Gear or Neutral on Stop light?
 

I been driving manual transmision all my life, so im used to using the neutral gear a lot, ( going down hill, for slowing down, etc) I know that i cant or shouldn't do that with my automatic one now... but...
what about red lights?

When you get to a stop light and you remain in "drive" [D], with your breaks on I feel/hear like the car its forcing itself, if I shift to Neutrl [N] the revs go down a little bit and it feels a bit more idle... if you make the transition from D to N with the brakes on, its a "soft" transition so Im gessing there is no aditional wear... so? whats better? N or D on a stop light?
any scientific aproach for this?

All ATX have a little "crawl" that pulls them forward. Just leave your foot on the brakes when you're at a light and it'll be fine. It's supposed to do that so don't worry that you're hurting the engine.

If you're going to be sitting for awhile then yeah, go ahead and stick it in park.

24 hits and 1 answer to the poll.... (2 with mine) :( makes me wanna poopy on my pants....

give it time, more people will vote and/or post with there opinion

it doesnt really matter whether you're in neutral or drive... the engine and transmission are designed to be able to idle in either position. the only difference is whether or not you want to hold down the break, or whether you're on an incline, and need to hold down the breaks anyway.

i personally don't bother slipping it in neutral unless i know it's gonna be a long light.

oops, didn't read the whole thing before i voted. i've never known anyone to put an auto in neutral at stops. except the ghetto cars that won't idle :P

Does anyone know when the tourque converter kicks in (RPM niumber)?? Just curious.

Leave it in drive...less wear and tear on all those little tiny valves and ports and mechanicals inside the tranny.

torque converter is always active, when the car is in drive. there is no RPM limit when it activates. It's called a torque converter because it converts the pure mechanical motion of the engine into pure torque, or pure force.

In a manual transmission, The engine is directly connected to the wheels, mechanically. When the wheels stop, the engine stops, unless you use the clutch the disengage the engine. In an auto, the transmission is always connected, no clutch. Instead of the pure mechanical motion found in a mechanical transmission, There is pure torque, which can be countered simply by using the brakes, without stopping the engine, so long as the brakes equal the force put out by the engine, and there is enough gas going in the engine to keep it idling.

Also, there should be no significant additional wear by putting the transmission into neutral at lights, or while coasting. The transmission is designed to operate in neutral. I personally prefer coasting to red lights in neutral, because it saves a tiny bit of gas, and the car will coast farther in neutral than with an engaged engine with a closed throttle.

Dont you feel a "pull" when you swith to neutral while moving? I Used to drive a chevy malibu and whenever I switched to neutral I Felt that, and if I cruised to a halt, I could actually hear a clank noise and feel like if the transmition were hitting something when coming to a complete stop... then i Stoped cruising on N and just using it a stop lights... hehehe and then a friend toldme... why do you change to N on the redlight? ---- and i said... I dunno, that was the reason for this post in the first place

Im using [D] all the time now...

no, there's no pull... in my mazda3, when i switch to neutral from drive while moving, the only difference is that the deceleration is smaller. When i switch to drive from neutral wihle moving, though, I don't just engage the engine... i rev it up to where I know the RPMs need to be, plus or minus about 250.

if it feels as though the car comes to a sudden halt when braking to a stop from neutral, its normal... if you aren't used to driving a manual, where coasting in neutral is a natural thing, then braking against no engine pull will feel as though the brakes are too strong, or that the car is stopping way too fast.

I haven't benn driving stick for too too long, so that might back me up in saying that I alternate frequently between neutral and first gear. i travel in new jersey a lot and some of their traffic lights are like 5 freakin minutes long !!!! who the hell would want to keep their foot pressed on a clutch that long?? not me.

well the issue isn't with manual transmissions... those are no doubt meant to stay in neutral... the car cycles through the neutral stage every time you shift gears. but in automatics, the question is if it causes undue wear and tear to shift into neutral at stop lights, instead of pressing on the brake?

Back when I had my first car, I had to put the car in park at long red lights. The brake master cylinder was pitted and brake fluid would leak past the piston. If I stayed on the brake pedal it would slowly sink to the floor. Then I had no brakes until I pumped the pedal again. But with every auto car I've had since then, I usually just leave the car in drive.

my bad... wasn't really paying attention. i've had 3 autos and all 3 cars, the car went in park at long lights and left in drive at short lights and as for stop signs, well we coined the term "south philly slide"