Tranny Troubles Need some Technical Expertise

I have a 2000 Dodge intrepid with about 110,000 miles on it. About a month ago, I was driving, and I slipped it from drive into neutral. I did this twice. I was going about 35 the first time, and about 50 the second time. About a week or two later, the tranny went out on me. The guy at the shop said there were metal shavings everywhere in it, and when I asked him about the "shifting from drive to neutral" situation. He said "it defineatly didn't help things" as if to say that is what caused my tranny to die. After doing some research however, I found that most people don't think this harms your transmission at all, and the only effect is improved gas mileage. I have several friends who say they do it all the time with no side effects. Does anyone have a semi official answer to this? Like is there anything "technically" wrong with doing this?

Hey there,

From what I know, shifting from neutral->drive->neutral is not good
for an automobile. It's not so much the shifing from drive->neutral
it's the shifting from neutral back into drive that I heard was bad.

Slade

OK think about this. You a device that has a load on it, then you take the load off it in a second. Then from neutral ( Not working/ no load) you drop a load on it. What happens? Well if it was a power drill or a saw I would say nothing. But a transmission is not like a power tool. All transmission will have metal filings/ shavings in it. This is normal wear of the trans. This is why auto companies but a magnet is the transmission pan. Large amout of metal = bad things.
Did this slipping have anything to do with the trans failing? Don't know. Maybe but, unlikely, It didn't help either. This was maybe years/ mileage of wear and the slipping was the finale straw.