overdrive button

[antman]

i just got a 2003 Protege LX. it didn't come with an owners manual. what are the pro's & con's of swiching the overdive button on/off? also, can this be done on the fly or should the car be in park? thanks.

[NCZ13]

firt off u posted this in the wrong subforum.

overdrive is used when your going up a hill, and u want to be in a lower gear. its essentally like shifting down a gear. u hit the button, and itll "shift" to a lower gear, revving up the engine, and making it work harder.

[Brian MP5T]

There is no need to turn it off, ever.

The tranny will kick down when it needs to.

[Kaldonis]

firt off u posted this in the wrong subforum.

overdrive is used when your going up a hill, and u want to be in a lower gear. its essentally like shifting down a gear. u hit the button, and itll "shift" to a lower gear, revving up the engine, and making it work harder.

Overdrive is just your highest gear, it happens to be fourth gear in this situation. You want to turn it on when you're doing high speed highway or freeway driving, turn it off for regular city driving. Turning it "on" doesn't put you in that gear, it just makes that gear available to your car to use.

For driving up a hill, you would actually want to turn overdrive OFF, as to force the car to stay in third gear.

[Kaldonis]

There is no need to turn it off, ever.

The tranny will kick down when it needs to.


I was under the impression it was better to leave it off in city driving just to prevent unnecessary shifting and transmission wear? If you're travelling around 40mph the transmission may be having a hard time deciding between third and fourth gear, and it's better just to force it into third gear.

[NCZ13]

Overdrive is just your highest gear, it happens to be fourth gear in this situation. You want to turn it on when you're doing high speed highway or freeway driving, turn it off for regular city driving. Turning it "on" doesn't put you in that gear, it just makes that gear available to your car to use.

For driving up a hill, you would actually want to turn overdrive OFF, as to force the car to stay in third gear.

thats what i meant. turn it off going up a hill.