Random Thoughts... [Automotive Edition]

You can't drop the clutch with an automatic. Or brakestand with drive by wire.

Have you tried revving in Neutral and then suddenly dropping to Drive?

(That's not very healthy for the clutches though...)

My Volvo with 170hp can't do smoking starts. Although, if the road is just a little wet...the car is all over the place if I am too heavy on the throttle. On one corner I get massive understeer, on the next one - the tail steps out...go figure :)

And while I am talking about the Volvo...today my axle started clicking. It was about time, the boot has been torn for more than a year now. Time for a replacement now.
 
I think my car requires you to hit the brake to get out of neutral, probably for that reason.

You can however shift into park when moving.....
 
Have you tried revving in Neutral and then suddenly dropping to Drive?

(That's not very healthy for the clutches though...)

My Volvo with 170hp can't do smoking starts. Although, if the road is just a little wet...the car is all over the place if I am too heavy on the throttle. On one corner I get massive understeer, on the next one - the tail steps out...go figure :)

And while I am talking about the Volvo...today my axle started clicking. It was about time, the boot has been torn for more than a year now. Time for a replacement now.

I have not, I prefer to keep this transmission as long as possible thanks. :lol: I'm sure it would work.

Oh, and it's no dual-clutch, just a standard torque converter autotragic.
 
You usually need low end torque to do a smoking start and the rotary doesn't really have any.
 
Just curious...if you step on the throttle, does it spin the wheels from a standstill?
Yep, though that usually comes with an unsettling thud forward from the also-gradually-failing transmission.

It doesn't spin too long before it gets traction, so no awesome clouds of tire smoke from me. :( It does make happy tire screechy noises as it sets off, though. :)

(No traction control on this car.)
 
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I think my car requires you to hit the brake to get out of neutral, probably for that reason.

You can however shift into park when moving.....

That makes no sense. Try it with no throttle. Shifting from Neutral to Drive should be possible without any problem or stress to the transmission. Most cars won't let you pull out of Park without pressing the brake pedal.
 
You can crack gearbox casings and planetary/sun shells that way, not to mention front pump housings. Neutral drops are very hard on the transmission and are not recommended.

To be specific - there aren't many faster ways to ruin an automatic transmission.

Edit: How bad an idea is it? This bad.
IMG_1719.JPG


IMG_1725.JPG


That's not water leaking out from under the Jag.

Now, that transmission was on the way out anyway, so it was not exactly a huge loss - but if yours is working fine, neutral drops can be a $4000 or more mistake. I recommend not doing them unless you're trying to blow up your transmission.
 
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2007. I was going to evict the transmission anyway. It has since had a TH700R4 installed in place of the deceased Borg Warner Model 66.

IMG_2389.JPG


That said, if I hadn't been actively trying to destroy the trans, I would have been heartbroken and empty-walleted at the sight of shrapnel and transmission fluid on the ground. As it was, "Yay, I can put an overdrive transmission in at last!" Most people trying neutral drops are not so lucky.
 
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1741.jpg

there's a pic of what my transmission looks like. See the little lights next to park and neutral? They are pictures of feet, if you foot is not on the brake you cannot get out of those gears.
 
Apparently VW does not want parts of the transmission to punch their way out of the case and say hello. :p
 
1741.jpg

there's a pic of what my transmission looks like. See the little lights next to park and neutral? They are pictures of feet, if you foot is not on the brake you cannot get out of those gears.

Wonder if you could rig something up to override that. Like a "Mad Max" style switch on the shifter to activate the brake sensor.
 
Wonder if you could rig something up to override that. Like a "Mad Max" style switch on the shifter to activate the brake sensor.

To make an override is stupidly easy. But why would you want to???

Also, that picture is of a gearshift out of a RHD VW. :p
 
it was the only one to show up in google :lol:

And I think throwing it into park when moving is enough damage. It does not make a happy noise.
 
You can crack gearbox casings and planetary/sun shells that way, not to mention front pump housings. Neutral drops are very hard on the transmission and are not recommended.

To be specific - there aren't many faster ways to ruin an automatic transmission.

You have just explained why many people hate automatic transmissions. If you try that in a manual, the worst that can happen is to destroy the clutch, and a new clutch does not cost you $4,000. (unless you drive something high-end)

Off topic:

I have been looking at Volvo's back in Bulgaria, as a potential replacement for my dad's VW. I found this very neat and clean looking 850 wagon 2.0 with the R visual package:
11281041151845810_3.pic


The thing is...it has been converted to run on methane (LPG). As a result, this is what is in the trunk:
11281041151845810_5.pic


This just looks like a bomb on wheels.
 
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No, because if you have a dual mass flywheel and a strong clutch, you can actually shatter it and have the fragments punch their way out of the bellhousing and through the bodywork. Not fun. See: Lakewood blowproof bellhousings. You can also shatter input or output shafts or even gears themselves.

Also, most people aren't stupid enough to do neutral drops.

This isn't why most people hate slushboxes.
 
I have not, I prefer to keep this transmission as long as possible thanks. :lol: I'm sure it would work.

I wouldn't be so sure.

Thankfully I'm beyond such antics now, but I was desperate to do smoking starts when I had first gotten my license and was driving around my mom's car. What happened when you tried to pull that trick is a whole lot of nothing... I would rev to the redline, drop it into D but the car wouldn't actually engage the transmission until the engine was back down around 1,000 or so RPM so you wouldn't actually feel anything other than a slightly jerkier than normal start.

For the record, my IS250 can't spin its wheels either under any circumstances. Other than wet tarmac and worn tires, of course.
 
Off topic:

I have been looking at Volvo's back in Bulgaria, as a potential replacement for my dad's VW. I found this very neat and clean looking 850 wagon 2.0 with the R visual package:
11281041151845810_3.pic


The thing is...it has been converted to run on methane (LPG). As a result, this is what is in the trunk:
11281041151845810_5.pic


This just looks like a bomb on wheels.

Worse, it's a rolling gas chamber and a bomb on wheels.

There's a reason the US requires LPG tanks to be on the outside of the vehicle.
 
The only reason the mitsu can do spinning starts is the fact that it as no weight on the back wheels.

@ the reason why some people hate automatics: I think the biggest one is that automatics of old tended to be fragile, reduce fuel economy and be sluggish. Actually now that I remember, the Silverado they have at dad's office has chewed through 2 gearboxes now, but I blame the drivers.
 
I hate the slushboxes I've had because they get all crappy and thud forward after a while. :mad:
 
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