This is a silly question but I really need to know.

When I drive around the city or highway driving, do I turn this overdrive off or what?

When should I run with overdrive and when should I run with overdrive off?

I'm driving a 1997 Ford F-150 XL 4X4 Supercab, longbox with a 4.6L engine.

Thanks.

 

Personally I would leave it on unless you are downshifting alot (ie, hilly terrains, city driving carrying a load, etc).

 

Ah, and all this while for the past 2 years I've turned it off when I'm city driving. Does keeping the OD on in city driving do anything more than having it off?

 

do what your owners manual says to do.

the only time I turn mine off is when I am towing up a hill or driving on mountain roads.

when od is on your tranny optimizes its self for best mileage vs performance you lose some of that when you turn it off around town.

 

The OD is 4th gear for the Auto, fifth on the 5-Speed manual. The only reason you should turn off the OD is to lock out your hightest gear for improved engine breaking, such as going down a hill or carrying a load and you need help to slow down.

Otherwise, to get the best mileage, allow your transmission to go into 4th or shift into 5th (manual).

Leaving the OD on, just means that all gears are availble for the transmission to use. If your driving in the city, your tranny rarely goes into 4th anways, so just leave the OD on, and turn if off when you need to.

 

you should turn off your overdive when towing heavy loads i have known many people who have replaced transmissions due to towing in overdive.

 

you should turn off your overdive when towing heavy loads i have known many people who have replaced transmissions due to towing in overdive.

 

IMO, I would leave it off during city driving. I noticed that OD would kick on even though I would only be cruising at 40-45 mph and as soon as I tap my brakes it would downshift and then back up again once I was cruising again. So this would lead me to believe that it will wear out your tranny alot faster. So you have: extra cost of gas or tranny rebuild. My lease truck (turning it in tommorrow) has 34,500 miles on it and I did'nt care so I left od on to save gas and in a newer vehicle (trans) you can hardly feel the upshifts and downshifts, so I did'nt care, and guess what? Tranny needed to be rebuilt at 31,000 miles (of course that could be because it's Dodge garbage).