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I read some gas saving tip and it mentions putting ATX cars in neutral at long stop lights or i guess whenever you're idling for a long time to save gas.

Is it bad to throw the car in neutral like that? Say at a red light and shiznit? or the drive through at mcdonalds?

definatly won't hurt anything shifting to N when you are just chillin at stops and drivethru's, if you've got MM inserts, you'll notice it idles a lot smoother with it out of gear.

I don't know about gas mileage but it will let the tranny cool a little.

The throttle position would still be at 0% either way.

Would the map sensor or the O2 sensor be able to detect a change in load?

If not then I say it won't help gas mileage, but if it does then if you do long periods of idleing it probably will help a bit.

The difference would be so minimal it probably wouldnt even be worth it. Now turning the car off completely is a different story. They say that if you plan on being stopped for more than 30 seconds it is wise to turn it off. This, in my opinion, is also good for only minimal gains in mileage, but if youre really lookin to save pennies then it's worth a shot. And no, it isnt bad at all to put the car in neutral.

But how much gas would be required to restart the car?

i think its just older carb'd engines that it was more efficient to keep it running.. since most carb'd cars you have to pump the gas pedal a lil prior to starting it, and a fuel injected car, just turns the pump on to whatever its regulated psi for idle is. what do you fella's think?

On a carbureted engine you don't have to pump the gas to set the choke when its warm. It will fire right up.

Did a quick google search...
Q. What is the worst mileage my car could possibly get, and how can I prevent it?
A. Believe it or not, the worst mileage your car can get is 0 miles per gallon. That happens when your car is idling, but not moving. In this case, it may be a good move to turn off the engine. Restarting uses about the same amount of gas as idling for 30 seconds. So if you find yourself waiting for a train to pass, or for your burger at the drive-thru window of a restaurant, try to estimate how long you'll be stopped. If it's more than 30 seconds, shut off the engine to save a little gas and pollute the air less

http://shellne.com/btrmiles.html

wow... good find. Really would never have thought about doing that. ( I still won't ) but it's good to know

gilly02le wrote:definatly won't hurt anything shifting to N when you are just chillin at stops and drivethru's, if you've got MM inserts, you'll notice it idles a lot smoother with it out of gear.

Yup, when I had my 01 3 speed ATX I always threw it in "N" at stop lights, the car ran sooooooo much better. My professor also said it helped keep things a tad bit cooler. Because when the car is in "D" it wants to go and your foot is on the brake keeping it from going.

As for racers find. I absolutley do that. When there is a train I always turn the car off.

I've been doing that for almost 2 years now. I also put it in neutral when going down big hills and stuff, etc. My longest coast in neutral is 4.1 miles on an interstate highway. I've find that it does help with gas mileage a little bit, and it has had no negative effects. So go ahead and do it.

the auto's i've driven idle lower in neutral than they do in gear, so yeah, you're probably going to save a minute amount of gas by doing this.

yeah i've been doing this at stop lights and burger stops from now on....i'm going to check my tranny level though seems to be kicking a bit when i first drive in the morning

is that a neon atx thing though? ugly shifts in the morning?

I shift my automatic into neutral if I think it will be a bit of a wait... for longer waits I will turn it off. The engine runs notably smoother when the transmission is in neutral.

Also, when driving around town and I have to come to a quick stop I will manually shift down into a lower gear... this doesn't happen too often.