Manual car question: When driving a manual car to save on diesel is it bad rolling up to a stop sign? If it wasn’t bad would it be okay to cost down long hills and or for long amounts of time? If not a good idea why & what’s the worst that could happen to engine??? THANK YOU FOR HELPING ME WITH THIS QUESTION 😉
adam
I put from 3rd or 2nd in neutral when stopping at traffic lights. I wouldn't do that while driving downhill.
And Scotty's opinion
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGlbJ-O68hs
coasting down long steep hills in gear. Yes, it's a good way to control your vehicle descent and keep your brakes from overheating. Just be careful downshifting on snow or slick surfaces. The sudden increase in rolling resistance can cause the tires to lose traction and send your vehicle into a skid. When you lift your foot off the gas pedal coasting, modern vehicles will shut off the fuel injectors so it does save fuel. (but so does braking)
Coasting down hills in neutral. Dangerous. Never do it. There is absolutely no justification for it.
Engine be braking is not good especially for your transmission. It is better to use brake instead.
If you mean coasting with your engine turned off, no never do that!!
Going downhill in neutral for extended periods of time will certainly cause your brakes to fade, or worse, overheat & it may turn into a senseless, life threatening situation for you.
Again, NEVER turn off your engine while you’re still rolling down the road. The minuscule amount of fuel saved is not worth it (on the contrary, one could argue that you’ll waste more fuel when you restart the engine).
If you turn off the engine, you have to push brake pedal extra hard to stop the car. I tried it once and never again.
Yes, because you lose vacuum assist. Not to mention power steering.
It is actually illegal to coast in neutral. As for engine braking, it was recommended by EricTheCarGuy.
As for engine breaking, I understand the idea behind the video from the previous answer, but you need to take it with a grain of salt. Your judgement will be the best answer in a situation like that. Of course you ideally don't want to engine break at 6000 RPM every single time you slow down, but if you downshift at 3500 RPM from time to time your engine is not going to die tomorrow either. But you are not a semi-haul diesel truck either.
As for coasting down hills, I assume you mean coasting as in putting it in neutral and letting the car roll while braking from time to time, I don't think it is any more harmful than having it in gears. However, BE CAREFUL, if you are going downhill in slippery conditions (rain, snow, ice, dust, ...) and you coast in neutral, you lose a bit of traction that being a gear would provide, and it could be enough to lose control. Again, trust your judgement.
My grandfather said he did something like this in college, we live in the mountains so he would coast down the mountain, to class supposedly.
I coast in neutral all the time. Is it the safest? Probably not, but brakes are cheap and clutches/transmission are expensive.
I would definitely be leary of coasting in slippery conditions, like others have said though.
