May 9, 2011
So is it true that freeing your car doesn’t save you fuel?
I used to think it did. Then I heard that you actually save more fuel when going downhill, if you leave your car in gear and just take your foot off the petrol pedal. (Instead of taking it out of gear and pushing down the clutch) So which one is true, and why? How does it work?
DJ, honestly I don’t know what you’re on about. The oil spill is even more reason to try and save fuel where ever possible.
Related Product:
Halo: Combat EvolvedMODEL- MS-CD46618WI VENDOR- MICROSOFT CORPORATION FEATURES- Microsoft Halo PC 1.0: Combat Evolved Halo PC 1.0 Win32 English NA DVD Box CD.... Read More >
Related Posts
Filed under Gas Conservation FAQ by on May 9th, 2011. Comment. 
Leave a Comment
Comments on So is it true that freeing your car doesn’t save you fuel?
DID YOU JUST SAY TO LEAVE THE CAR IN NUETRAL…AND LET IT GO DOWNHILL???…LOL….SAVING GAS??????….THE EARTH JUST OPENED UP FROM A MAJOR PIPELINE AND SPILLED 1 MILLION GALLONS OF OIL….CLOSED IT UP AND THE PRICE OF GAS JUST DROPPED 10 CENTS SO SO YOU CAN COAST DOWNHILL???…LOL…..I NEED A PET.
It saves more fuel if you keep the car in gear (in a fuel injected vehicle). When you are going downhill, the momentum of the car keeps on turning the transmission, and therefore the engine. The control unit senses this and shuts off the engine’s fuel supply until the vehicle’s revolutions go below a threshold value (usually around 1200-1500 rpm).
If you were to free downhill in neutral, the engine needs fuel to keep turning over, so in effect you are using as much fuel as you would standing still at a red light.
If you are referring to a stick shift rather than an automatic (I’m guessing since you mention pushing down on the clutch), then it’s never a good idea to “ride” the clutch. Technically you could shift into neutral to coast whenever you wanted (works different in an automatic as one of the answers below is talking about – you wouldn’t want to go to neutral in that case), but the best way to save fuel is to keep your “pedal” as steady as possible (or use cruise control) as the constant pushing and letting off of the gas tends to use more fuel
Please please please don’t do this on public roadways. I don’t care how fast you are at getting back into gear, freewheeling downhill in neutral means that you will have less reaction time should you need to get into gear and accelerate & swerve around a hazard. Control your vehicle. Walk more if you want to save gas, or buy a bicycle/scooter/motorcycle. Don’t roll your 2-ton anvil down hills without any drive to the wheels.