Do you automatic guys use O/D in the city or not? I don't know if it really matters or not, but sometimes it will shift a little harder when OD is engaged.

I rarely ever use the ETC Power shift thing, unless I'm driving in fast moving stop and go traffic.

 

Hmmm. Fast moving stop and go traffic - isn't that an oxymoron?

I always keep O/D on - city or highway driving.

John

 

keeping O/D on all the time puts stress on the trans. If you keep it on it tells the trans to shift all the way up to 4th gear (which is for higher speeds) so in a sense it tries to shift up faster to the higher gear to save fuel but really it ends up shifting and downshifting a lot more to compensate for the slower driving speed. If you plan on driving at speeds less that 45 mph, I'd suggest keeping overdrive off. Hence, the trans would only shift up to 3rd gear.

 

yeah I drive 85% city and I leave the O/D on all the time. I use the tranny power thing- ect- for fun getting onto the parkway sometimes. But my runner likes her gas so I hardly play around especially and near $2 a gallon.

 

According to Toyota manual, you should leave O/D all the time unless you're towing something. Otherwise you're shortening the life of your transmission.

-- Andrey

 

That's what I thought too. Seems like with O/D off I run at a lot higher RPM's - it gives me that uneasy "this is rough on the truck" feeling.

John

 

So the conclusion being O/D on all the time with the exception of hualing? I have my ECT on 85% of the time...I am a fast accelerator, I was going from a Chevy V10 to a Yota 3.slow so...yeah. But ECT definately loves to eat that gas!! Anyway...O/D on or off????

Fink

 

you guys are missing the point. you do not need overdrive on all the time; overdrive tells the trans to shift 1, 2, 3, 4.

without overdrive you are shifting 1, 2, 3.


4th gear is not neccessary for city driving unless you are going over 50mph.. even then it's not really neccessary, it just saves on gas.

When you use overdrive the tranny tries to get up to 4th faster to save gas, this puts more stress on it if you are constantly slowing down and speeding up 'cuz it is changing gears at different rpms (lower rpms with overdrive on).

It is making your engine work harder if you keep it on for city driving becuase it changes gears soon. With overdrive off, it knows that you are doing city driving and it waits longer to shift; to give you more power.

also, this is why it is recommended to keep overdrive off when in the mountains, to relieve stress from the trans. (says this somewhere in the manual)

 

I've heard the same and this seems logical to me for a couple of reasons:

1. If you are coasting in any gear without OD on, it uses the engine to break. We've debated this before - things like oil being sucked past the rings, etc were mentioned. To me, it just sounds like it is harder on the engine. If I wanted my rig to sound like a stick, I'd have gotten a stick.

2. With OD, I agree it is shifting more, but these are nice easy shifts generally. The revs aren't up as high IMO. Easy on the engine and easy on the trans.

The OD was designed to used at all speeds. There is no way in hell that Toyota would make you have to think that much about driving one of their cars. Of the millions of Toyota's sold in the US, how many owners do you think manually switch the OD on and off in city vs highway driving? If it were as much as 2% I'd be really surprised.

Am I the only one who noticed that Bythabay has a stick?

 

That's a good point. i do drive a 5spd.

but i drive my dad's 2000 sienna occasionally and i own an '82 cressida; both auto.





hehe

 

Ooh, good catch Cebby!

I usually leave mine on. I don't know about you guys but in my Tacoma it's actually automatically on everytime I start the engine, no matter how much I try to turn it off before I shut down.

 

I leave my o/d on all the time. I take it out of o/d when I am pulling my boat up a really steep hill, and if I am going up a long grade with the cruise control on and it can't decide whether to stay in o/d or kick down, I just turn the o/d off.

 

I used to drive with it off all the time, but it was funny, every time I got my car back from the dealer it would always be turned on...hmm...is this a clue? I got my car back Saturday night and it was ON so I just left it that way.

So unless I'm going up a steep hill, hauling of people and/or gear or towing something...its going to stay on for me. To me it just drives better, is it safe to use ECT & O/D at the same time? There are a few onramps around here that you need to acclerate as fast as you can to get up to 65 and without ECT it is a challenge.

Fink

 

Manufacturers spend millions researching what works best for their engines, so go with the manual.