Transcript
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hello everyone and welcome in this video
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we’re gonna be talking about five things
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you should never do in an automatic
00:05
transmission vehicle and this is kind of
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a follow up to the video I did five
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things you should never do in a manual
00:10
transmission video and I think just as
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important as to understanding you know
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what you shouldn’t be doing is
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understanding why so I brought some
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parts along this is part of a torque
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converter and so we’re gonna be looking
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at you know kind of how mechanically
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automatic transmission works so that we
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can better understand why we shouldn’t
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do certain things in them which i think
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is just as important as understanding
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what you shouldn’t be doing so the first
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one we’re gonna talk about is that you
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should never put your vehicle in neutral
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when you’re coasting down a hill and so
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the logic behind this may be that you
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know you can save fuel economy by
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putting in neutral and coasting down the
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hill and let’s say you’re on a tall Hill
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and you’re about to go over a shorter
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hill if you put it in neutral you can
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gain a lot of speed and gain enough
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speed to go over that smaller Hill
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without you know getting on the gas and
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so you can save some fuel by doing that
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but the other thing is when you do have
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it in gear and you’re coasting down a
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hill
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modern transmissions and modern vehicles
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what they’ll do is they’ll cut fuel to
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the engine so you’ll just use the wheels
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which are connected to the transmission
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and thus the engine because it’s in gear
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to shut off the fuel injectors and so
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the wheels will be powering the engine
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and so in that case you won’t be using
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any fuel so as you’re going down that
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hill you won’t be using any fuel and you
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can see this on fuel economy indicators
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if you put it on neutral it’ll read
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something a little bit lower and then if
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you put it in Drive then you can notice
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that the instantaneous fuel economy will
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go up to the highest number that it can
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read because it’s shut off fuel from
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going into the engine now the other
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reason why you don’t want to do this and
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there’s really three reasons is that it
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kind of takes a bit of your control out
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of the vehicle so when you’re in neutral
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you only have the ability to slow your
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vehicle down you no longer have the
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ability to speed up because you’re not
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in gear so you’re taking out part of
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your control from it and the third
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reason if those aren’t good enough for
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you to not put it in neutral when you’re
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coasting downhill it’s often illegal in
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States so I started looking up the law
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and a bunch of different states not
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every state but I found fifteen states
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and I will include links to all of these
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States laws in the video description but
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there’s a huge list of states Arizona
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California Colorado Delaware Georgia
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Illinois Michigan and so on fifteen
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states which I found
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well sources you can go on to these
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government websites and see the law
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where it says do not put it in neutral
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because you’re taking yourself out of
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control of the vehicle so you know if
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those aren’t good enough reasons 1 & 2
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then the third reason it may be illegal
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where you live so you know look up your
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local laws to figure that part out but
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regardless it could be illegal where you
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live moving on to number two whenever
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you’re changing directions in an
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automatic transmission vehicle you want
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to make sure you come to a stop before
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switching from Drive to reverse or from
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reverse to drive so backing up come to a
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stop then put it in Drive and then move
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along and so the reason why you want to
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do this is because you’re using your
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brakes to stop the vehicle rather than
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your transmission your transmission is
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designed to shift gears your brakes on
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the other hand are designed to stop the
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vehicle so this is an automatic
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transmission band and what this does is
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it clamps down around the housing of a
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planetary gearset and when you do that
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you alter the gearing of the planetary
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gear so when you’re in Reverse or drive
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you know this may be open and then when
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you put it into the other one it’ll
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clamp down on a drum so this works a lot
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like the reverse of a drum brake so
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instead of pressing out like a drum
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brake this squeezes down on a drum and
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so what you’re doing when you change
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that direction is you’ll be using these
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bands as well as clutches automatic
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transmission also have multi-plate
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clutches within them and so when you
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switch gears that these bands will clamp
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down to change the gearing and when it
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does that you’re using this material
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here on this automatic transmission band
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to stop your car rather than the brakes
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which are very easy to service and cheap
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to replace verses this part which was
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only 18 dollars but very difficult to
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access so it’s going to take you a lot
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of time to replace it or a very
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expensive repair so come to a stop and
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then put it in the gear that you need to
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go in number three we’re gonna talk
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about launching your car now obviously
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if you want your car to last as long as
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possible and you want the maximum
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longevity out of your transmission then
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you should never launch the vehicle it’s
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gonna put a lot of stress and strain on
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it but there’s different methods that
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I’ve seen people use and some of them
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you know are kind of dangerous and you
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should never do them so one of the
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methods I’ve seen that people have done
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is they’ll read
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up in neutral and then they’ll drop it
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into drive and let that carry their car
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forward and so that’s kind of a
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dangerous way of launching your vehicle
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and we’re going to get into why using
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some parts so here we have a torque
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converter and this is the pump or the
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impeller and so what you’re going to
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have is the engine which is going to be
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connected to a flex plate and that flex
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plate is going to be connected to this
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so this has been cut off so that we can
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see the inside of this torque converter
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but know that this is always going to be
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rotating with the engine so this is the
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pump or you could call it the impeller
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and within this we have the stator which
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will go ahead and set aside what that
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does is it reverses the direction of the
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fluid when it’s transferring between one
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side from the pump to the turbine and so
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here we have the turbine and so you can
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see an internal flying there and this is
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what’s going to be rotating with the
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transmission so this will be splined
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with the transmission as the impeller
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rotates it will force this turbine to
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rotate and as the turbine rotates it
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will rotate the transmission and thus
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the wheels so this is a fluid coupling
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and so what that allows you to do is
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have a difference in speed between your
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transmission and your engine so your
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engine can be rotating and your
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transmission can stay stationary as I’m
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demonstrating here so this is connected
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with the flex plate and as that rotates
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you can see the transmission can be held
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still so when you’re at a stop that’s
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what will be happening this will be
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rotating and the turbine will just be
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stationary because it’s connected to
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your wheels which are not moving so when
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you launch and you rev it up in neutral
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and then you put into drive what you’re
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doing is you’re going to be having
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friction between this this band and the
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drum which its resting around as that
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tries to clamp down to send power
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through it and so you’re gonna have
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clutches and bands within your automatic
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transmission that are gonna be trying to
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absorb that power but you’re gonna have
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slip because you’re sending so much
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power through it and these are designed
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to shift gears not to handle a launch
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and so you’re sending power through it
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and you’re going to be wearing out this
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band as I mentioned it’s going to be
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very expensive to replace it so rather
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than putting it in neutral revving it up
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and then put it in an Drive which is
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just kind of crazy what you want to do
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is put your foot on the brake and put
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but on the gas build up some pressure
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within this torque converter so you’re
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putting a lot of torque to that impeller
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which is or to that turbine which is
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stationary and then the second you let
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off the brake you’re sending all that
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torque and all of your clutches and
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bands are already locked up in the
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position they need to be so you’re not
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gonna have any slip now yes you’re gonna
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put a lot of strain on your transmission
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and it’s not like a great thing to do
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for it but it’s a lot less dangerous
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than putting in neutral revving it up
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and then putting it into Drive and then
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letting the clutches and bands handle
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all that torque and try and get power to
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the wheels and spin your tires rather
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than spend these bands which will be
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very expensive to replace moving on to
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number four there’s no reason to put
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your car in neutral when you’re sitting
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at a stoplight it’s fine to leave it in
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Drive and that’s something that some
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people will commonly do is take it out
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of Drive for several reasons they may
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think okay it’s putting a lot of stress
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on your transmission but let’s think
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about that for a moment if you’re
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sitting there with it in Drive and so
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your engine is spinning and my hand
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which is touching the turbine obviously
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isn’t moving so your engine spinning
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this isn’t so you’re putting some stress
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on the transmission and yes that’s
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absolutely true you are doing that but
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let’s think about it once you let off
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the brake and you start accelerating
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you’re putting a far greater force into
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that turbine to move your vehicle
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forward than if you’re just sitting
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there with your engine idling and it’s
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trying to put some of that energy into
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the turbine so really you’re not putting
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any additional stress on it it’s it’s
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far less than you are when you’re
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actually accelerating so it’s kind of
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crazy to think oh I shouldn’t do that
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the second thing you know some people
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say it can save fuel economy and you
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know when you are in Drive you know
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obviously you’re going to be putting
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some of that energy into trying to
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rotate this and you’re rotating against
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an object which is stationary whereas if
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you put it in neutral you know it can
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spin much easier because you’re
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disconnecting from the transmission well
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the thing is there you will tend to idle
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higher in neutral versus being in Drive
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but regardless it’s not going to be a
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big fuel economy difference actually how
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to Volvo in which gave a live readout of
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your fuel economy while you’re sitting
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there at a stoplight and it said it was
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using 0.3 gallons per hour so if you
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think that you’re just going to sit at a
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stoplight for let’s say 30 seconds
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you do the math that’s point zero zero
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two five gallons to sit there at that
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stoplight with it in Drive as I had it
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in that Volvo with the live readout and
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so you know you’re not really gonna be
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using that much fuel now if you’re
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sitting in you know stop and go traffic
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there’s a ton of cars you’re surrounded
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so you know there’s no need to you know
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get out of an emergency situation or
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anything like that really quickly and
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you’re just stuck you’re stopped in
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traffic and you want to make sure that
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you know you’re gonna get maximum fuel
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economy just turn your car off if you’re
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just gonna be sitting there there’s cars
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all around you it’s a safe time to do it
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turn your car off and just let it sit
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there so you’re not using any fuel like
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that’s the the easy solution to saving
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fuel if that’s the reason why you put it
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in neutral from Drive and then the other
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thing you know switching from neutral to
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drive you know you might think oh
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there’s going to be less where things
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like that and you are going to be using
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these bands as you switch from neutral
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to drive to clamp down on the
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transmission either way it’s not going
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to be a lot of wear because your vehicle
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isn’t moving and there’s not a whole lot
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of energy being put into that
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transmission so I wouldn’t really worry
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about wear of doing it from neutral
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drive but there’s really just no good
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reason to take it out of Drive just
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leave it and drive when you’re sitting
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there at the stoplight and you know
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you’re not putting any additional wear
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and you’re not really going to be saving
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any fuel moving on to number five you
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should never put your vehicle in park
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until you come to a complete stop so you
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should never put it in park while the
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vehicle is moving now here’s the thing
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most automatic transmissions especially
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modern ones will not allow you to do
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this but it’s cool to understand why
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when you put your vehicle in park you’re
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applying a pole essentially a locking
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pin into a gear which is connected to
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your transmissions output shaft you’re
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driven wheels are connected to the
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transmission output shaft so when this
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is locked your wheels cannot move now if
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you were to engage the parking pin while
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the vehicle is moving and there weren’t
10:37
systems to prevent this from happening
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you could very easily shear the locking
10:41
pin and break it as it attempts to
10:43
completely lock up a transmission in
10:45
motion either way you’d be putting a
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huge amount of stress into your
10:48
drivetrain and transmission now I really
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can’t think of any scenarios where you
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might think it’s a good idea while
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you’re moving to put it in park but
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let’s say you’re trying to come to a
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stop and you can’t really figure out how
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you’ve got it acceleration happening and
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you can’t prevent it your throttle is
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stuck for some reason
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the first thing you should do is firmly
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press your brakes your brakes are always
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going to be able to out power your
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engine
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now you may use up that vacuum assist
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and so because of that you may need to
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press really hard in order to get the
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brakes to successfully work because once
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you run out of brake assist from the
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vacuum pump and you’ve got full throttle
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you’re gonna lose that assist and so you
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want to make sure you press that firmly
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it may not seem like it’s working
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because you don’t have brake assist so
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you got to push really firm the other
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thing you can do is downshift so as you
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downshift you’ll start to slow the
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vehicle down and so that’s another
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method of bringing your vehicle to a
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stop so thank you guys for watching if
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you have any questions or comments feel
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free to leave those below so I have this
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Peruvian mango box which I was using to
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store the torque converter in who knew
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there were so many ways to eat a mango
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you can’t eat it on a fork to cut the
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skin and peel it and there you go eat it
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on a fork you can slice them you can
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dice them or you can eat it with a spoon
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amazing
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mango such a versatile fruit to you know
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get your vitamin C on