Shifting to Neutral

[smartHHO]

Well, I read somewhere that someone was shifting to neutral when they were about 1/2 mile tops from a stop sign, or red light, and also while stopped at a red light and were getting better MPG. Well, 2 tanks ago, I went and drove normally, IE not lead footing, AC on but only on lvl 1. I ended up with 30.6 in my Kia Rio. So, I then started doing the SHIFT TO NEUTRAL trick for the next tank. Grant it, took me a day to get used to doing it, and I even put it in "R" one time as light turned Green. Luckily, I noticed and did not hit the gas. I could see it now, the look on the guys face as I back into him. But officer, he rear-ended me. LOL. No he didn't, he backed into me. Now who is he going to believe. LOL. ok back to the point. Yesterday I filled back up. And after busting out my calculator, I ended up with 34.25 MPG.

So,

Tank #1: 30.6
Tank #2: 34.25

Increase: 3.65MPG or 11.93% increase.

Not sure if it is hard on the transmission or not. But it did get me to thinking.

You know, if the damn car companys just invented a transmission with a real Over-Drive, IE highway gear, we could get 100 MPG on the highway easy. All it would be is a gear ratio. Semis have 16 gears, 8 which are electronically shifted. Why could they not, with todays technology make one that had 2 sets of gears, One set low, for going normal, and one that is highway? Hmm, makes you think doesn't it.

[Cadillac]

Well one thing to consider is that your car needs the rpms during a slow down to properly cool the engine internally. Over the long haul this would cause damage internally slowly but still there.

It causes the transmission to overheat as well. Again over the long haul. This is more signifigant to the tranny though.

I guess I am not quite sure what your are getting at in terms of adding gears. Most car manufactures are uping to 5 and 6 speed automatic transmissions. One (forgot which one off the top of my head) has a 7 speed out right now. More gears are good for economy but not for dependability. Plus they add more weight. This is becoming one of the biggest problems in a modern day car. Some new cars have miles and miles of wiring in them, not to mention all the additions in computers....etc.

They did introduce an Opel Speedster prototype last year (I believe) that was getting 120 MPG. The problem with a car like this is that the public loves to see it but would never buy it. Bare metal on the inside, no electronics, limited gauges, two seater....etc... People are just not willing yet to let go of there comforts for MPG. Look at all these people who ran out and bought SUVs when they where a fad.

[bigapple]

I guess I am not quite sure what your are getting at in terms of adding gears. Most car manufactures are uping to 5 and 6 speed automatic transmissions. One (forgot which one off the top of my head) has a 7 speed out right now. More gears are good for economy but not for dependability. Plus they add more weight. This is becoming one of the biggest problems in a modern day car. Some new cars have miles and miles of wiring in them, not to mention all the additions in computers....etc.



there is a 7 speed CVT transmission in some of the newer lexus cars and mercedes has an 8 speed CVT... the CVT transmissions work differently than ur standard ones though... they somehow integrate plates instead of planetary gearsets to shift gears more smoothly to where its pretty much undetectable... pretty complicated for my likings but then again most car electronis are over my head... thats another challenge to hydroxy injection... the challenge of fooling electronics:cool:

EDIT: just as a side note, ive been experimenting with shifting to neutral and i havent seen a difference in my regular distance and gauge readings with the odometer so far... ill have yet to see at the pump what its getting (not fitted with the gen rite now cuz its in the works) but im gunna post results and take all this into consideration... then ill compare these results with results from hydroxy injection

[Q-Hack!]

I do know that you need to keep your engine RPMs up when you are going up hill with a trailer. That way you have enough coolant flow to keep it from over heating. Lugging the engine is bad. I would assume the engine would only have a problem with heating if if was under load. When you put the car in neutral there is no load. I have been driving all summer using the neutral during slowdowns and stopping. I haven't noticed any increase in water temps yet.

[sp1r0]

You guys need to get a manual tranny on your next vehicles.

[smartHHO]

You guys need to get a manual tranny on your next vehicles.


Had a Manuel tranny on my last several. I only have this car now due to my son could not handle the payments so I am stuck with it. But, soon I won't have it and be driving my smart. Kind of wondering what kind of MPG it could get with HHO injected. 1L 3 banger. Hmm, might do quite well. Guess we shall see when I get it. Probably not until Dec though.

[smartHHO]

Well one thing to consider is that your car needs the rpms during a slow down to properly cool the engine internally. Over the long haul this would cause damage internally slowly but still there.

It causes the transmission to overheat as well. Again over the long haul. This is more signifigant to the tranny though.

I guess I am not quite sure what your are getting at in terms of adding gears. Most car manufactures are uping to 5 and 6 speed automatic transmissions. One (forgot which one off the top of my head) has a 7 speed out right now. More gears are good for economy but not for dependability. Plus they add more weight. This is becoming one of the biggest problems in a modern day car. Some new cars have miles and miles of wiring in them, not to mention all the additions in computers....etc.

They did introduce an Opel Speedster prototype last year (I believe) that was getting 120 MPG. The problem with a car like this is that the public loves to see it but would never buy it. Bare metal on the inside, no electronics, limited gauges, two seater....etc... People are just not willing yet to let go of there comforts for MPG. Look at all these people who ran out and bought SUVs when they where a fad.


As for gears, what I am referring is, have like 4 main gears that are your 1 - 65 mph. Then, you have a OD gear that is major difference. The OD that is in a car now is BS. This gear would actually make the RPM drop way down from normal 2500 - 3000RPM to about 1800. Mainly for long distance driving. Have a smooth transition due to the computer would control it of course. You could not have anyone do it themselfs. Probably over rev the engine. Or even two gears where it dropped it from 2500 to 2000, then second one that went from 2000 - 1500. MPG would go way up due to load would decrease.

[Cadillac]

I do know that you need to keep your engine RPMs up when you are going up hill with a trailer. That way you have enough coolant flow to keep it from over heating. Lugging the engine is bad. I would assume the engine would only have a problem with heating if if was under load. When you put the car in neutral there is no load. I have been driving all summer using the neutral during slowdowns and stopping. I haven't noticed any increase in water temps yet.

I am not referring to coolant flow rather the exhaust stroke. Going from 2500 rpms to 450 rpms does not allow the engine to let the residual heat escape. This cause the combustion chamber to overheat, realistically only for a matter of seconds. A couple seconds can be pretty signifigant with the temperatures that are already present.

Fluid flow in the transmission is reduced. Lots of silicone and rubber parts in there that do not like elevated temperatures.



Think of a transmission as a multiplier. The engine's input is multiplied as the gears are going up. The engine only has some much power though. You can multiple 1 by 10 as much as you want but will never see any more then 10. Which is kind of where a car ends up after or at O.D.

That being said it would probably still be possible to get more out of an engine in the manner you are talking about but would require something new to the car world. Perhaps a variable FDR (final drive ratio) device. It seems possible. There have been variable valve cars for awhile. A lot of timing belt tensioners on cars are variable with speeds. They would have to do a good job intergrating this with a computer but possible.

On a lot of GM FWD automatics that utilized gears and chains to establish the FDR. You can easily go to a junkyard mix and match gears/chains to change the FDR (computer reprogramming of course). If something like this was fashioned so that the chain ran around a tensioner (that moved) it could leave the FDR lower at city speeds to help fuel economy. It could also increase the FDR after the engine had reached the drop off power point in terms of gearing this would allow more gears, at least I think.

[Q-Hack!]

I am not referring to coolant flow rather the exhaust stroke. Going from 2500 rpms to 450 rpms does not allow the engine to let the residual heat escape. This cause the combustion chamber to overheat, realistically only for a matter of seconds. A couple seconds can be pretty signifigant with the temperatures that are already present.
.

Ok, I think I understand what you are saying... Its like the difference between city driving and highway driving. City driving is harder on the drive train for much the same reason.