Redlining

[MaverickDaKid]

Ok I'm use to driving manual transmission cars. So now I have a 93 Auto Ex.

I have the Ex as a transport and a chilling type of veichle. When I want to race I use my car.

Anyways, At times I get annoyed with some moron driver that thinks he can own me in a lil POS, so I decide to humiliate him in a truck. Anyways when I shift in my car from gear to gear I always wait to hit redline then shift. Its the way I have been driving since I was 15 (when racing) but now im in an Automatic tranny truck. And I have found a lil way to manipulate the truck to not shift until I let off the accel (only works when going on high revs) So I push down the accel till it hits red line let go of the accel just a little let it do the change and then hit the accel again. I get that lil push I usualy get off my car and a lil peel out, up to 3rd gear of course.

Anyways my question is this is my first Auto tranny truck. So I don't know if what im doing is really bad for the truck. And if all Explorers are easy to manipulate the way I manipulate mine. Thanks

 

[Texan01]

Don't know 'bout yours, but mine doesn't make much power past 4500 rpm and redline is 5200. I've found it faster to leave it in drive and floor it, the tranny shifts at 4300-4700 rpm, otherwise it just seems slower to shift it at 5 grand or so.

I don't think you'll hurt it, but the stock 4.0 pushrods and rocker arms are not well oiled so you might keep that in mind.

Modern automatics are much better at picking the right gear than the older '60s designs, my Chevelle was notorious for shortshifting before the 305 could get to it's power peak, if I wound it out to 5 grand (fastest I'd spin a stock Chevy V-8) then it'd git, left in D it was slower. Dad's old Dakota you had to manually shift it to get ANY speed out of the 3.9 V-6

 

[Alec]

Just floor the darn thing. If you want to take off quickly, power brake to about 2000 then let off the brake and hit the gas at the same time.

Constantly ragging out your Explorer isn't really bad for the engine, but it is bad on the tranny; especially what you're doing. Make sure you change the engine and tranny fluids regularly, and that you have an auxilliary transmission cooler. Also, never rag on it until it is properly warmed up.

 

[Josh S.]

hmm...I too was wondering about this. I have a manual transmission and I was in the desert beating on the engine a lot harder than I normally do and was wondering if it was bad. If I'm just kinda keeping it near redline and driving, is that bad? Because I was in the sand and the truck wouldn't handle the next gear without bogging down(I know I need to regear) So basically, I was trying to go as fast as I could and was just seemingly pushing the engine to the max. I felt kinda wierd afterwards. Like I was wrecking the engine and ****. Anyways, is this bad? I do run mobil1 oil if that makes any difference

 

[Alec]

Josh, you're probably fine if you only do that once in a while. The manual trannies are much more forgiving than the autos, anyway. Just make sure you keep the engine temps managable and give it a breather every few minutes or so if you're really topping it out for extended periods.

 

[Josh S.]

Alright cool. Yah engine temp is one of the things I'm really careful of. I always keep it cool baby. Because I have a manual, that means it stays way cooler than an auto right? Should I invest in like a tranny temp guage or a trans cooler? or do I have nothing to worry about?

 

[IAmTodd]

Originally posted by Josh S.
I felt kinda wierd afterwards.

I feel bad, like i've abused her after doing a few 5k rpm jonts through town. u know? and then i start to get paranoid about my tranny and if i've hurt it

 

[Josh S.]

yah man, its like I'm hurting it man! but u can't control it at the time. You just gotta gas it all the way to the max and f'n jump the hell out of it off of 3' whoops that surely your truck isn't made for. then your weak sauce friend is like dude, take it easy man. Then it kinda sets in and your like oh man, what am I doing to this thing. My poor truck! Anyways, ou gotta do it sometimes

 

[IAmTodd]

Originally posted by Josh S.
Anyways, you gotta do it sometimes

I do find that true sometimes