I always appreciate your straight talk ! So, Scotty, give this miserly ol' Viet Vet some straight talk.... when traveling with my '07 Toy Tacoma 4x4 Quad Cab (4.0L v6 / Automatic).... when faced with a long downhill run, I tend to throw the trans into Neutral and coast, knowing that I'll pick up speed/use the brakes lightly to slow, but trying to let the engine loaf along and save a bit of gas... Is this a good practice? I've always thought that so long as the engine is running, the auto transmission is getting fluids pumped around and no harm / no foul... and... maybe... squeeze a little gas savings. I do not do this when towing my boat, thinking that I may want to make sure that I have a little engine braking available. Looking forward to the response.
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From what I've researched, in modern cars if you are in gear and you are engine breaking down a hill, the computer immediately cuts off fuel to your injectors and your wheels are what keep your engine turning over. This is up until a certain point and then once your rpms get almost down to an idle your computer will start sending fuel again so your engine will stay running. So technically you are saving more fuel by just leaving it gear downhill. Plus it's always safer to leave it gear just in case you need to accelerate quickly. The engine breaking will help control your speed. You don't want to be riding your brakes all the time.
When gliding down hill and no foot on the gas the engine is using little to no gas at all. I would leave it in gear.
