I heard that it’ll save you some gas if you throw you vehicle in neutral while idling?

A mechanic friend of mine said it doesn’t make any difference gas-wise, but that since you keep shifting gears, you wear out the car faster.

It does, but it’s so minimal that it’s not worth effort.

You could possibly save $1 of gas if you did it on a full gas tank.

I’m no expert but I do put it in neutral whenever I can because I figure if the car is idling versus in gear, it will be using less gas.

When I’m idling I do that, and I can see my gas gauge go up.

exactly.. that is what neutral used for…..

This sounds like a matter for Mythbusters????? Ask them to prove it

As long as your car is on, gas is being used. If the car is in neutral, the transmission is fine, because it is in neutral. It saves a little gas I guess because you aren’t pulling the car. If you are waiting for a light, and driving stick, your car should be in neutral anyway…

a good way to save fuel, you push and i drive!!!!

bollocks – it will use the same amount of fuel if it is ineutral or not, its not driving engine in any case if you are stopped.

No, that was a tale that went around the last time gas prices skyrocketed.

I believe it reduces the oil circulating around the engine/gearbox if you do and could cause major damage.

Yes, but not very much. The newer hybrid cars coming out actually turn themself off at a stop light.

Yeah and down hill ETC…. but its hard on automatic transmissions, so only do it in stick shifts.

only at stop lights. when stuck in traffic its ok to slip it in N. unless you will be there for some time then shut it off……it will make it easier for us to breath better.

Not neccessarily I believe the car idles higher while its in neutral, burning more gas.

And shutting off your car will use more gas to turn it back on, unless off course you will be sitting for a real long time.

Your car at idle, whether in gear or not, is not using much gas. Taking it out of gear won’t make much of a difference at all.

You’re going to save gas if you accelerate more slowly and smoothly, and avoid speeding up & slowing down on the highway.

No, only if you are rolling down a slope it will save gas. When you stand, the RPMs of your motor are the same whether you are holding breaks or idle on neutral

Only if you have a stick. Most slushboxes should not be thrown into neutral unless you are trying to start or need to turn off the car rapidly and can’t do it in park.

When I used to drive stick, I noticed gas lasted longer because I was on neutral when I wasn’t shifting.

Very little difference as you are not going anywhere.. its still idling.. To save gas stop the car if you are in a line that isnt moving

it will definitly hert ur car and the inviromint and it wont save U gas cuz u use the same amount or more if ur idiling if U in a trafficjam just shut ur car off

Its very Dangerous and unsafe and doesnt really save you more the a nickel.
when you go to start again you could hit reverse,plus it puts more wear and tear on the shifter, so in the end it will cost you more.

At a light, 1 1/2 -2 min., negligible. No damage.
For any length of time, 4-5 min. Shut down.

If you are sitting still, your automatic transmission has you pretty much in neutral already (not quite the same, but very close). Mostly, gasoline is just being used to keep the engine itself running.

The bottom line is that any savings in gas that you get from doing this would probably be so small as to be undetectable by you. If you forget to put in back in gear before accelerating, however, you may do some damage to your engine.

You are better off simply accelerating slowly and leaving plenty of following distance between you and the car in front of you so that you don’t have to speed up and slow down as often to compensate for the actions of other drivers.

I also heard that learning english makes you seem like less of a moron.

It won’t save you enough to waste the energy to do it..

It won’t damage the tranny

For the amount of fuel you’d save, it’s really not worth the bother.

if its stick, i heard its less strain on the clutch….. but if you have an auto, then this is a dumb question

The engines RPM’s go higher, when you put the transmission into neutral. The engine will use more fuel to idle. Also, every time you shift gears, more heat is created in the transmission. My husband and I have a friend who is an engineer(and mechanic). Oh, by the by, I’m refering to an automatic transmission.

Yes, only if you have an automatic transmission. On automatic trans. the auto clutch is fighting the engine so the engine is working harder than needed resulting in more fuel consumption to keep the engine running. In a manual tans car by pushing in the clutch you basically are doing the same thing. It works I do it all of the time.

If your car is idle for even 30 seconds, putting car in neutral zone is good from both the perspective, for gas as well as car maintenance. But taking neutral and within seconds if you pull it back to drive gear, you will be using more fuel and putting more pressure of your vehicle.

You won’t save that much gas, think of it, you can’t possibly drive in neautral! Plus it is against the law and very dangerous!

I heard an interview with a ‘Hyper miler’ (someone who drives their car to maximize mileage) who talked about turning off the engine for long lights. He said that restarting a car is equal to about 7 seconds of idling, and so you should turn off the engine at long lights. He recommended coasting down hills (put the car in neutral, etc) whenever possible, assuming you have a manual tranmission. However, he did not address if all of this restarting the engine, etc. was okay for the long term of the car.

IMHO, idling in neutral will not make much difference. But, look at the tachometer when you are idling and compare. If the tach doesn’t change based on your gear, then no gas savings, the same RPMs is the same gas.

Evening your all talkin bollox

the truth is if you drive along the road and depress the clutch whilst in gear and hold it down whilst the car is moving then you save fuel, not much . for that short amount of time the fuel doesn`t get thru or something like that…..

If you’re in an extended traffic jam, turn off the motor. 1 hour of idle time uses 2.2 gallons of gas.