Originally posted by: DivideBYZero
Going on a long journey I like to save as much gas as I can. I've been putting the car into neutral when coasting or going down a fairly long descent to save as much gas as possible.
I expect I save about a gallon a month doing this.
It's an MT, BTW.
What year/model car? You'll save more gas by keeping it in gear and engine braking.
When current RPM > idle RPM while throttle position reads closed, the ECU will cut off fuel supply until current RPM == idle RPM.
If you just go into neutral and coast, the engine will be idling and consuming fuel.
If anyone wants to argue this, put a test light on the injector harness and watch the pulses get faster as you speed up, then disappear when you coast in gear, then come back on again at a certain idle threshold. At higher revs the light will probably appear full on until you back off and coast, then it should be full off.
You may be able to do this all under hood without actually moving the car, it depends if the ECU is watching the transmission or vehicle speed or not.