To Park or not to Park
 

I do a lot of city driving and while wating at a stop light I have often wondered wether shifting to PARK woud be preferable to keeping the car in DRIVE. Would it reduce/increase fuel comsuption? Would it hurt/help mechanically? Of course this is a generic question not necessaly related to MB cars, but given the tremendous amount of knowledge and experience available in this forum I thought I'd ask. What do you think?

JL

Don't waste your time. All you will do is increase trans wear.

Leave in gear for reason cited above. If you don't want to wear out your stop light bulbs, put the emergency brake on to hold the car from creeping, but leave in drive.

There are bushings in the gear selector linkage that eventually will wear out from movement of selector in addition to rough environment. Putting it in park will speed you to that point faster.

I have always popped my car in neutral while at a stop for very long, and then dropped it back in drive when taking off. I don't put it all the way up in park, just put in neutral and keep you foot on the brake. When stopped while in gear the trans slips. Putting in neutral has always worked for me, I change my fluid every 35k, always use the parking brake while parking the car, and have never had a failed transmission in any car I have ever owned. My 280C had 465k on it and the trans shifted really well. Good luck!
Brian

I think I read in one of the owner's manuals that if you are idling for long period as in a long light, they recommended placing the car in neutral. I'll see which owner's manual said that.

I believe the question was stop lights in cities. Seems hardly worth the effort and extra jolt on CV joints when the car is put back in gear. What happens when people do this is that they sooner or later forget they are in neutral. Car in front leaves, you tap gas, car does not move, you stick it in gear with engine above idle, car lurches ahead, with more wear and tear on tranny than if you left it in gear the entire time.

I have never had tranny problems in any car and have driven well over 1.3M miles. Best preventative procedure is to change tranny fluid and filter as recommended by MB. That said, I wonder about my AMG. There is no 30K recommendation on fluid for it. The only reason I put the selector in neutral is to keep rpm's a little higher for a little more AC cooling when car is stopped.

As for the argument that transmission slips (generating heat) when sitting motionless in drive, there is slippage when you drive it at low speed anyway. I have an AMG that does not slip and it truly does not slip except at idle in gear (obviously). But that is the only car of mine that does not slip. The 400E I traded on the Acura slipped until 2000 rpms whereupon it locked up.

I don't think there is much to be gained unless you have stoplights that remain red a whole lot longer than the ones in my local do.

I like the idea of putting the car in neutral. On my way to work I have a couple of lights that are a minute long and a RR track crossing. I live in Florida and usually have the AC on. I own a MB, an Audi and two Toyotas. With the transmission in N or P the rpms go up and AC works better particularly in the Toyota van, that is what prompted me initially to use the method. I understand the wear and tear will increase on the bushings, on the other hand, won't wear decrease on the rotating parts? won't the transmission run cooler? Also if you do this routinely I imagine you will not forget that you are not in drive. Any ideas on fuel consumption?

JL

long stops
 

put it in neutral. short stops dont.

tom w