I'm a lay man [noob] for automatic transmissions. I'm really confused on what my cars gears are for. I've got (D),3,2,1 in my car. What specifically do each of them accomplish, what gear ratio's are they configured for.

My friend advised me to try 3rd gear for drag racing, but results showed otherwise. He though that it created a higher transmission fluid pressure and was capable of shifting faster, a necessity.

Could anyone help me or redirect me to a topic? Thanks.

 

Bump.

 

wut kind of car do you have?

 

Well, I own a 02 Chevy Monte Carlo LS. But my question was kind of directed towards the 2005 Mustang GT I drove at the dragstrip. Would the transmissions act about the same?

 

They should act the same. When you're at the strip, just leave it in D unless it's shifting into overdrive at the VERY end... if it's doing that, put it in 3 so it won't shift to overdrive at the very end.

All that switching between them does is prevent the transmission from shifting above that gear. If you put it in 2 and put the pedal to the floor, it'll shift through first, but it won't shift past second... you'll find yourself bouncing off the rev limiter if you just hold the pedal, it'll stay in second gear. Same goes for 1 and 3, they'll each keep it in first, or at most third respectively.

It does not change the fluid pressure or anything crazy like that. It just effects which gear the transmission will stop shifting at. As for the individual gear ratios, that varies per transmission and you will have to go look them up. In 4-speed automatics, 3rd gear is 1.0.

 

Ah, very helpful. Thank you.

For some reason, at the track, while I had it in 3rd gear the 2005 Mustang GT only ran a 11.6s on the 1/8. That's terrible. On the second run, I used Drive and ran a 10.6.. still not great. On the third run, I had the car brake-revved up before the start with a little tire spin and I finished with a 9.528s on the 1/8mile. So, I'm just curious as to why the third gear would run so slow? Do you think overdrive (4th gear) actually helped the last runs?

 

Just hit the OD button and turn it off? Unless the 05 GT doesnt have one, I've never looked.