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Did Reverse at 65mph murder my trans?

7K views 27 replies 18 participants last post by  Woodman 
#1 ·
Well I never thought THIS would ever happen...like I mean never at all. Was taught by a friend who's almost done with his college automotive courses to shift to Neutral when I go up exit ramps leaving the highways and interstate roads, as well as when going down big hills. He claims it saves gas a little bit and he knows I have a small leak so I need to save every drop of 87 octane I can. Today at 65mph I firmly put the shifter into Neutral and coasted up the ramp to the stop light, then the car jerked a tiny bit before it literally went to Reverse on it's own AT 65 MILES PER HOUR :facepalm:

The car sounded like it "screamed in pain" for a second before the engine died and it coasted up to a stop at the road side. I restarted in Park, and it appears to drive in every selectable gear I have.

What's the least amount of damage, most commonly broken part in this situation, and some tell-tale signs to look/hear/feel for in the event the damage shows up later on? This all happened in about 2 seconds flat before I stopped the car and restarted it. And no I don't coast in Neutral anymore lol.

Car is a '94 Cougar 4.6l 2v w/4R70W
 
#2 ·
Sorry this happened to you.
Not that this will help you but instead of listening to a guy who hasn't even graduated from his "automotive courses" (which sounds more like a jr college curriculum than something say an automotive engr would have taken), here's what I found from google:
http://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/hybrid-electric/a5977/coasting-in-neutral-fuel-economy/

If you are really that worried about what could have been damaged, you might consider draining and refilling your transmission's ATF.
1) You can then see if there are any metal bits attached to the magnetic drain plug.
2) You can take a sample and send it to blackstone for testing.
http://www.blackstone-labs.com/transmission.php

In your shoes, I wouldn't worry about it nor would I waste any money for testing and/or ATF D&F unless that maintenance was overdue anyway. To me, it's like a staring at an EKG of your pet cat. Even if you did see something on there, what are you going to do about it? Spend $$$ to fix something if the cat is acting normal? Most likely (in the case of a cat), logic would dictate that leave it alone until it gets sick and then you'll consider fixing it. If it dies and you get another one. In the case of your transmission, I suspect you will do the same. After all, why replace a transmission unless it really goes out?
-g
 
#8 · (Edited)
shifting in to N on ramps and downhill is just plain ... unnecessary.
This...

The engine turns off fuel to the injectors while coasting under many circumstances, as long as the torque converter stays locked (which it will when coasting unless you depress the brake pedal). If your goal is to save gas, drive normally. If you shift into neutral, it can't enter coasting fuel shut-off because the wheels can't drive the engine through the trans, and the engine basically idles against the unlocked converter. Your deceleration rate will decrease, and your fuel consumption will increase. So as you can see, CFSO not only reduces fuel consumption, but provides enhanced engine braking.

As for your transmission... The torque converter would have unlocked as soon as you put the shifter into N (and R, for that matter), then the clutches for the reverse set of gears would have started to apply. With an un J-modded trans, that would have been a somewhat "sluggish" process - so chances are, you simply stalled out the engine due to the 'cushion' of the unlocked torque converter against the "sluggish" application of the reverse clutches. If anything was to have broken as a result of this, it would have already. The fact that you weren't on the gas when it happened was also a blessing.
 
#5 ·
Sounds like you got lucky. My brother managed to shift his 98 F150 into reverse at 25~ish mph and it ended up costing him a rearend and a trans. Sheared teeth off the ring gear and I'm not really sure what broke in the trans. but anytime it was put into a gear it sounded like an impact gun hammering on a stuck bolt.

What I WOULD be more concerned about is the fuel leak personally. Won't do you any good to fix the trans. if the car goes up in flames. I hope you park it outside and away from any structures. I'll take a wild guess that it's leaking somewhere around the rear tire area?
 
#17 · (Edited by Moderator)
FordMan I do plan on fixing that fuel leak in a few days. I park behind my garage for the time being until it's fixed, I was waiting until I had enough to do my ignition system, fuel lines all the way to the filter (maybe more), my throttle position sensor wires to the PCM, and possibly a trans fluid drain and fill. How did you guess it's leaking from the back tire? It's where the line goes between the area below the rear seat and top of the tank (the pump sending unit area)

I did that to my mom's then new 1995 Thunderbird when I was 16. Some retard told me you could shift an auto like a manual. So this retard tried it. I think ended up shifting all the way to R though I think I must have only been at the 1-2 WOT what ever speed that is. Lucky for me it just made a horrible noise and stalled. They put another 150,000 on it with no trouble. Poor car.
Freddy this made me feel so much better after reading! That's EXACTLY what my car did, horrible noise and then stalled. I pray I get at least 100,000 miles more out of the car with proper maintenance and NOT letting this happen again!
 
#6 ·
I did that to my mom's then new 1995 Thunderbird when I was 16. Some retard told me you could shift an auto like a manual. So this retard tried it. I think ended up shifting all the way to R though I think I must have only been at the 1-2 WOT what ever speed that is. Lucky for me it just made a horrible noise and stalled. They put another 150,000 on it with no trouble. Poor car.
 
#7 ·
As someone who has done that with C4, C5, C6, and AOD transmissions, I can say the only one that did anything but kill the engine was the C6. All of the cars lived long and through lots of further abuse. The C6 locked up the tires for quite awhile.

And coasting is never a good idea, nor is listening to anyone taking college automotive classes :)
 
#9 ·
I wonder-- if it had been J-modded, would the lack of "sluggishness" have allowed further damage?
As someone who has done that with C4, C5, C6, and AOD transmissions, I can say the only one that did anything but kill the engine was the C6. All of the cars lived long and through lots of further abuse. The C6 locked up the tires for quite awhile.
Do you do this experiment with all your cars..?
 
#11 ·
Aside from everything else mentioned, keeping it in gear allows engine braking as you are going up an off-ramp.

Not to mention, it appears to be illegal to put your car in neutral in some locations.

Al
 
#14 ·
Not to mention, it appears to be illegal to put your car in neutral in some locations.

Al

It is illegal in the US period.
 
#23 ·
What if you do a manual 2-3 shift at WOT? Nothing stopping it from going into N and bouncing off the rev limiter a few times.

I remember when I drove my Toyota the first time. I thought I would be slick and manually shift it from a dig. My 1-2 shift ended up being a 1-N shift, skipped 2 gears. This is what prompted me to make a new shift gate with neutral lock-out.

Al
 
#28 ·
I always pushed forward till the resistance lessened, then pulled back.. but that was when I was a kid in my parent's car. Once I learned to just let the auto shift itself, it was never much of an issue for me. :)

I do prefer stick shifts though.
 
#24 ·
My folks had a '78 Granada thanks to my Ford Grandpa. I was in high school when I was coached by my big brother to use neutral going down hills to save gas. I ended up going into reverse with a clunk and later the rear end on the Granada was replaced.
 
#26 ·
There's five monkeys on this forum. you cant' be wrench money anymore.
Next one gets changed to "Gerbil_Lover 69", lol.

That's either SP or Simpsons, lol.
 
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