illyc
Well-Known LVC Member
gotcha - thanks for the input guys
those of you with SST - how do you use it?
- Thread starter illyc
- Start date
1LoudLS
Dedicated LVC Member
no matter what its still a automatic transmission, if you want the best millage, let it do its thing...
if you want the best performance, let it do its thing...
forcing something to do something it doesn't want to do on its own is rarely beneficial vs letting it do its own thing...
I slightly disagree and only for the reason that if you leave an overdrive tranny in overdrive all the time, barely cruising 45, and it goes in an out of overdrive then it can in time cause damage. It may not make it fail but being so close to the power band limit can damage the engine and transmission.
I primarily use SST for passing, engine braking, and when i'm trying to seriously drive so I can control the weight transfer in the car. 9 times out of 10 times on the street it's in D5. About the only time I take it out is when I slow down to 30 or so and the transmission decides the 4th or 5th gear is the best one for the job.
joegr
Dedicated LVC Member
There's something wrong with yours if it keeps jumping out of 5th at 45 MPH without significant pressing of the gas pedal. Please note that from 4th to 5th is not the only shift that involves the "overdrive."
Say i'm cruising along at 50 in fith gear, which is fine by me, and i'm approaching a light that just turned Green. I will let the car coast some and use the brakes and get down to around 30mph or so. The transmission will either stay in 5th gear or downshift to 4th gear if I'm lucky. Now when I moderately get back on the gas I get the nice sound of the engine lugging away trying to accelerate the car from 30mph. If the car was still in fifth gear when I am trying to accelerate again it will eventually downshift to fourth gear after 5 or so seconds of the engine lugging away.
In my opinion it should ideally be in third in that scenario so that I can accelerate decently without having to put my foot in it. So that's why I use SST for that scenario. Once I've started to accelerate decently I'll slap it back into D5 and let it do it's thing. Mine just never seems to downshift to where I would like it in that 25-40 MPH range.
I really need to just buy a tune for my car so I can tweak all that but meh, I'm lazy and like bitching.
FDR
Dedicated LVC Member
I use it for engine braking. I haven't looked into the actual RPM enough, but I usually go with "20 times the next (lower) gear" and it keeps it under 3500rpm. 4th at 80mph, 3rd at 60, 2nd at 40. They're not harsh shifts, but 3->2 is lengthy.
I also use it to hold a gear when approaching a tunnel or overpass and gun it inside to hear that 3000-4000rpm "bwoovf" sound with the unbaffled intake. It hasn't gotten old yet. Do you Gen II guys with the shorter tube have that?
And who doesn't get into Fast and Furious mode when preloading a passing gear, waiting for a break in traffic? It takes out the delay from the computer saying "right, he's gone and pressed the loud pedal, and appears to want more acceleration. Let me check my charts and see if we're in the appropriate engine speed range for 4th and... why, he's in range for 3rd! Go! Shift! Shift soon!"
Anyway, Telco, I have to say the LS has the most responsive sport shift/tiptronic/flappy paddle/marketing BS, after the Mustang, of all the Fords I've driven (all 2013+ and a lot of used). It's pretty close to the Mustang, though, besides the longer 2-3/3-2 shifts and initial lack of 1st. I've noticed newer Fords will change tactics and go between "cruise' and "sport" mode in D. Cool idea, but it sounds awful when a 1.5L I4 Escape is cruising at 4500rpm because you tapped the gas 10 seconds ago.
I also use it to hold a gear when approaching a tunnel or overpass and gun it inside to hear that 3000-4000rpm "bwoovf" sound with the unbaffled intake. It hasn't gotten old yet. Do you Gen II guys with the shorter tube have that?
And who doesn't get into Fast and Furious mode when preloading a passing gear, waiting for a break in traffic? It takes out the delay from the computer saying "right, he's gone and pressed the loud pedal, and appears to want more acceleration. Let me check my charts and see if we're in the appropriate engine speed range for 4th and... why, he's in range for 3rd! Go! Shift! Shift soon!"
Anyway, Telco, I have to say the LS has the most responsive sport shift/tiptronic/flappy paddle/marketing BS, after the Mustang, of all the Fords I've driven (all 2013+ and a lot of used). It's pretty close to the Mustang, though, besides the longer 2-3/3-2 shifts and initial lack of 1st. I've noticed newer Fords will change tactics and go between "cruise' and "sport" mode in D. Cool idea, but it sounds awful when a 1.5L I4 Escape is cruising at 4500rpm because you tapped the gas 10 seconds ago.
FDR
Dedicated LVC Member
http://youtu.be/KXc91q1x8pU?t=45s
After watching that video, I said "I need that" but I didn't know where it came from until after changing intake tubes.
1LoudLS
Dedicated LVC Member
it seems to really be a Ford thing across all platforms. Who ever did the transmission program/calibration never seems to get aggressive enough... Like today driving the wife's 08 4 banger escape through the Kentucky/Tennessee Hills with the cruise control set, every damn time we started going back up a hill, the car would start to slow down (as you would expect) and you can feel/hear more throttle being applied but with the complete lack of torque and power, it still keeps slowing down and in your mind your like "come on already, down shift..." Then a couple more seconds later it finally down shifts, but only one gear (which is not enough) then if finally downshifts a second time then it takes off way too hard to try to get back up to speed (if your lucky enough for the cruise control to still stay active with how much speed was lost) but if as soon as I notice it loosing speed I reach over and hit the OD button quick enough, a single downshift is all it needs.
The LS is the same way, it either never downshifts soon enough, or never enough gears. After slowing down, I usually have to give it a little more throttle that I would want to get the right downshift then let up just a hair on the gas to accelerate to where I want it (not letting off to get it to up shift, just letting up enough to accelerate at a slightly slower pace.
I feel like if Ford wants to have such a pansy Trans programming, they should at least have a selector to go from normal to aggressive/sport like a lot of other manufacturers...
It's all about emissions and trying to catch the latest CAFE standards......
1LoudLS
Dedicated LVC Member
Well had they used a switch to select other programs (like other manufacturers) they could have had the sissy programming for emissions and sh!t and then could have also have performance that doesn't make people want to kick kittens...
The worse part is after driving cars that don't suffer from these problems... I've driven BMWs and Audis that don't suffer from this. Hell, my buddies 300 is much better about downshifting than any Ford I have ever owned...
If other manufacturers can get it right, it's not the standards keeping Ford from doing it right, it's their engineers dropping the ball, much like how they don't even want to create desirable cars anymore and would rather turn out a full selection of appliances...
The worse part is after driving cars that don't suffer from these problems... I've driven BMWs and Audis that don't suffer from this. Hell, my buddies 300 is much better about downshifting than any Ford I have ever owned...
If other manufacturers can get it right, it's not the standards keeping Ford from doing it right, it's their engineers dropping the ball, much like how they don't even want to create desirable cars anymore and would rather turn out a full selection of appliances...
FDR
Dedicated LVC Member
On the upside, Lincoln is supposed to have a long wheelbase Mustang variant for 2016, Ford signed up to provide engines for European racing (I forget which division) for 15-16, and they're making a successor to the GT at the same time for the GT40's 50th
I believe the 300 still has a Mercedes transmission. Ours were given an Explorer transmission.
Upstairs Chris
Dedicated LVC Member
I really need to just buy a tune for my car so I can tweak all that but meh, I'm lazy and like bitching.
I can personally attest to my tune fixing this issue. Also for what it's worth, I only use D5 on the interstate, Everything else is D4.
1LoudLS
Dedicated LVC Member
The problem isn't the transmission itself, it's the tuning in the computer...
illyc
Well-Known LVC Member
was curious about whether folks used D4 ever
jerrym3
Well-Known LVC Member
In stop and go traffic, I'll put my LS (and/or TBird retro) in D2 rather than constant braking and up/down tranny shifting.
On mild up/downgrades, I'll drop to a lower gear depending on the grade. (Used SST a lot on the Mount Washington Auto Road.)
Normal driving, I'll use it occasionally when I need to slow down for an exit, or speed up to merge into traffic.
I'll also use it when I (rarely) drive in ice/snow.
On mild up/downgrades, I'll drop to a lower gear depending on the grade. (Used SST a lot on the Mount Washington Auto Road.)
Normal driving, I'll use it occasionally when I need to slow down for an exit, or speed up to merge into traffic.
I'll also use it when I (rarely) drive in ice/snow.
Ummmmm....... There is no D2....... It's just 2nd.....
jerrym3
Well-Known LVC Member
LSV8FAN
Active LVC Member
I'm perplexed. I've been reading this post so I decided to go through the paces of fully using the SST mode to experience how it behaves. In the past, I used SST when wanting to decelerate when the speed limit changed down in a known speed trap. In this post and in the service manual they state that when starting in SST from a stop it will do so in 2nd gear, and if one passes 60% throttle a 2-1 automatic kickdown will occur.... A shift to 1st gear when the vehicle is at rest is never allowed (Service Manual).
In my LS, when stopped and the gear selector is moved from D5 to SST mode, the display will show that the car is in 1st gear. I tried it today, started in 1st gear, accelerated gently to about 4K rpm, manually shifted to 2nd, continued to about 4K rpm again, shifted to 3rd, to 4K rpm, to 4th, to 3K rpm, and to 5th, rpm dropped to about 2K. I felt the shift points between all the gears from 1-5, without any indication that the car started from rest in 2nd and downshifted to 1st.
While moving, If I downshift just to 2nd gear, come to a full stop and start moving again, the car will start in 2nd. While moving, if I downshift to 3rd gear and stay there applying the bakes until I come to a full stop and start moving again, the car will start in 3rd gear. This agrees with the manual.
In my LS, when stopped and the gear selector is moved from D5 to SST mode, the display will show that the car is in 1st gear. I tried it today, started in 1st gear, accelerated gently to about 4K rpm, manually shifted to 2nd, continued to about 4K rpm again, shifted to 3rd, to 4K rpm, to 4th, to 3K rpm, and to 5th, rpm dropped to about 2K. I felt the shift points between all the gears from 1-5, without any indication that the car started from rest in 2nd and downshifted to 1st.
While moving, If I downshift just to 2nd gear, come to a full stop and start moving again, the car will start in 2nd. While moving, if I downshift to 3rd gear and stay there applying the bakes until I come to a full stop and start moving again, the car will start in 3rd gear. This agrees with the manual.
illyc
Well-Known LVC Member
this is my exact experience as well
in SST if i do nothing and come to a full stop it will go into 1st on it's own - not 2nd
in SST i can manually kick down and come to a full stop in either 2nd or 3rd
LSV8FAN
Active LVC Member
Starting in 2nd or 3rd gear would be beneficial in cases where there is ice on the road (or where you are parked) and the wheels will not turn with the traction/stability control turned on. I had that experience once; I parked on an icy surface on the parking lot over a bump. When I tried to back up, the wheels would not turn because both where slipping. I turned traction control off and then I was able to rock the car going from reverse-to-forward-to-reverse (gently) and was able to get over the bump and out of the icy area. Starting in 2nd or 3rd gear on an icy surface where traction control doesn't help will help prevent the wheels from spinning. That's the best use I can see for 2nd or 3rd gear in SST mode.
jerrym3
Well-Known LVC Member
I haven't driven my Galaxie in snow/ice for over 35 years, but when it was our daily driver, I liked the way the auto trans was set up.
If you started out in D2, the car would start in 2nd and upshift to 3rd (high) automatically. So, if you had bad weather, leave it in D2 and forget it.
D2, on steep inclines, also acted as a hill holder. Car would not move. Put it into regular D, and the car would roll back, depending on idle speed and incline.
On the highway, over 30 mph, you could drop her into Low and she'd fall back into 2nd, not 1st. But, if you dropped below 30 mph, she'd nosedive into 1st gear.
If you started out in D2, the car would start in 2nd and upshift to 3rd (high) automatically. So, if you had bad weather, leave it in D2 and forget it.
D2, on steep inclines, also acted as a hill holder. Car would not move. Put it into regular D, and the car would roll back, depending on idle speed and incline.
On the highway, over 30 mph, you could drop her into Low and she'd fall back into 2nd, not 1st. But, if you dropped below 30 mph, she'd nosedive into 1st gear.
chocolat1701
Dedicated LVC Member
if you have a gen1 LS it will start in 2nd gear but if you have a gen2 LS it will start in 1st gear. I had both and that s the first thing I noticed.