General Discussions

**Gx3 Grafix** · 11-23-2007, 04:44 PM

th_thSM141.jpg dontdodrusoryougotoprison.jpg

I have a lot I can't post, lol

**Gx3 Grafix** · 11-23-2007, 04:47 PM

here's a dumb confusing one.

260-confusingsign.jpg

nice thread, lol

**Aadriyah** · 11-23-2007, 10:00 PM

lol.. who made those dumb signs?

**joder** · 11-23-2007, 10:19 PM

**jamestl2** · 10:51 PM

**serandfae** · 04:17 AM

The town of Chapel Hill, NC, home to the first state university in the US, came up with this idiotic sign. They actually banned something that doesn't exist! These signs are posted on every downhill grade in town. There is a maneuver known as "engine braking", braking by downshifting, but lookie what they banned:

(aren't they just soooo avant garde?)

**serandfae** · 04:17 AM

This one speaks for itself (taken at a gas station in Raleigh, NC):

**Gx3 Grafix** · 11-24-2007, 12:16 PM

Lol, those are all good

here's another one.

**joder** · 11-24-2007, 02:48 PM

**Gx3 Grafix** · 11-24-2007, 03:08 PM

**giftedwon** · 11-24-2007, 05:07 PM

here are some goodies.

**jamestl2** · 11-27-2007, 10:41 AM

**Learning Newbie** · 11-28-2007, 04:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by serandfae

The town of Chapel Hill, NC, home to the first state university in the US, came up with this idiotic sign. They actually banned something that doesn't exist! These signs are posted on every downhill grade in town. There is a maneuver known as "engine braking", braking by downshifting, but lookie what they banned:

Isn't that a pretty good way to ruin your engine a few years early?

**serandfae** · 11-28-2007, 05:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Learning Newbie

Isn't that a pretty good way to ruin your engine a few years early?

By "engine braking"? No. Those who live in the mountains do it frequently. But it wouldn't affect the engine so much as the transmission, but manual transmissions at least are built to withstand it. I've gotten out of a ticket or two by clutching, coasting a bit and downshifting so the cop wouldn't see the brake lights when I slowed down. But the maneuver is done mostly on very steep grades to prevent brake fade. On a very steep grade you can do it with an automatic, but even coming down Black Mountain in an automatic I just took it out of overdrive and that was enough.

**jamestl2** · 11-28-2007, 06:03 PM

**Learning Newbie** · 11-28-2007, 06:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by serandfae

By "engine braking"? No. Those who live in the mountains do it frequently. But it wouldn't affect the engine so much as the transmission, but manual transmissions at least are built to withstand it. I've gotten out of a ticket or two by clutching, coasting a bit and downshifting so the cop wouldn't see the brake lights when I slowed down. But the maneuver is done mostly on very steep grades to prevent brake fade. On a very steep grade you can do it with an automatic, but even coming down Black Mountain in an automatic I just took it out of overdrive and that was enough.

I've done that myself a few times going over 80, east of Sac town going out of Tahoe. I drive an auto, and it's a four speed under the hood, so you have to put it into D3. But then it goes up near 5,000 RPMs. I know technically the engine isn't laboring, just using gravity, but still, it just feels wrong, like I'm doing damage. No?

Does the fact it's a Camry mean anything? Usually that's a good thing, but I think at this level an internal combustion engine is an internal combustion engine?

You lost me on the cops not seeing your break lights? If using the engine to slow down is what's illegal, wouldn't you want them to see break lights?

I always wanted a switch on the dashboard that lights up your break lights without actually having to step on the breaks. Mess with tailgaitors.

**serandfae** · 11-28-2007, 06:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Learning Newbie

I've done that myself a few times going over 80, east of Sac town going out of Tahoe. I drive an auto, and it's a four speed under the hood, so you have to put it into D3. But then it goes up near 5,000 RPMs. I know technically the engine isn't laboring, just using gravity, but still, it just feels wrong, like I'm doing damage. No?

Well, that feels wrong because it is. You never want to do what you're describing with an automatic, you will do damage to your torque converter, and in this case to your engine. Lugging and over-revving are not a good idea, which is what you're doing. The kind of downshifting I'm talking about in an automatic is going downhill when you're already going slower, and you can safely force a downshift with a max of third gear.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Learning Newbie

Does the fact it's a Camry mean anything? Usually that's a good thing, but I think at this level an internal combustion engine is an internal combustion engine?

It's because it's a Toyota that you haven't already taken your car to the shop. Had it been a Ford (who's never made a good automatic) your car would be in the shop.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Learning Newbie

You lost me on the cops not seeing your break lights? If using the engine to slow down is what's illegal, wouldn't you want them to see break lights?

It wasn't in Chapel Hill that I did it. But I'd love it if they pulled me over for that, though I haven't heard of any cases of it yet. "Your honor, my vehicle is not equipped with that device...."

The way it's written, they're effectively banning the use of the transmission.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Learning Newbie

I always wanted a switch on the dashboard that lights up your break lights without actually having to step on the breaks. Mess with tailgaitors.

Hazard lights come close....

**Learning Newbie** · 11-28-2007, 07:39 PM

Oh god you shouldn't have told me that about the hazards! I'm gonna try to resist the temptation!

Sow what's the safe and proper way to force an automatic to downshift? The only other one I can think of is stepping really hard on the gas, and obviously if you're coming down a steep and windy hill, that's a viable option, but not the very best of them.

**serandfae** · 11-28-2007, 07:46 PM

Sorry, James, for usurping this thread....

There isn't a safe way to downshift an automatic, except as I just decsribed. Say, you're going downhill at 55, you brake until you're going about 40, downshift to third and you can safely coast at 45-50 without having to brake. Going down a steep grade you don't want to go faster than that, especially around some stretches of the Sierra Nevadas I've been through. But in the case you described where you were going 80 you could have slowed down some and turned off the overdrive, which is the same as downshifting to fourth.