Jazzcat

Hello All-

First, a quick related question. Do our cars have lockup torque converters? Reason I ask is I keep an eye on RPM's when I drive. About 95% of the time I'm driving 60mph, it seems like it's a lazy 1,800 RPM. The other 5% it seems like it's 2,200-2,500. Just trying to figure out if the transmission is slipping or if that's just the torque converter.

Now- ever since I started driving, I was always taught to NEVER lug the engine. (Lugging is when you're at a low RPM, there's a heavy load, and you give it a lot of throttle. Kind of like if you're in 5th gear at 35mph in a 4-cylinder and you hit the gas without downshifting.) Why? The most important reason is that at low RPM, the oil pressure is low, and therefore it can't protect the engine as well.

Our cars, left to their own devices, will generally try to keep the RPM as low as possible. In city driving, even under moderate acceleration, it doesn't want to get past 1,500 RPM. In the city this isn't a big deal because usually you can mosey along and not have to really hit the gas hard.

Where I live there are lots of hills and curves and two-lane country roads. I always shift manually and generally I have to keep it in 5th if I want to stay at 55-60mph. I can upshift to 6th on those long stretches of straightaways, but if I try to hit 6th any other time I can feel the engine lugging- there's not enough RPM to produce a lot of power to keep up with the hills and curves.

I wish there was a 5.5th gear...

Bificus99

Yes this is a torque converter transmission setup. When in manual mode its not as direct as some true automatics but the converter does lock. That is what you are experiencing in the higher "gears". Same thing in a manual trans, it has an efficient range of speed in gear. If you are in 6th gear climbing a hill it will lug. In D the ratios change for load as programmed. Which can be really annoying on a really strong headwind. I usually manual shift in the mountains or in traffic or just use S mode.