planing, or if I\'m on icy / slippery roads.

I just wonder if there was a heavy wear and tear that occurs from throwing it back in gear at a stop. Sometimes at stop signs I might take it out of gear if the light change will take 2 min, just so I don\'t have to press the brake so hard.

And yes this was concerning an AUTOMATIC transmission not a MANUAL. MANUAL transmissions do not have any side effect from putting the car in neutral, I know that.

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Originally posted by FLIPSPEED

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Originally posted by astatik


are u talking about shifting to neutral on automatic transmission?

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He did mention ATX in the post. It says in the manual not to but I do this all the time. Just make sure you\'re at a complete stop before putting it back into drive. Unless you want to hear your transmission bang into gear. (Not the best sound)

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wat happens when that happens a couple of times?

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Originally posted by jdanielsg

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Originally posted by FLIPSPEED

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Originally posted by astatik


are u talking about shifting to neutral on automatic transmission?

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He did mention ATX in the post. It says in the manual not to but I do this all the time. Just make sure you\'re at a complete stop before putting it back into drive. Unless you want to hear your transmission bang into gear. (Not the best sound)

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wat happens when that happens a couple of times?

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well, I\'d imagine that you would put a lot of wear and tear on your gears and they may not be properly aligned anymore..

n You think this would happen after a few times? coz u see once when i was on the highway testing on high speeds, I accidentaly moved it into Neutral and moved it back dunt ask me how LOL and I did it 2 times in a row..

Not exactly sure how our auto\'s work but aren\'t modern hydraulic trannys have their gears constantly meshed? And a bunch of clutches lock they gears when they are needed? This would mean we\'d put stress on the locking mechanism or the other components in the drivetrain not nesecarily the gears themselves.

At anyrate any sudden unpleasent feelings of being thrown forward is generally not good for any car.

Or your forehead.

offtopic:
(asking here since this was an ATX thread, didn\'t want to start a new thread).
does you guys get rough shifting when the car is cold?
Im getting it every frigging morning...

Yeah i get rough shifts during cold, this is a long known issue never has been changed.

I\'m switching to full synthetic this weekend (engine not tranny) I have grounded the throttle body too. and I\'ll be mentioning the rough shifting to the dealer to see if they can do anything about it.

Dealer said they didn\'t have anything new on the rough shift. As expected the rough shift is still there after switching to synth.

u mean the jerk when shifting from 1st to 2nd?
if it is then get it reprogrammed, mine\'s fine after that

yeah they told me my 06\' was already up to date. I\'d hate to think what it was like before.

There is no shift update for the 06 models.

K either i\'ve gotten used to it over time or now my trans has finally learned that I\'m super gentle and it shifts smooth now.

guess this tranny is a slow learner. My minivan only took 10km to learn someone\'s driving style.

after 3000km it seems the mazda is finally starting to learn