[coniam2jb@btint]

hi all when driving in what situation should i turn the overdrive off,and what hapens to the gears when off. alan

[Zildar]

I've actually wondered this too, but about my 06 among others.

I was told recently (don't know if he was right) that you can safely stay in OD all the time because the car's computer will recognize when to go into OD.

Being not much of a mechanic myself I may have even believed it if I was told I needed more blinker fluid, so I don't know.

[coniam2jb@btint]

i have owned the mustang for a year now,the overdrive has allways been on and the car drives great.cheers alan

[232-K7]

Originally Posted by coniam2jb@btint

hi all when driving in what situation should i turn the overdrive off,and what hapens to the gears when off. alan

its an extra gear for highway speeds. its best to just leave it in OD all the time, if your going like 45mph+ and OD is enabled your trans. will shift into OD. if not its just going to hang in a lower gear, revving high and wasting gas. if your going 45mph+ and your in OD and you press the button turning it off, your trans will downshift.

[coniam2jb@btint]

hi all as london trafic rarely gets above 35 m.p.h,i will experiment with the switch off. thanks alan

[mustang-usa]

Hi,

Really the only time I ever take the trans out of OD is when I'll be going less than 45MPH for a long period, maybe in mountains or hills. It will have more get-up & go but I always forget to switch back to OD. That will not hurt anything but your gas milage. When you turn the engine off it will go back to OD by itself.

[coniam2jb@btint]

hi all i gess thats why they hide it on the stick so you cant see it. cheers alan

[Silver J]

Most of the responses are pretty close, so just to summarize...

When OD is on (this is the default setting that your car will be in when you start it up), the computer will try to upshift as much as it can in order to increase mpg. (higher gears means lower rpms, means better gas mileage). So, most people prefer to keep it on all the time. It also especially makes sense for highway driving, since it will shift into 4th gear at cruising speed.

When OD is off, it won't shift into higher gears until much later. This is essential when you need to keep power and/or you want to avoid shifting a lot. So, when going up and down hills or "racing" on city streets, it will help to have it off. Then the tranny will not be "fighting" you trying to shift into higher gears (which drops rpm and hp). **Note: even with OD off, when you reach high enough rpm in 3rd gear, it will still shift into fourth -- somewhere around 85-90mph, I think.

*steps down from lecture podium*

[tazmatic]

hey quick Q on subject iv always known how to use OD but i just put in a new shifter in that dosnt have the OD button so im gana try and rewire it to a switch by the shifter, any negitives on doing that? is it hard to go from button too switch? or can i just sauder/splice one the - and +??

and will i have to reset the car/ecu? i think its OD is off permantly until i fix it..?


edit - < 04 v6 auto obv>