i don't understand how an automatic transmission car is dyno'd. if you granny shift the car until it reaches 4th gear... and then floor it... it would downshift to 3rd, right? but if you floor it through all the gears, you wouldn't get the whole rpm range. so how is it done?

 

accelerated up to around 4000 RPM's in 3rd gear, give or take some RPMs. THen ya get on the gas cause it wont downshift to 2nd at higher RPM's. You cant get low end power on a dyno, unless you do 1st gear I guess, but no one does that. 3rd is the norm for a auto

 

On my 02 Max SE, when she has dynoed (twice) the dyno pull is allways done in third gear, as bigdo26 mentioned. They leisurely accelerate to ~75 mph, and then they hit it hard. At that speed, it locks 2nd gear out, and 3rd gear can wind to redline, thus getting an accurate read.

They had no idea at what speeds the Auto would shift, so I let them know first through 39-40 mph, second through 77-80. The first time, it downshifted to 2nd, and I got a torque spike, but thereafter, accurate numbers in 3rd gear.

3rd gear is not an od gear, and is as close to 1:1 as you will have on the Auto Maxima, so it is the gear of choice.

 

aaa... i get it. thanks guys!