So i was driving today i started playing with the overdrive system and it got me wondering....Whats the best to drive in overdrive or non overdrive? In my last stang i always drove in overdrive especially when on the freeway. The reason being i didnt like running at high rpm's at high speeds. It made the engine sound stressed. Is it bad to drive in overdrive all the time?

 

I bet when going up steep inclines or mountain driving would be the hardest on the O/D, because it's taking power from the top gear.

 

Yeah but is it bad to drive in overdrive? I just dont want to mess the engine up in the long run.

 

If the vehicle is laboring up the incline in O/D it may be stressing the engine. When we Manual guys come to a hill we have to downshift. Does the tranny downshift automatically when in O/D?

 

Shoot, I would like to know the same thing. I never turn my overdrive on. Someone told me if you are going to be driving over 40mph you shouldn't have it on. I don't want to ruin the engine by switching it on and off so I just leave it off.

 

O/D is the normal driving mode. You're *intended* to use it all the time, that's why you get a special warning light when it's off, and no warning light when it's on. Under very specific driving conditions you would turn it off, but it's mostly the same kinds of conditions that you'd use the lower gears, like.. I.. dunno.. I never had to do it before . I guess people in very snowy or otherwise terrain-sensitive areas would have a use for it. The people who need to turn it off know who they are.

Here is additional information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overdrive_(mechanics)

Overdrive is good and you would like to use it.

 

info should be in the owners manual. I used to have a Dodge Ram and was towing a trailer one time with the over drive on. I was going on a 800 mile round trip to pick up a motorcycle with a buddy of mine, and we would take turns driving for 2 hours at a time. I blew through a full tank of gas in 2 hours, so I filled up, we switch, and he looked over at me and called me a dumb *** for driving with the over drive on.....so he turned it off, and the tank of gas lasted the rest of the first half of the trip......yea I am dumb ***. I pulled out the owners manual because he said the info should be in there, and sure enough, it was.

 

If you are driving to get somewhere, and not driving for fun, ALWAYS use overdrive. The car (engine and electronics) is smart enough to figure out when overdrive is appropriate. In fact, when driving OVER 40 MPH (as someone said) you will almost certainly be in overdrive 90% of the time. You will get your best gas mileage there. Of course, once in overdrive, you have no torque, so you can only speed up slowly, or if you punch it a little, the car will downshift into 4th till you speed up, then when you release throttle pressure, it will upshift to OD again. When I am going out to have fun on the back roads, I turn OD off, as I don't like the constant downshift from OD to 4th.....

 

ahh i see..i noticed that i have one less gear when not in overdrive. So its a good thing to be driving in overdrive?

 

Dont make fun of me for this stupid question, ; But lets say your racing from a dig to 100 can you turn off the OD on the start and then lets say when you hit 40 or 50 turn OD on