Yeah, I was actually just referring to general instructions from nearly all auto manufacturers regarding towing cars with an automatic tranny. You ALWAYS have to lift any 'driven' wheels. Whether it's FWD, RWD, or AWD, you must lift its driven wheels. When you refer to seeing a jeep being flat towed, it's most likely a manual tranny. Additionally, jeeps and other 4x4 vehicles have a transfer case that can be shifted to neutral, thereby disconnecting the engine and tranny entirely from the driveshafts; totally different scenario!

Oh, and rolling through a car wash is not an issue given the short distance and speeds involved.

NOT EVEN CLOSE!

Differences are huge

 

vq, good point! i keep forgetting that the jeeps have those options.

i'm beginning to wonder about the car wash though....because doesn't the belt have a paddle that basically tows you by one wheel, and drags the others? i've never checked out how they work.

 

^^ Nope, there's no dragging any wheels at any carwashes I've seen. They just put it in neutral and the cars rolls through with the one wheel being motivated by their track mechanism.

 

Anyone know how to prevent the car from downshifting and revving the engine when going down hill?

I go down this long hilly street everyday and it eventually flattens out at the end for 1/4 a mile. What annoys me about the G35x is that it won't coast and pick up speed as I go down the hill if I don't have my foot on the gas.

It always downshifts and I get this surge/slow down feel.

In all of my other cars, I just coast down the hill and without my foot on the gas, I would go from 30MPH to 50-60MPH then coast ALL the way down the road to the end.

With the G35x, I try and coast it but it just stays at 30MPH and sometimes even slows down even more to 25MPH then at the end portion of the road, I have to use the gas pedal...

 

Well, you can try two things: Shift into manual mode and select the highest gear, or shift into neutral and coast.

 

Well is the transmissions are similar to those in other cars, you are causing a great deal of wear and tear on your transmission by coasting in neutral down a hill


This is not the most technical explanation, but basically when in neutral, and rolling down a hill, the internals are still spinning but there the system is not pressurized which keeps the transmission cooled, lubricated

The reason this does not effect a manual, is because when you put it in neutral, you are disengaging the transmission parts effected


As for the car wash think about it, how much heat/ friction are you going to build up in a transmission going 40 feet at 1 mph vs rolling down a hill at 70MPG for several miles?

Thats why you can put it through the car wash, but not tow it in neutral with the rear wheels down.

While the damage will not be immediate, you are taking life off of your transmission

 

GT500 is right, when i first read this i thought who would do such a ridiculous thing, rev-matching or not, your tranny output shaft is spinning pretty fast while your idleing the motor, and the tranny eternals.. its just stupid....

 

1+ for GNN Never put an auto in neutral and coast down hills. Your still spinning out put shaft at high rpm and you trans pump is barely spinning. So you can cook your transmission fluid which will cause trans Clutches to wear faster amongst other possible problems. And gas saving is very little if any.

 

1+ for GNN Never put an auto in neutral and coast down hills. Your still spinning out put shaft at high rpm and you trans pump is barely spinning. So you can cook your transmission fluid which will cause trans Clutches to wear faster amongst other possible problems. And gas saving is very little if any.

 

No gas savings and no benefits to putting it in N, I dont get why anyone would do this.

 

I know alot of you are saying there are no gas savings in doing this but it really feels like you are saving gas because you dont feel the car being slowed down by the down shifting and engine braking when in D and it actually coasts like regular cars when in N. Or you can do the ECU reset and it will coast and roll when you let go of the gas pedal (this works for like the first few days and then it goes back to slowing down after it learns your driving habits)

 

I think you're better off just putting it into manual mode and making sure the car is in 5th. I think that's all us 5AT folks can do in that scenario in terms of gas savings going down hills.