hey guys, just wondering if the tranny could stay into over-drive at all times, will this hurt the trans, thanx

What do you mean by stay in OD all the time?? If you mean when you are driving around any time whether it is in the city or HWY you leave the gear selector in OD then I have to say NO it will not harm it. I have always done that in ANY car I owned, well not my truck since it was a manual but you get the point.

I know I have also heard that you should not put in in OD while driving around in the city but I have never done it. One exception though is if you ever happen to two with your car or ( Montana ) in this case. Then you CANNOT put it in OD cause it will overheat the tranny and well you know what will happen then.

Think of your OD as simply the 4th gear that it actually is.
1st gear ratio - 2.921
2nd gear ratio - 1.568
3rd gear ratio - 1.00
4th gear ratio (sometimes referred to as Overdrive - over 1.00 ratio) - .705

I manually shift mine, just because there is something wrong with my tranny.. however when my mom used to drive her, she was always in OD. Your preference.

1st = only 1st gear
2nd = 1st or 2nd gear [automatic]
D [3rd] = 1st, 2nd, 3rd [also, automatic]
OD = 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th [once again, automatic]

With your newer cars, often times it will automatically bypass the gear selector, and shift if you go to redline. This happend with electronic shifting, where the PCM controls the transmission'* shifting, unlike manual shifting, which was mechanical motion shifting the transmission. I think this came originally with the Hybrid ECMs [I don't know when for our cars], however I think it really only came into all cars in full OBDII 97/98 range. Anyways, pretty off topic there, sorry 'bout that


-justin

Wait, I'm confused. We shouldn't have it in OD the D with a circle or "o" around it when we are driving around town? Up to what speeds do we use D? A little clearing up would be helpful.

i believe it is fine to run around in overdrive. i have heard you drop the tranny into drive to pass someone.

Not even. Just put some throttle into it, and it should kick down anyway.

true...good point

we need to clarify some things here.........

there is no OD selector on the 4T65-E transmissions for the 97+ bonnies. there is just D, 3, 2, and 1 on the cars with the floor shifter

now on to the 4T60-E trans there is OD, D, 2 and, 1 for the cars with the floor shifter

D on the 4T60-E is actually 3rd gear and D on the 4T65-E is 4the gear

on another note: it has been posted that if you are driving at speeds of 45 MPH or slower for long periods of time that it is better to leave the car in third gear, This prevents the car from locking up the TCC, although if you are going in third gear the trans locks up the TCC at 36 mph.

I do this with my car to prevent the trans from thinking that it needs to lock up the TCC when its not necessary