Thought I'd through out a bad experience I had yesturday while going from engine off cost to restart. I was on a down hill part of the highway, and had the CVT coasting with the engine off. I started taking my foot off the brake around 10 miles per hour, and it felt like I rearended someone. The car made a loud snap sound, and almost sounded like the tranny fell out. Scared me, and just thought I'd post that if you are going to coast at higher speeds holding the brake with the engine off, get it back into neurtral, let it restart, then pull it back into drive. Anyone else had this experience?

 

Hi Challernger1:

___Do a search for similar experiences of Hot_Georgia_2004’s HCH w/ CVT. He has mentioned something like this (Neutral to D while coasting) in the past IIRC?

___Good Luck

___Wayne R. Gerdes
___Hunt Club Farms Landscaping Ltd.
___Waynegerdes@earthlink.net

 

Yes.
When I restart, shifter is in the N position, I get a tug.
It's almost like a brake is suddenly applied through the drivetrain.

The faster you are going when you restart the harder the tug is.

I became aware of this in my first couple weeks of ownership.
I was going around 60MPH down a freeway hill and near the bottom I restarted.
The drivetrain gave a REALLY HARD jolt along with a loud squeal from under the hood.

Hmm....I'm not doing that one again! :blink:

I'll still reboot and restart as long as I am going about 30MPH, never over 40.
At 35MPH you will still get a slight tug so I try to stay under 30.

When I leave the house at 4PM I'm immediately battling 2 miles of gradual hills and struggle to only achieve 53MPG. After a couple of rolling hills then another 2 miles of hills. Very frustrating.

But....
At 3AM there is zero traffic and is safe to travel the slower speed ....So I'll reboot and roll those couple of hills. You should see the face of the speed trap cop as I silently roll by at 3AM going 25-30MPH over a small crest in the 35MPH limit.

Priceless :wacko:

Sometimes I wish I had a MT because of this.

 

Trade them CVTs in on manuals and you won't have to worry! The manual actually jerks worse at slower speeds using the lower gears. I restart mine at 40 all the time and it is nice and smooth.

 

are you talking about autostop, or turning the ignition key off and coasting at high speed? I didn't think autostop worked above 15 mph or so . . .

Yeah, the manual tranny is ideal for a hybrid. Better at regen, too.

 

What do you guys mean by reboot?
Are you turning the car off?
Are you using the key to turn the car completely off while it is in motion?

If so, are you nuts?
I'd never do that! even to save gas.

I thought I was doing crazy things to save gas.
I imagine there are a million good reasons to not do that.
One that comes to mind is safety; without the engine going you have less control of steering and brakes.
Who knows if it damages the car in some way?

I think we should not recommend this here on GreenHybrid.
There may be liability issues for Jason if there is an accident.

 

Actually, with the HCH, the car maintains the Brake pressure and Power steering pressure if you turn it off while coasting during a driving session, as long as you return the key to the "run" position.

I do this all the time in my manual tranny 2004 HCH, but I CAREFULLY select the when and the situation.

Like after entering my gated housing community, going about 20 mph or less and coasting up to my garage. Or when I'm on a low usage road at 6:30 in the morning with a 30 MPH speed limit and I crank up to 35 then turn off the car and coast until I hit about 20 MPH and then restart the car. Or when I turn down the street to my kids' school and coast into the empty parking lot at 6:30 in the morning. Or when I see that I'm coming up to a red light a couple of long blocks away and there are few or no cars between me and the light, and no one zooming up behind me. Or one hill I sometimes come down near my home where I can coast for almost a mile sometimes.

NOTE: I usually only do it when I'm going to be restarting the engine at LOW SPEEDS or stopped.

But like I said, with the HCH, it maintains brake and power steering pressure, so there are no issues with failed brakes or "hard to steer" torque. And this tactic is only helpful if you have a good battery charge, because coasting with the car off and out of gear is not charging the battery.

 

Hi Kenny:

___I forgot which you owned but I thought it was a 5-speed? If so, you just learned another new trick to add to the toolbox. No, you don’t lose brakes and you don’t lose PS although it wouldn’t matter if you did because you can still turn given how little resistance there is anyway.

___I just looked up your HCH in another post. Sorry, CVT’s need not apply although I do drop our non-Hybrid auto’s into neutral for a ½ mile long coast or similar when coming to a stop in bumper to bumper or a stale green we all get hit with from time to time.

___Good Luck

___Wayne R. Gerdes
___Hunt Club Farms Landscaping Ltd.
___Waynegerdes@earthlink.net

 

Ditto that.
For me, 3:00 in the morning on abandoned country roads in some instances is fair game.

If I'm in a stop & go traffic situation I'll often restart only to nudge the car along then immedietly reboot and roll to the next stopping place in traffic.

Reboot:
To momentarily turn the key to OFF, then back ON without restarting the engine.
This reboots the car electronics.