When driving in town do you keep the OD off?

[UtahX]

I leave mine all the time, but if I ever tow something I'll probably shut it off. Going up steep roads here in UT, seems to be just fine.

 

[11lariat]

I usually leave my 92 in overdrive..the only time i don't is on a few long hills where it tends to hunt between 3rd and OD

 

[Brandons]

Im falling into the bad habbit of 2nd in town, and 1st taking off in town.

O/D will kick in at about 43mph for me, and my rpm sticks around 2100rpm doing 50mph. Doesnt sound healthy for it lol.

 

[Ford_Racing_Guy]

Ive always done this with my automatic equipped vehicles. Generally if Im driving in town (under 45-50mph) I keep the OD off. When I hit the highway, I turn it on obviously.

What do you guys do?

same here

 

[slpdave]

I didn't read about taking it out of overdrive on the hills or accelerating. I did about towing. The owner of the transmission shop I use told me too. He said with 133000 miles on a 5r55e it probably is in need of a rebuild, by putting it into O/D it changes the value of the pressure used to activate a shift and help reduce my "2nd gear out of sync" message for a while longer, which it gives after climbing hills with O/D on I am trying to get 150000 out of the tranny before a rebuild, no reason for the number it's just a pipe dream.

David

 

[offset_98]

OMG...no. Towing and off road only. Come on guys...

 

[Abom]

I don't quite understand the logic of turning off O/D. If you're going up a steeper hill, O/D turns off automatically, as your tranny should be shifting into 3rd or even 2nd, depending on your speed.

Unless you're having transmission issues, I don't understand the reason why you would turn off O/D to "create less wear". I mean, it's a transmission, it's designed to use O/D. I've seen LOTS of Explorers on their first transmissions with over 150k miles and no problems at all with using O/D. If it was that much of an issue, wouldn't Ford just remove the O/D option in lieu of an actual real 4th and possibly 5th gear ?

 

[snocross1985]

When driving in town i keep OD off, when i am going to be cruising at 50 mph+ I turn OD on. Not gonna chance any added wear by letting it hunt between 3rd and 4th when i am driving 45 mph.

 

[Brandons]

Mine will stay in O/D up most hills lol.

 

[trekmachine]

I leave mine OD on all the time

 

[old mechanic]

I think that the mfn (FORD) says to leave it in OD....for (regular) most driving situations.

But, you guys are talking about a switch?? OD........On/Off?? ............humm.

On OD auto transmissions I've seen............it's just, select the gear, "OD".............not a sparate switch, to be selected. Or, am I reading this wrong.

Aloha, Mark

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Mark, the first gen Ex's have O/D that is selected right along with the other shift points. On a lot of other vehicles there is a seperate button to go into O/D.
I leave mine on because it won't go into O/D unless I reach 45MPH any way, so whats the point in not keeping it in O/D around town.
With that said, I tried my EX out keeping it in (D) on the freeways instead of O/D and I seem to get better mileage.
STRANGE!

 

[Hartman]

My OD Off button no longer works for some reason....

 

[IAmTodd]

In my old '95 I would keep it off for anything under 60mph. I always found an increased in mileage with this.

With the V8 its gas and go. OD kicks in for me at 40mph and I can slow down to 35 before it kicks out(round 1000 rpms ).

 

[Brandons]

------------
Mark, the first gen Ex's have O/D that is selected right along with the other shift points. On a lot of other vehicles there is a seperate button to go into O/D.
I leave mine on because it won't go into O/D unless I reach 45MPH any way, so whats the point in not keeping it in O/D around town.
With that said, I tried my EX out keeping it in (D) on the freeways instead of O/D and I seem to get better mileage.
STRANGE!

Ive noticed A simmilar strange thing....

 

[MountaineerGreen]

Since I am running 32's on 3.73's, in town I always lock it out of OD, otherwise I find it slipping into OD about 40-45 and it really feels sluggish. I think it would definitely save some wear and tear.

I always tow with it out of OD unless it is a light trailer.

 

[IAmTodd]

Oh, and mine will got into OD at 95mph regardless of what you tell it to do.

 

[Tilt168]

Is also helps maintain a slower speed on some downhill grades here in the moutains of colorado so you dont use th ebrakes so much, and sometimes 2nd gear is too slow

agreed!