Better gas mileage engine braking

[GT-Nitrous]

I always figured that sticking it in neutral and coasting was the ultimate in gas mileage... then i read an article in Car and Drive (i think). it said that when you leave it in neutral and coast the computer will open up the fuel injectors every once in a while to keep the cylinders from shutting off completely (something along those lines) and that you get better gas mileage just engine braking. how true is this?

[Need4Spd]

Do yourself a favor and never be in neutral unless you are going 5mph or are stopped. You don't have the control over the car you need when you are in neutral.. what if you need to accelerate out of a bad/dangerous emergency situation? In my opinion, a major sign of a driver who sucks at driving stick is one who throws the car into neutral long before reaching a red light or a stop sign. Either double clutch and downshift or leave the car in gear until JUST before stopping.

As for whether that article is true.. I'm not sure.. sounds like it could be. But IMO, even if it isn't.. coasting in neutral is a stupid way to save gas.

[bagodoosh]

Originally posted by Need4Spd
In my opinion, a major sign of a driver who sucks at driving stick is one who throws the car into neutral long before reaching a red light or a stop sign.

i dont follow your reasoning; and for the part that i understand, i dont agree.

give me some real world example(s) that a person is on the brink of coming to a stop then suddenly needs to accelerate (assuming with most car's accelerations he's successful in avoiding this otherwise disasterous situation).

only thing i can think of that requires throttle is to keep the car in balance, for example in a turn.

as for original topic, i dont see the difference of neutral @ 80mph versus neutral @ 0mph; however my car does. over 60mph the revs drop to 0. the ECU blips the revs back up to 1000 (repeatedly). sometimes the car stalls. i have a shortram. i dont recall my stock intake doing this. although i had the intake long before i noticed it. so they could not be related. anyway.. my theory is at that speed the incoming air chokes the engine.

it has an advantage though.. you lose less speed than in gear. if you time it nicely, you wont need to apply as much throttle to come back up to speed.
on the highway however i think it may be more worthwhile to attempt to keep at speed, unless there's a down slope, than to lose speed and accerate back up.
but over all i think the saved fuel for such practice is minimal.

i have not heard of open fuel injectors at idle.

[Toy Yoda]

Could you not simply push the clutch all the way in (while still in gear), thus getting the lowered RPMs of neutral coasting, and the ability to evade whatever unexpected obstacles pop up by simply releasing the clutch and going?

[Sirk_2]

But then you burn your clutch out...think about it.

[vvtlikick]

Originally posted by Toy Yoda
Could you not simply push the clutch all the way in (while still in gear), thus getting the lowered RPMs of neutral coasting, and the ability to evade whatever unexpected obstacles pop up by simply releasing the clutch and going? No. :)

It's not good to hold the clutch pedal down for extended periods (I think it harms the throwout bearing), and if you release the clutch without first revmatching you could have a rough, potentally dangerous clutch engagement.

I say the clutch engagement could be dangerous because the car would be upset by a sudden burst of engine braking, and if you're swerving to avoid a accident or something, :ugh:. At the very least, you'd get whiplash :gap:

If you're in a high gear, where rpms would be close to idle, then you don't need to revmatch, but you won't see much power in gear either ;)

[LaW]

riding the clutch is bad :) so no you can't do that

I also disagree with need4spd about people taht put it in nuetral are bad driving stick. Sure brakes can only help you so much and the argument taht you do not have full control is plausible .... its really your choice :) it is not going to hurt yoru car either way, brakes are cheaper then syncros and **** if you downshift poorly

[djm221]

To answer the question, the article in Car and Driver mentioned that while engine braking with the throttle closed, the fuel injectors are off - hence you save gas. If you just coast in neutral, they are open a little to maintain idle. So, depending on the situtation, engine braking would dave more gas than coasting in neutral.

And for that argument that you should never have it in neutral in case you have to suddenly accelerate, please, that's just plain nonsense. Please describe a situation where that would make any difference.

[Toy Yoda]

Thanks for the education...

I'm a n00b when it comes to stick, so it's good to know that clutch riding is bad.

[Chris25NJ]

yes very stupid to coast in nuetral for reasons already stated....in NJ if you go take your driving test in a manual and coast in nuetral as described, you'll fail.

[LaW]

its not stupid to coast in nuetral, where do you get this ****? oh man... sure I see the argument for not wanting to coast but its not as bad as you make it out to be :)


http://www.sears.com/data/product_images/tools/large/00965327000-dlv.jpg

[NoRulzAt140 Mph]

i pop in nuetral if im going 30 mph or less. its a habit. but u guys act like stopinng in neutral is to not having control, as driving in reverse with ur eyes closed is to not having contorol....lol