into and out of neutral

[PTDixieGal]

I was shifting into neutral...had it there for a second or two but accidentally bumped it into reverse. I felt a couple of bumps but immediately put it back in neutral and then into drive. I did not hear anything strange on the way home. I think my car (07 PT Cruiser, automatic) has one of those things that helps prevent you from shifting into the wrong gear. I was wondering if anyone knew of anything to watch out for (meaning if I could have long term trouble because of this). I only had it in reverse for a second, max.

[bestmapman]

If you do start having trouble. Don't tell anybody it happened. I mean nobody.

[PTDixieGal]

Well right now I wouldn't know what to watch for...what should I watch for?

[kwj]

PTDixieGal, someone else recently did this. So far, I've not heard of him experiencing any long term problems. But, I remember in that thread, people mentioned some things he could be on the lookout for. If you can't find that thread, Perhaps I can. I'll be looking.

How do you get it to go in reverse? Do you have to push a button, or switch a gate? If you've done it, I've gotta believe that others have. This is probably not a terribly uncommon occurance. In fact, I recall doing this with my first car. As I recall, it thumped and shook a bit (the shaking could have just been me). It caused no damage.

What speed were you travelling at the time of your "indescretion"?

[PTDixieGal]

35 mph or less, I was slowing down. And I think I know what thread you're talking about but he was in a manual and I'm in an automatic.

[kwj]

Hi Again PTDixieGal. Here is a thread with Automatics getting shifted into reverse accidently, from neutral: Re: Automatic Transmission - Shifting back & forth to neutral is safe?

Perhaps if you can find that thread, you can contact those who have accidentally done this (via the private message feature) and find out what the end result was?

[Right Lane Cruiser]

Actually, the thread was this one:

Help! Bad situation while hypermiling...

His is also an auto. Have a read through the responses.

The gist of it is that the shifter you have for your auto is nothing more than a big electrical switch which sends requests to the engine control unit -- that is what does the shifting for you. You can convince yourself of this by shifting to R and not releasing the button -- you'll notice the car doesn't go into R until you let go of the button.

There are safeguards to help prevent an unsafe shift and they depend upon proper rev matching as well as other variables (such as speed at the time of shifting from D or N to R). Any bumps you felt were likely not serious if they weren't very pronounced -- I would guess they would be the transmission trying to match speeds but not engaging R. Drive it for a bit and see if it acts normally. If it shifts properly and you don't hear any noises, I'd be inclined not to worry too much. If you know how you could check the transmission fluid for any metal particles, but I doubt you'd find any.

Any damage you could have done would be pretty obvious at this point.

[kwj]

PTDixieGal, notice at near the top of this page are some "Tags." If you click on the one that says "neutral," it will take you to a few threads with "neutral" in the title. One of those threads is titled "Shifting back and forth to neutral" or something very much like that. Open that thread. When you see the user names of those who have done such a misshift, you can contact them using the "private message" feature at the top left of your screen, and ask them what has happened since then.

[Akpsdvan]

Either way this use or miss use of neutral is going to make the shops real happy....

Is the added mpg's worth the cost at the shop for the manual or auto trans?

[PTDixieGal]

Originally Posted by Akpsdvan

Either way this use or miss use of neutral is going to make the shops real happy....

Excuse me? Misuse? You're talking to a newbie here.