Drive or OD?

thamarkman

thamarkman

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Do you use your overdrive while doing city driving? Say between 35 and 45 mph. I would like to know what everyone does because I think its bad to have your tranny constantly shifting in and out of overdrive. This question mainly applies to AOD's and such. In short, I think overdrive is mainly for freeway use and traveling above 40mph for long periods of time. Does anyone else have a different opinion?
 
I always use Drive below 45 MPH I find it performs better to atleast in my case
 
I asked the same question elsewhere. My concern was whether or not the engine was stressed unnecessarilly at low speeds in OD. Seems to me the less "load" on the engine, the longer it'll last.

I was advised to leave the OD system on until I needed it off, like passing or driving up/down hills. The reason I was given was, the OD fluid valve and fluid circuits would stay cleaner and less prone to failure with regular usage.

I do see your point though, regarding the friction band :)
 
Hi Themarkman

I drive everywhere in OD unless the transmission starts to hunt for the right gear, such as when driving along a hilly road.

Regards

Dereck
 
:I I drive in OD %99.5 percent of the time. I've owned alot of cars in my short time, and I've never lost a tranny or an engine. My mom had a Hyundai, and she constantly shifted in and out of OD.Guess what, tranny crapped out at 65,000 miles.
 
That is absolutely meaningless on a completely different car besides its a hundai. I leave od off almost all the time unless cruising at a consistant speed which I neaver do for long at all in the city. My dad neaver shifts out of o/d and his 97 continental shifts hard out of 1st gear and drops to 1st when comming to a stop. o/d isn't for city driving if you have a tach or listen you'll notice moreso. Plus if your driving normally your not racing the engine and you aren't "stressing the engine" I had a 91 t-bird v8 usually not in o/d shifted just fine for the 4 years I owned it and about 60k I put on it ontop of the 33k it had on when bought. 94 crownvic owned for about 2 years 30k miles or so. I have had my 98 towncar for a bit under 2 years and the tranny on it runs excellent as well. Just becuase o/d will engage about 40 on most cars doesn't mean it should be used at that speed. Its designed for highway crusing at a consistant speed. Do what you want but the wear caused to the o/d band and that hunting noise which is heat building. And the tranny is going to be alot more expensive to fix than the engine. And if the engine is well taken care of fluids changed pcv replaced etc... You shouldn't have any problems.
 
If I'm doing all city stuff I'll turn O/D off, otherwise I leave it on...

I do however use it as a downshift often... When I'm on the Hwy cruisin along
and come upon my exit... I often click off the OD to help slow down.

IS THIS A DAMAGING TO THE TRANNY?? Let me know because this is like habit w/me!
BTW, I've not had any trans problems, but I do service every 20K
 
why not just use your brakes? Those are easier to replace than your tranny. I'm not saying its bad, but its probably not good either.
 
We usually drive it in OD like all the time. I never thought twice about it. I also do about 70% of the driving on the highway anyway.

I own a 90, and it has 111,000 some miles on it, so I mean if I did switch it the od on and off I would be saving a bit of tranny life, but I was hoping to buy a new one soon anyway.

But I always loved the roar of the last BIG V8! (5.0L)
 
I do the manual D shift when the tranny hunts, or when running under about 45 in stop/go traffic. Mine will actually kick into OD around 35-40 if not accelerating, which I personally find annoying.
 
What I do is below 45mph I do D, and when I am on the freeway and drive around 60 mph I do OD. When I live home I stay on D, an dbefore getting on the freeway I shift to OD.
That's what I do, and it's been running fine.
 
I always leave the card in OD except when I need a little umph going up a hill of if I want to pass someone quickly on the expressway. If you hit it and turn off the od at the same time you get catapulted! It's sick, I just don't know if that is healthy for the trans.
 
I always drive in "D", Unless I get onto a hwy or above 40-45 mph. Because "OD" comes on very early. Plus, "OD" in Sifrino is going out because it was always driven in "OD." I changed my habbits. . .
 
i use o/d only on teh highway when i see the police running radar it slows me down w/out him seeing brakelights
 
Well i always drive in OD and have had no problems what soever with my tranny... my dad is a mechanic and he knows more about cars than anyone i know and i asked him awhile ago and he says it wont hurt the tranny i have 120K on my car and it has always been used in OD so... i cant see anything wrong with running it in OD
 
These trannys were made to run in O/D. If you are going up and down mountains and want to use the engine for braking then taking it out of O/D would be fine. The Lincoln should have enough power not to hunt when chasing hills.
 
I've driven 4.6 panthers for the past 18 years and always use OD. However I think it is largely dependent on your axle ratio (gears) and your wheel size. It all comes down to what rpm's you are running at the speeds you are driving. If I had high gearing and big 18" wheels with tall sidewalls I would probably be in Drive all the time. With low gears and 15" wheels with low profile tires Overdrive is the stuff.

Vic
 
if it was really that bad on the trans to be in overdrive around 35-40 mph, the engineers would have designed it not to do that. just let the trans do its thing. it will be fine.
if the trans fails prematurely, there is probably more at play than just whether or not it was in OD or not.
 
thamarkman said:
Do you use your overdrive while doing city driving? Say between 35 and 45 mph. I would like to know what everyone does because I think its bad to have your tranny constantly shifting in and out of overdrive. This question mainly applies to AOD's and such. In short, I think overdrive is mainly for freeway use and traveling above 40mph for long periods of time. Does anyone else have a different opinion?
Click to expand...

I keep mine out of Od unless im doing 65 or better, thats just the way it is.
 
Mine always uses O/D 100% of the time (switch doesn't work), but I wouldn't turn O/D off anyways unless I was towing and I do tow with O/D currently, but I also run a secondary trans cooler. What do I tow? I tow everything from a motorcylce to a car.
 
FWIW, turning overdrive off at lower speeds is logical if your car has deep gears and a stall converter unless these parameters are addressed in the tune for better driveability at the cost of fuel mileage. This obviously doesn't apply in ur case but there is a time and place for it. My modified Mark8 with the 4r70w responds much better to o/d being turned off under speeds of about 45mph. Unless I am deep into the throttle, my car hunts like Elmer Fudd in stop and go traffic.
 
In my old AOD I would always manually shift it form D to OD at a steady 55mph and above. Don't move your foot off the gas pedal when you shift, keep the throttle angle the same. This is the proper way to shift an automatic. If I was slowing down I let the car automatically downshift out of overdrive. This is the best way to drive an AOD for longevity. The weakest part of an AOD is the overdrive band. Also on AOD's overdrive is mechanically fully locked so acceleration is unimpressive on hills
 
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