On some familiar lengths of roads I put the CVT transmission in neutral while going downhill.

I did this as also: while going downhill, I turned the engine off, the power steering also goes OFF. If I then turn the ignition key so that the electrical system is ON (but w/o starting the engine), the power steering comes back ON. The quest is: is coasting downhill with the engine OFF harmful to the drivetrain?

 

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Please don't do this. It is extremely dangerous.

I could stop there but just to make you feel better, when coasting downhill, the fuel injection system puts no fuel into the engine. You literally use zero ounces of gas coasting downhill. The vehicle's drivetrain is the only thing keeping the engine spinning and with a 1.5L engine it's not like there's a ton of wasted energy there.

TLDR you are going to kill someone trying to save a penny from a car that's already plenty economical.

 

Besides being unsafe, it's bad for the transmission which is why the CVT Fit can't be towed behind a RV.

 

Harmful to the drivetrain? Honestly, I don't know, but I'd guess it isn't, but again, I'm not sure.

The better question is though: Why would you want to do this?

Most of the safety systems are on in the ON position (airbags etc.), but I have to wonder if all the braking systems (brake assist, EBD, ABS,) are functional. If you had to make a panic stop, you may have reduced braking force due to not having full disposal of the system. Also is VSA active without the engine running? I don't know, but if it isn't, a panic swerve could cause you to lose control. VSA could prevent that.

Also remember, if the engine isn't running, all the electronics are running solely off the battery. You're putting unnecessary drain on the battery while doing this. The alt will charge it back up, but the battery wears out after so many drain and recharge cycles.

If you're doing this to save gas, the car completely shuts off the fuel supply when you're coasting anyway. You don't need to do this. Google DFCO. The Fit has it.

 

Please do the rest of the drivers on the road a favor and turn your car back into the dealership and surrender your license and don't ever drive again. This is probably one of the most dangerous things I have ever heard.

 

Yep, same goes for 2015 CRV as well as they went CVT. However, the car can be towed ONLY if the front wheels not on the ground, i.e. on dolly.

 

It's certainly not good for the transmission and drivetrain (besides being dangerous and possibly illegal). For short distances, you aren't likely to blow anything up, at least immediately—but that basically means that it's OK to move a disabled car to the shoulder of the road or load it onto a tow truck or shuttle it from the driveway into the garage.

Many (traditional) automatic transmissions don't have their oil pump turning and thus the transmission getting proper lubrication unless the engine is running. Some of Honda's were atypical and could be flat towed with proper preparations (including older Fits). I don't know if the CVT has this same issue specifically, but obviously something about operation with the engine off is bad for it since Honda specifically disallows flat towing with the CVT.

A manual transmission vehicle won't be harmed, generally speaking, but it's still dangerous and possibly illegal (and stupid). Of course, should you get in an accident, the vehicle will suffer significant damage.

 

As said above, there's probably no lubrication flowing in the transmission with the engine off. There is also the shock to the belt drive when bump starting the engine by shifting into drive.

 

As others have stated, fuel injectors aren't sending fuel to the engine when coasting downhill in D whereas in N they are needed to prevent the engine from stalling. This is even more so if you have a cold engine which will have a higher idle. So you will probably Ben consuming more gas by trying to shift in neutral.

The idea of turning your ignition off while going down hill is outrageously dangerous. When the engine is off, it is possible to lock the steering wheel by turning it. Imagine you try and avoid a hazard and your steering wheel locks at a 45 degrees to the left!

If you feel like the car is slowing down or not accelerating through compression/engine braking, you might try to go into sport mode and try and shift up to a higher gear as you coast. Then again, I dunno how the GK sport mode works; other slushboxes I've driven are set by default to attain the highest gear in D and you can only use S to force a downshift.

 

Not to mention, coasting in neutral may be illegal in your area.

Believe it or not, many years ago, a freewheeling or over-riding clutch was an option on numerous cars, either from the dealer or as an aftermarket conversion. It essentially disengaged the drivetrain so you were effectively coasting in neutral when going down a hill.

Didn't last long and was eventually outlawed because of a higher accident rate with that type of clutch.

es

 

And yes, coasting out of gear is illegal, even on a manual transmission car... Except that no one ever in history got pulled over for it since it's pretty much impossible to for police to detect.

 

Wow, please don't do this

 

I'll join you! I like to watch folks snapping up the bait!

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I have no problem with coasting, since most modern cars do it automatically anyway. I do have a problem with coasting with the engine manually turned off. I see nothing gained by doing it. I do not know what the CVT transmission does but you should be able to tell by simply looking at the tachometer to see if it is not already doing that for you. It will not shutoff but it will drop to a few hundred RPM above idle.

 

The tach won't drop as the spinning of the wheels is what continues to run the engine. But you can be assured that no fuel is sent to the engine when coasting in drive whenever possible.


Another safety issue to think about: if you have an EX or EX-L with the push button start, you can't restart the engine unless your foot is on the brake. So if you're coasting and want to restart the engine you'll need to brake to do so, which the car behind you may not be expecting.

 

You also need to contend with a locking steering wheel, loss of power steering and loss of power brakes. Please tell me this is a joke post.

 

Are you sure about this? I do not have the FIT here to check this at the moment and ours is a 2011. I do know that most vehicles freewheel these days in Drive. In my Colorado with the 460e trans, the RPM goes to about 800 when I take my foot off of the gas and I'm in drive. Also it drops out of TC lockup. I usually coast the last mile to my house everyday. Now if I drop down a gear, then it will engine brake with the wheels dragging the engine RPM up. I'll have to check this out myself on our automatic FIT. I have no access to a CVT FIT to check it out.

I still think it is a very dumb idea to shut the engine completely off on a moving vehicle.

 

100% confirmed that the FI shuts off when you let off the throttle in the 2015. You can hear the injectors stop firing and the CVT shifts into the tallest possible ratio that will still keep the engine spinning at a safe speed to restart the firing.

 

Yep. When I was driving the Tahoe rental it had a V8 engine so when going on fairly flat road the display would report which mode the engine was running at: V4 or V8 so it was going V4 most of the time. It changes mode automatically depending on power needs. Pretty cool way to save fuel.