I never redline my auto trans max. Some days on the higway I may get the tac to 5 on a pass but rarely.

I have noticed while cruisin down the road between 35-38 in 3rd gear (I suspect) if I decide to punch it because some jerk is tailgaiting me my max will redline before reaching the next gear and I'm still doing 35 for several seconds. This lull is rather anti-climactic for my road-rage.

Is this redlining normal for punching it at 35mph??

 

Do you have OD off? If you have it ON, its not normal to go 35 in 3rd, the tranny would shift lower.

 

OD off. Why would the engine down shift if I were punching the accelerator??

 

When you punch it at 30mph, you are redlineing first gear...not third.

THIS is redline in thrid:



(Yes, I use every possible opportunity to post this pic)

 

Why would I be in 1st gear at 35mph? I feel the gear change from 1st at 15 and 2nd at 25...

 

It's called kickdown. When you floor it, the car shifts back down to the lowest possible gear for maximum acceleration.

 

At wide open throttle (when you floor it), the car will shift at or close to redline. Lets do it this way.
Top of 1st gear is about 45 mph, top of 2nd is about 75-80mph, top of 3rd is about 120, top of 4th is waaaay up there. With that in mind, when you floor the car, the computer looks at the speed and determines which gear is best for acceleration. If you're going 30mph in 4th gear (good for fuel economy and cruising) then floor it. The computer will downshift to 1st gear. It sees that you're only going 30mph and the top of 1st is 45mph. So it will shift in to 1st wind it out till 45 then shift in to 2nd.

 

Whew..what a relief.
As usual..you people kick but.
A big thank you.