Hi Scotty,
Im the owner of a 08 Honda Pilot 2WD and a 09 Pontiac Vibe AWD. I have a couple questions. Typically when Im in traffic that isnt moving at all or in drive thrus at restaurants I like to put my car in neutral. Am I doing any damage to the transmission by constantly going into neutral and then gear? 2nd I recently bought the Pontiac Vibe AWD which I’ve had to replace some things, Rear axle seals, electromagnetic coupler(A headache, yes I know more parts on a car the more things that fail.) I did get a good deal on it thankfully and need the AWD because I spend a lot of time in Colorado and Montana in the winter months. That being said I know the vehicle has the 2.4 ZA-FE engine which had tons of problems with the Rav4’s especially. Do you if the vibes with this engine had the same problems with the piston seals?
I like to put my car in neutral. Am I doing any damage to the transmission by constantly going into neutral and then gear?
Yes, you're wearing it out. There is no benefit to what you're doing and it's dangerous.
That being said I know the vehicle has the 2.4 ZA-FE engine which had tons of problems with the Rav4’s especially. Do you if the vibes with this engine had the same problems with the piston seals?
Those engines had bad piston rings and are prone to oil burning no matter which model vehicle they're in for the affected years.
A Master Toyota Tech, thecarcarenut, discussed this issue of using neutral very recently in a YouTube video titled: "NEVER do THIS to your Automatic Transmission." The section on the harms of using neutral begins at 11:46. (See below).
And, yes, there were problems with the 07-09 2AZ-FE. It's best mitigated with frequent (3-5K miles) oil changes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULcSauSJrsY
