Downshifting an automatic

[boominXplorer]

Is it ok to downshift when your going down the road in an automatic? Like say im going 35mph and drop it in into 1st does that hurt it? or going like 60 and go into 2nd? I always did it and now im kinda thinking thats why my truck is in the tranny shop now? It never would bind up or anything it would just sh*t and get. Then again i didn't feel alone because there was 5 other cars in there and 2 of them other than mine were explorers (go figure). By the way my truck has 140,000 miles on it

 

[udmsvt]

ok, first off i need to say that i am no expert and if i seem a little harsh, i am just trying to emphasize my point.

is it ok to downshift in a an auto, depends on how you do it....but i wouldnt do it at all.

most especially at those speeds! if you are trying to go into 1st at 35mph, that would send your rps through the roof and that is horible on the engine and tranny! i wouldnt even shift into 1st in a stick going that fast!

and to 2nd at 60mpg, same case! if i did that, i'd be looking way past the redline!

the whole point of an auto is that you dont have to shift, so dont. from what i hear some of teh auto trannies in explorers, particluarly 1st generation explorers, have problems anyways...acutally, there are quite a few with later explorers that have tranny problems too. our 91 is on 2nd tranny , it got about 130-140 out of number one and it has 164 on it now w/ no problems. most auto trannies will get 100-150 if its a reputable tranny so its not uncommon to be in the tranny shop, but i can not stress how much i would not be shifting like that.

 

[Alec]

I manually downshift my parents cars all the time. Though they are new luxo cars and the computers control the shifting and only take recommendations from the driver. The Explorer uses a more direct system and has many less safeguards than those cars. In short, I wouldn't downshift your X manually very often on the road.

 

[aldive]

Whats the point? Its called an automatic for a reason. If you wanna shift, get a standard tranny.

 

[XLT_66]

whenever i wanna mess around with people on the road, i always downshift....i start off by turning off O/D..then go into 2nd at about 50 or so, then go into 1st at around 25-30....my explorer picks up the best from about a 20 roll, i spin too much off the line, even leaving from idle and not stalling it out...

oh yea, i do have a beefer tranny tho...3000 stall, baumann shift kit, and basically just a good tranny though....

 

[Alec]

You also have the 4R70W, which is a better tranny than the A4LD family to begin with.

Lemme say again though, manually downshifting an auto without computer safeguards isn't very good.

 

[boominXplorer]

there is safeguards on it... Like i can be going 45 and put it into first and it wont downshift till i slow down to 35. Same thing with 2nd. The rpms after it lets me down shift are usually at 3500rpm's so its not bad. i also have 3:55 gears so rev limiter in 1st gear is at 48mph. Thanks for all your help so far