O/d Button

[Grandpa]

Do you guys usually have it on? I usually have it off, but the owner's manual tells me to "Always set the overdrive switch to the ON position to improve fuel economy and quiet driving. But, on other cars, your suppose to have it off unless your going up a hill??

[blake918]

I always leave my car in overdrive-4th...here is my shifter--'94+ have no O/D off switch:

Some people I know have heard rumors that always running in O/D is harmful for the tranny, but I think that's a load of crap. For the other cars on hills thing: you're probably thinking about towing where you want the O/D off to give the car/truck/suv more power by leaving it in a lower gear. Leave it in 4th for better fuel economy! ;)

[Grandpa]

I have the 92 LS 400... and i have an O/D button, but i have been keeping it off... because i thought O/D ON gave more power... but is it opposite? like O/D OFF More Power, O/D ON = Less Power? hrmm... on my dad's car it's compeltely opposite

[blake918]

You are right...O/D off does give you more power because you are locked down in 3rd gear. I, like many others, opt to go into 4th for gas saving reasons! ;)

[90LS400Lexus]

I always leave the o/d on on my car. I drive on the highway a lot and the engine runs to fast with the button off. Even in town, I would suggest leaving it in the "on" mode. Think about it- when it is "on" the light is "off", when it is "off" the light is "on". Obviously they are telling you it is "normal" to leave it "on". Sorry for all of the "on" and "off" quotes. :D

[1UZ-FE]

i thought O/D ON gave more power... but is it opposite? like O/D OFF More Power, O/D ON = Less Power? hrmm... on my dad's car it's compeltely opposite

to clear this up totally:

"overdrive" is actually your 4th gear. when the O/D button is out, overdrive is "off" (the O/D OFF light is illuminated in the guage cluster) and this keeps your tranny from shifting into the 4th gear. the 2 most common reasons to turn O/D off is like blake said:when towing a trailer or driving up a steep hill. if you are doing either of these 2 things, it is possible that you may cause your tanny to repeatedly shift from 4th to 3rd, 3rd to 4th and so on. this is also known as "gear hunting". this will cause wear and tear on your tranny and should be avoided by turning O/D off. reasons why your car should be left IN O/D (with the button IN and NO LIGHT in the dash): since you are allowing your car to shift into the 4th gear, your RPMs will be lower resulting in less fuel consumption, you will have a cooler running engine, you will have a higher top speed b/c third gear can only go so fast w/out redlining, and less noise in the cabin (an engines sound gets louder as RPMs increase).

about "more power": it may appear that you have more power with O/D off because the RPMs will be higher and your car will speed up quicker because of it.

the bottom line

leave you car IN overdrive unless you are towing a trailer, driving up a steep hill, or you are noticing that your car is "gear hunting".

[VBdenny]

I can't figure out why they just don't use a 4 gear transmission shift. Having an overdrive button really doens't serve much purpose. I know it looks cool but apparently it isn't obvious that it IS 4th gear.

Want to drop your gas milage quickly? Turn off the overdrive. Whew

[Grandpa]

but having O/D OFF doesn't necesarily mean its bad right?

[Littletimmy]

I have found, when I am passing a car, I prefer to push the O/D button (turning O/D off) to shift the transmission down into third gear and then lightly push on the gas pedal to pass the car as opposed to leaving the O/D on and pushing on the gas pedal to have the transmission shift itself into third gear.

I have found pressing the button and lightly excellerating uses less gas than pressing the gas pedal to shift (I have tried both methods each on a full tank of gas driving the same route in the same type of traffic everyday). Taking O/D off manually like this also makes the transmission respond faster as there is a delay when you push on the pedal and the transmission shifts on its own.

F.Y.I. - If I am just cruising along on a trip and am casually accelerating on a multilane hwy or something like that, I usually don't worry about taking the O/D off, as the engine has plenty of power in 4th gear to moderately accelerate the car. I only use it when I need to accelerate a little quicker. (key word *NEED*)

~Littletimmy

[93LSOwner]

What about the "Power" button????

[1UZ-FE]

do a search on "ECT" and u should find the proper answer. ECT stands for "Electronically Controlled Transmission" i believe.

from what i understand, this is basically what it does: when it is switched to "power", the transmission chooses the best shift point with the most HP and torque depending on how much gas you are giving it. with "power" selected, the transmission will also downshift sooner than it would in normal when giving it more gas, for passing and the like. most people think all this switch does is make it shift at a higher RPM. the tranny will shift at a higher RPM with it in "power" but a better explaination is stated above. this is supposed to give a more "sporty" driving experience. however, it doesn't matter if this switch is "normal" or "power" when giving full throttle. your tranny should always shift right around 6k RPMs.

[blake918]

do a search on "ect" and u should find the proper answer.

...or just read the previous post!! Well put, 4.0.

[93LSOwner]

Well, people were talking about having more power or speed to pass cars with the O/D off so, I thought maybe power ON will help too. But, I didn't knew how the power worked though, until now. Thanks.

BTW: I wasn't asking if it was supposed to be "ON" or "OFF" but thanks for clearifing.

[Grandpa]

Geez... its funny how a 92 Ls 400 as all these kewl gadgets... but if i were to buy a 2002 USED Saturn.. it would cost 9,000.. more than my lexus with less features... what a shame... and ib et the engine would last longer than the saturn :)

[1UZ-FE]

duh! i have never seen a saturn with over 150k on it. i dont think that any saturn anywhere would last till 200k. its like my mom: she bought a 2003 mitsubishi eclipse spyder 4cyl auto. i told her that i would bet my life on the fact that my 94 LS with 165k is gonna last way longer than her brand new mitsu. i guarantee that im still gonna be driving my LS and loving it when she trades in that POS or it dies. and that it is HIGHLY unlikely that her car will ever see 150k. even if it does, it is gonna be in real sad shape.