Hey I own a 97 SE Max (Auto). I was wondering if I should be driving w/ the overdrive off or on? Which is better? I am confused? Thanks.

 

O/D off locks out fourth gear.

I leave OD off for city driving and cruising under 40.

OD on for highway or when I need to pass someone or get up to 125 real quick.


- taking the Robot's place

 

i thought this was in an FAQ somewhere...anyways

overdrive is used to enage fourth gear on your car. if you were driving around in town, your tranny would kick it into fourth after your reach a good speed. if it is turned off, your tranny just leaves it in third, even if you wrap up your engine really high.

if you were to race, some say it doesn't make much of a difference to leave it on, but i noticed that in my old '95 GXE, it would shift like 200 rpms before redline. so ???

 

Oh... and search is your friend: http://forums.maxima.org/search.php?...der=descending

 

So around town have it off? If you want to race someone have it off? If your on the highway have OD on? Thanks for your help.

 

Leave it off if your cruising around below 50-60 mph but if your exceeding that on highways or something turn it on so your engine wont work as hard. It really sounds bad when your dong 80 with it off.

 

if u turn of overdrive, 4th gear gets locked and the torque converted get activated

 

What does that mean?

 

Actually that above statement was only partially correct. Overdrive engages a lockup clutch which physically couples the output shaft of the engine to the main gear shaft of the automatic transmission. Think of it like how a manual transmission operates...via a physical metal on metal coupling. Without lockup, the transmission receives power solely from a viscous coupling through the torque converter, which is always functioning in any drive gear of an automatic even with the lockup engaged. In the Maxima automatic, there is a lockup clutch only for 4th gear (i.e. overdrive). In fancier automatics, such as Mercedes' Speedshift used in the AMG series, there is a lockup clutch in each gear for a "manual" feel in an automatic.

Basically, leave OD on (button pushed in) all the time. The car is not that dumb...it will engage overdrive lockup at speeds 30-40MPH. And if you push hard on the gas, it will shift out of lockup into a lower gear for more passing power.

 

Aight, thanks man. So just leave it on all the time? Y do other people say not to?

 

I also leave the OD on for most drivings. when I'm on a long down-slope on hiway and want to slow my car down a little, I switch OD off to use engine brake. Well once in a while I toggle it on and off just to check it's still working...

 

If your country driving, going up and down hills and back roads, on and off the gas, you don't want go into 4th so turn od off.

 

It is thier driving habits. I have a 97 se auto and leave O/D ON, most of the time.

I live in a large city, and still leave it on.

The only times I take it off is for large hills at speeds about 50mph-80mph. Sometimes the tranny will "hunt" to try and figure out which gear it should be in. I take the guees work out and turn o/d off.

Also when I do pass/race people so I can control the shift into 4th gear a little better.

This really has been discussed 100 times. Searching will give you the answers you seek, you just need to find them.

 

Good question me 2!!!

 

Just leave it on and when you wanna race or if you wanna go faster(get worse gas milege) turn it off.

 

When racing, turn it off. When driving casually, leave it on.

 

What if you have OD off all the time, is that bad? The only thing I noticed was the gas mileage suffered a bit with OD off. My next car will be a 5spd, the heck with OD on/off, manually shifting, etc!