in an automatic are you supposed to drive with overdrive on or off? my whole life i was always told overdrive off, unless youre on a freeway.

then my transmission went out and the people who rebuilt it told me i was driving it all wrong, overdrive is always supposed to be on unless youre towing something or going up a hill. but maybe they just want more of my money when it goes out again.

so now, sometimes i drive with it on when i want better gas mileage, but usually i still drive with it off. does anybody know how its TRULY supposed to be driven????

 

I've always driven with overdrive on. If you drive OD off all the time, it will cause increased wear on your motor because you are turning more RPMS.

I'm pretty sure that's right.

 

You need to always drive with overdrive ON, unless you're towing something or going downhill and need some engine braking.

-- Andrey

 

i second that

well the towing part at least. i thought it was also good for a lot of uphill driving, but downhill too? i do notice it does slow you down a little if your're cruising then engage it

 

Yeah, what they said.

 

thats what i always thought too, because when its on all the time in stop and go traffic it shifts itself in and out on its own anyway and wears itself out... at least thats what somebody told me

i just want some opinions because i feel dumb, half the time i have it on and half the time i have it off because i dont know.

if my transmission does go out again, its still under warranty for the next year.

it was rebuilt 4 times in one month by the idiots at aamco transmission. maybe i SHOULDNT listen to their advice now that i think of it

 

so in other words, that little light that says "overdrive off" shouldnt be lit up unless im towing something or going uphill?

 

.....well....what the shop told you is true....you only drive with it off when towing something or going up a hill......when ever you are driving at a constant speed but your tranny keeps on shifting down then up, down then up because our 3.0s just dont have enough guts to keep it up to speed in a particular gear......thats another time you turn overdrive off.....around here when it gets windy there is no way in hell i can drive on the freeway with it on.....it will burn up the tranny fast because it keeps shifting.....

But yes, when you are doing normal driving....keep it on....it saves a BUNDLE on gas....on the highway with it off i can get about 100 miles on one full tank of gas.....and that sucks REALLY bad.....

 

I have it on 99% of the time. I only turn it off if I'm freeway driving and just want to feel some power or if I need to pass someone really quickly on the road. I have forgotten to turn it off before and it just seems like the power is very surgy if you know what I mean. Annoys me really bad. As for Aamco, I don't trust them for squat. I had them rebuild the tranny on my '95 Mazda 626. They had it for almost a month and it cost $2500 or something like that and it was slipping again within a week. I give them a BIG thumbs down.

 

that is correct.

 

Overdrive is just the final gear on an automatic transmission, so with overdrive off, it only goes into 3rd (2nd gens have 4speed Auto's right???). When driving my Grandpa's 2nd gen, I turn overdrive off when passing someone on the freeway, or going uphill. If you are in motion, and switch overdrive off, it just downshifts the automatic transmission!

 

So, what if you're towing on the freeway at ~80mph?

 

You have a Toyota right? Then the above probably won't be an issue.

What the others have said is correct. The only reason to keep it off (or in 3rd) while going up hill is so that it won't have to downshift, then upshift, then downshift again after it loses momentum in 4th. I'm pretty sure this is the same logic behind when pulling a trailer. But if you're on flat ground, I would still say leave it on.

Not sure you need to turn it off for passing purposes though as the accelerator will handle that.

It hurts fuel economy if you're in 3rd and can/should be in 4th.

 

Here's my .02. Overdrive is a glorified 4th gear. If it isn't on, it won't go into it's final gear.

As for the question about towing at 80mph... I towed a trailer from San Diego to NYC. No way was I going to do 3k miles without a fourth gear. BUT, I only turned on the O/D when I was crusing down the road. As long as I wasn't trying to climb those &*%$# Rocky Mountains. Flat roads or downhill already at crusing speed. Needless to say, I was popping it in and out the whole trip.

Some may say I was wrong to do that but I had to find a middle ground. I'm not too comfortable doing 70 mph in 3rd gear.

 

thanks for all your help. since everyone is saying the same thing i guess the answer to my question is pretty clear now..

oh and as for aamco transmissions, i think theyre just a bunch of idiots. i only went to them because they have the best warranty. my truck was under a warranty to begin with, the transmission rebuild was over $3300 that i didnt have to pay.

so it didnt bug me that bad. i just kept bringing it in until they finally got sick of it and decided to do it right. the owner had to fly up here from tennessee or something and stand over them to make them do it right.