Stopped in traffic going down a gentle hill. Gears in neutral, car held on footbrake. RPM reading normal at 750. The queue crept forward a couple of car lengths so I released footbrake and rolled forward. While the car was moving in neutral the RPM rose to 1000 RPM.

Repeated this a few times and same thing happened each time. Also happens if you knock it into neutral and coast to a stop.

Not asking for comments on driving technique, just want to confirm that it's normal.

Is it possible that the ECU or something is piling on a few extra revs in anticipation of a gear selection if in neutral and it senses movement?

Or maybe that's not even possible - I'm just thinking out load. I know mine will randomly do it, but mine is down to a sticking pedal

Having seen the sticking pedal threads I wondered if ours was doing the same. This afternoon I reversed it onto the drive and it seemd to be doing the same. I had reversed it on, using the clutch but without touching the throttle in the last part, and the revs seemed high. A toe under the pedal seemed to bring the revs back down. So without touching the throttle I went forward a touch, and then backwards again just letting the engine carry me. The revs seemed high again, and again a toe under the pedal seemed to bring it down, even though I hand't touched it since last time I pulled it up. So now I'm really not sure what is going on. If it was sticking, how come it did the same thing without even being touched?

I'm sure my pedal can't be sticking, I went down the same hill in heavy traffic again. I stop/started at least a dozen times without touching the throttle. the revs rose each time the car moved and reduced each time it stopped. Exactly the same amount each time! The plot thickens! I favour Grafitti's explanation

Edited 10 December, 201213 yr by bryanb

I believe its normal and nothing to worry about, all part of the anti-stall system with diesels. If you coast at 30mph, for example the engine will not drop below 1000rpm. If you then stop whilst out of gear as soon as you hit 0mph the engine rpm will drop to 750.

This is perfecty normal, if the ecu detects movement when the the brake pedal is operated the revs are increased to prevent the high compression factor of the diesel engine causing exsess engine braking,which in turn prevents undue wear on the driveshaft components.

This info is taken from the VAG self study website.