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Does putting car into P or N at red lights help extend auto transmission life? '10 Sonata 2.4 original owner 374 k. I don't accelerate hard at all, come to complete stop before R to D.
AT into N or P at red lights
- Thread starter Ant On Tuba
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Doubt it. I always heard that heat buildup is the main enemy while stopped for an extended period of time in D, but I doubt it’s really a factor at a stop light.
Don't really know the answer, but I bang the trans into neutral and take my foot off the brake pedal at almost every stop light (on level ground). Haven't changed a brake light bulb in many years if that helps
Well every time you put it back in gear the clutches slip just a tad as they engage.
All your actions would do is wear out your linkage.
Mine stay in drive at a light. In close to 50 years of driving I replaced one transmission pump, and bought one used car knowing it needed a transmission. The only time I put it in park or neutral is at a train crossing that I know is going to take a few minutes. The constant additional engagement and disengagement of the automatic transmission going into and out of drive is not doing it any favors. Just ask someone who actually rebuilds them. Having said that 374K for an automatic and still operating well is very good.
This is valid, but even more concerning: what are you going to do when you look in rear view and see cars flying side to side from a runaway semi, and you panic and hit the gas… and bang the rev limiter in neutral as you get plowed from behind??
This is also the reason in cars with manuals or on motorcycles I keep the trans in first with the clutch disengaged. Never know when you may need emergency acceleration!
There are a few lights around here where I end up waiting 5 minutes. I will put it in park then. Especially on the 2011, F150, which has "accelerated" a bit on its own while stopped in D, a few times. The 5 minute light happens when I'm the only vehicle on the sensor, as it won't give a green left turn arrow for just one vehicle. But when others show up, the green left turn happens next cycle.
In the McDonald's drive through one day, the 2011 started moving forward, so I put my foot harder on the brake. The brakes actually groaned a little under the strain, and I looked at my foot to make sure it was not on the gas pedal. It wasn't. I shut the thing off, restarted and it didn't happen again for quite some time. Over the last 12 years, it's happened a handful of times. Tach goes to 1500, and it will happen in Park too.
In the McDonald's drive through one day, the 2011 started moving forward, so I put my foot harder on the brake. The brakes actually groaned a little under the strain, and I looked at my foot to make sure it was not on the gas pedal. It wasn't. I shut the thing off, restarted and it didn't happen again for quite some time. Over the last 12 years, it's happened a handful of times. Tach goes to 1500, and it will happen in Park too.
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6R80 in your 11 F150?
Hardly any heat buildup sitting in drive. But going in and out of drive, each driveline component is unloaded/loaded, and may “bang” against each other, so there’s a bit of wear there, and who knows what inside of the trans. So I don’t at a light. Now stopped in traffic? different, I’ll shift into park, if I think I’m going to be stopped for a while. But this doesn’t happen often, and I’m not worried about trans wear.
On my manual trans cars, yeah I’d shift into neutral, give my foot a break. Or not, sometimes I’d just sit with the clutch in for a minute or more. Supposedly that wears on the throwout bearing, and the thrust bearing in the engine, but neither have given me grief in my years of driving.
Not worried about not being in gear and having some runaway car bearing down on me, while stopped at a light—never had a car that could get out of its way to deal with that appropriately.
On my manual trans cars, yeah I’d shift into neutral, give my foot a break. Or not, sometimes I’d just sit with the clutch in for a minute or more. Supposedly that wears on the throwout bearing, and the thrust bearing in the engine, but neither have given me grief in my years of driving.
Not worried about not being in gear and having some runaway car bearing down on me, while stopped at a light—never had a car that could get out of its way to deal with that appropriately.
Yes, correct. It's the 6 speed and 3.5L EB engine. About 150K miles now, the transmission does occasionally gag too. Mostly on cold startup, where it stays in 3rd gear and won't shift up or down.
My 2009 F150 has the same trans, nearly 200K miles and no issues.
That's a long shot, tow trucks pull cars in Park all the time. The tires slip. Besides, you've got someone to sue if that happens.
My 2000 Honda Odyssey eats transmissions, on my third one. I also change 3 quart's of atf every 10,000 miles, that's what the sump holds.
There is at total of 9 quarts in the transmission.
Van has 265,000 miles on it.
So yes, at lights longer than a minute or 2, I put it in neutral, never in park as it has been said, being rear ended will do a lot of damage to the transmission in park.
There is at total of 9 quarts in the transmission.
Van has 265,000 miles on it.
So yes, at lights longer than a minute or 2, I put it in neutral, never in park as it has been said, being rear ended will do a lot of damage to the transmission in park.
I've never done this. I just leave it in D. The clutches aren't slipping when stopped in a normally operating trans. You're going to generate a small amount of heat in the torque converter, but it's not a whole lot unless you're power braking the thing. I don't see the need in generating additional wear in the clutch plates by shifting out of drive and back into it if you're stopped.
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