Ran across some reading material over the past year or so that indicated some of my automatic transmission habits are wrong, and possibly harmful. Well, been doing them for over 40 yrs. The last 2 automatic transmissions I had went over 200K miles (older vehicles - a 1988 and 1997). But, being Bitog, I'm always looking for ways to fix any problems with how I operate/maintain my cars. Heck, I was driving 4 and 6 speed manual transmissions for over 20 yrs before I found out about rev matching, double clutch, etc.....go figure! Over the past 2 years I've read numerous articles/blogs on manual shifting and think I've worked out most of those kinks....and there were quite a few...lol.
Here's the list of what I think I do wrong in my automatic transmission. Many of these are centered around shifting into neutral before the car is fully stopped.
1. I'll often roll very slowly down the driveway in neutral with brake lightly applied, then slip it into "drive" as I roll into the clear street at approx 1-2 mph. (this is normal front end first decent)
2. When backing out of the driveway in "reverse," I'll often slip out of reverse into neutral a few seconds before I shift back to drive....coasting at approx 1-2 mph while I come to a stop. I do wait until the car is stopped before engaging "drive." Ideally I won't have to apply the brakes if I'm backing into a slight up-grade.
3. While stopped at longer lights where it may be 30 seconds or longer, I'll put it in "neutral" (or park), especially on hot summer days. Read somewhere where more heat is generated in the transmission while stopped in "drive" with brake applied.
4. While in "drive" at approx 40 mph and I want to speed up the shift to 3rd (for whatever reason and w/o losing speed), I have slapped it in neutral, rev matched to approx 2000 rpm, then shifted to "third." Most of those have felt pretty smooth. Don't do it often.
How many of 1,2,3,4 are just plain wrong/harmful? And if so, what part of the trans am I over-stressing? Or is it all of no consequence? Are there other common faults practiced by most drivers? Maybe I missed some of them?
Flame Away.
Here's the list of what I think I do wrong in my automatic transmission. Many of these are centered around shifting into neutral before the car is fully stopped.
1. I'll often roll very slowly down the driveway in neutral with brake lightly applied, then slip it into "drive" as I roll into the clear street at approx 1-2 mph. (this is normal front end first decent)
2. When backing out of the driveway in "reverse," I'll often slip out of reverse into neutral a few seconds before I shift back to drive....coasting at approx 1-2 mph while I come to a stop. I do wait until the car is stopped before engaging "drive." Ideally I won't have to apply the brakes if I'm backing into a slight up-grade.
3. While stopped at longer lights where it may be 30 seconds or longer, I'll put it in "neutral" (or park), especially on hot summer days. Read somewhere where more heat is generated in the transmission while stopped in "drive" with brake applied.
4. While in "drive" at approx 40 mph and I want to speed up the shift to 3rd (for whatever reason and w/o losing speed), I have slapped it in neutral, rev matched to approx 2000 rpm, then shifted to "third." Most of those have felt pretty smooth. Don't do it often.
How many of 1,2,3,4 are just plain wrong/harmful? And if so, what part of the trans am I over-stressing? Or is it all of no consequence? Are there other common faults practiced by most drivers? Maybe I missed some of them?
Flame Away.