What is O/D? | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

  • Register Today It's free!

What is O/D?

ornithology

Well-Known Member
Joined
January 20, 2009
Messages
280
Reaction score
0
City, State
Vancouver, BC
Year, Model & Trim Level
'03 X Sport2dr 4.0 V6 XLT
Hi guys,
I just noticed that I have something that is labelled O/D on the shifter on my 2003 Ex Sport. I'm not sure what this thing does except it is a button turns the O/D on and off. Can someone explain to me what this thing is and what it does for my truck? Thanks.
 



Join the Elite Explorers for $20 each year.
Elite Explorer members see no advertisements, no banner ads, no double underlined links,.
Add an avatar, upload photo attachments, and more!
.





that means your truck is going to overdose!!! dont do it man!!!!!!!!!! lol jk, it stands for overdrive. honestly im not even going to try to explain it because i know ill be wrong but it has something to do with the way the truck shifts i think...
 






An overdrive is a device which was commonly used in automobiles to allow the choice of an extra-high overall gear ratio for high speed cruising, thus saving fuel, at the cost of less torque. Usually the final or top gear is called overdrive. Non direct drive gears increase torque multiplication at the expense of higher engine rpm and thus, decreased fuel economy.
 






Alright...so if I want to save fuel as much as possible, would I just leave it on the whole time? I wonder if Aldive uses O/D?

I did some googling and apparently it allows the trasmission RPM to be higher than the engine RPM, meaning the engine works less to produce a higher speed. Sounds good to me! I've never used it and I'm averaging around 16mpg on my X sport, hopefully once I engage this thing I'll get more!
 






Normally in most transmissions high gear is 1:1. IOW the drive shaft is turning the same RPM as the crankshaft. With O/D there is a "higher" gear that kicks the final drive ratio so the engine is turning slower than the drive shaft usually about 0.8

In normal driving OD would be good for fuel mileage (less RPMs for a given speed) but it's not good in all situations (towing, snow/ice)
 






Alright...so if I want to save fuel as much as possible, would I just leave it on the whole time? I wonder if Aldive uses O/D?

I use it all the time ( except when heavy towing ).

It is basically always on in my truck.
 






By default, overdrive is normally on. You disengage/re-engage OD by pressing the button on the stalk. When OD is off, the OD off on the dash will come on. Bottom line... you've probably been driving the explorer all along with OD on.
 






By default, overdrive is normally on. You disengage/re-engage OD by pressing the button on the stalk. When OD is off, the OD off on the dash will come on. Bottom line... you've probably been driving the explorer all along with OD on.

boo you had to pop my +MPG bubble. lol
 






Technically OD refers to any gearset combination which result in a final drive ratio of greater than 1:1. 5th gear in your explorer does that, so it is referred to as OD.
 






Sounds like somebody needs to crack open the trusty owner's manual...

-Joe
 






Dead post resurrection!

something that will help your tranny life: shif outta o/d when pullin a steep grade... otherwise the tranny will shift itself to death... lost a 700r4 to a mother that didn't know that...
 






Back
Top