I got automatic and I know that O/D OFF suppose to disable the 4th gear. My question is that is it good for the car to be driven constantly at O/D OFF ?
I feel I have a little more power in the car with this lit up.

 

i do it too....my opion is that it should be ok because the tranny isnt shifitng in and out of OD all the time,.....but i am not positive hopefully someone else can fill us in

 

It'll create more engine wear/tear vs. 4th gear. If you keep togging the switch back and forth constantly, you'll end up creating more heat which is the #1 killer of automatic transmissions.

 

but in city traffic if u leave it off u wont be shifting from 3 and 4 constantly like our ****ty shift points tend to doi

 

I don't see how turning off O/D (light ON) would create more wear and tear on the engine unless you're revving the **** out of it. The gearing on the automatics are too tall for city driving; you end up getting into 4th gear WAY to soon. I believe it goes into 4th at around 52km/h (32mph). In city driving, it'll shift between 3rd and 4th repeatedly, especially when you're going up and down hills. Besides, with O/D off, driveability overall is a lot better, no lurching and no downshifting from 4th.

I turn off O/D as soon as I start up the car. I only turn it off for speeds of 50mph (80km/h) or more and sometimes for highway passing/onramp.

EDIT:
You might want to read up on these threads as well:
http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?t=294984
http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?t=276474

 

I press that button all the time.... I keep O/D off all the time except when I know I"m going to go over 40 which is when it usually shifts. It sucks when your doing city driving and it kicks in O/D, then you have to press the gas even more for it to downshift back to 3rd

 

So I guess it is pretty good and safe for the engine and transmission to set O/D OFF light constantly during city driving and then switching to O/D ON on the expressways?

 

That's what I do.

This is my 1st automatic car and after a week I couldn't take it anymore.

3-4-3-4-2-3-4-3-4-4-3-4.......

 

i drive around with my o/d off cuz i live in a city, but if i was on the highway i would turn it on... i dont see how it can damage yur tranny if u do that

 

Its just like downshifting. The only thing I see wrong with it would be that your burning more gas. But I try not to pay attention to the amount of gas I consume anyway, I consider it a "fixed cost", just fill er up whenever shes empty.

Plus, you cant really get into the power band with the $#@! thing dropping into 4th gear every time you turn around! Anyway, most people on here think that anything outside of granny driving will kill the auto-tranny

Just check your transmission fluid every so often to make sure it isnt burned. You should be fine.

 

auxillary tranny cooler for life

 

yeah it does kill you mpg. i noticed that on my max so i hardly ever turn my o/d off.

 

Yea, only downside of it. burns the hell out of your fuel economy. I keep it on unless im in traffic.

 

I keep my o/d off whenever i'm in stop 'n go traffic

 

And I thought it was tranny cancer... interesting to know about o/d. I have never thought it to be useful.

 

yeah, mine drained my gas tank... switchin o/d back on

 

I'm pretty sure the owners manual says you can take it out (or maybe even SHOULD take it out) of overdrive when you are going less then 45.

 

can someone actually verify this from the manual?
whomever thinks its bad for the car: if it was bad for the engine or transmission
i dont think they would let you have an option to turn it off, isnt this logical?
maybe it eats more gas then thats another thing...

 

I just found the blurb about it in there. I left it in the car, so I won't quote it.

Basically, it says to turn overdrive off when the transmission is shifting from 3rd to 4th repeatedly. It uses driving up or down a winding slope as an example. It says not to drive excessively without the overdrive on as this will result in bad gas mileage.

That's it.

 

When I said constantly, I meant O/D on,O/D off ect ect.. ect.. for the heck of it. That'll end up screwing the transmission. But cruising in 3rd gear with O/D off inthe city wont harm awhole lot but your mpg. Cruising on the highway with O/D off like at 60mph for 500miles would heat your transmission up.

 

As an independent working college student I can barely make ends meet and I barely get gas. So racing and turning the OD off is pretty dang crazy for me.

Is OD siimply 4th gear? Doesnt the overdrive switch partly in (without full lock) during other gears to lower RPMs?

 

Overdrive is just 4th gear. What you are describing sounds more like the torque converter.