Overdrive

[kaydoerr]

My Ranger has a button to toggle the overdrive for going up steep hills. Does using this help my economy?
I'm leaving on a trip to Montana (lots of steep hills!) soon, so this might help me a bit!
Thanks!

[omgwtfbyobbq]

Keep it in OD as much as possible for economy, even if you take a hit on speed. It'll probably end up downshifting anyway, but the slower your engine is spinning the better mileage you'll get, up to a point.

[SVOboy]

I'm not sure on the specifics of the truck, but I would say to stay in O/D as much as possible.

PS: Welcome to the site!

[GasSavers_Ryland]

They should be telling you this kind of stuff in drivers education, but they don't insted they tell you how to read a stop sign... that switch keeps your vehicle from going in to over drive, to help it drive smoother, like if you are towing or hauling alot of stuff.

[Matt Timion]

Originally Posted by Ryland

They should be telling you this kind of stuff in drivers education, but they don't insted they tell you how to read a stop sign... that switch keeps your vehicle from going in to over drive, to help it drive smoother, like if you are towing or hauling alot of stuff.

That's useful info. I'd assume the opposite.

[minic6]

Dito on the towing. Are you towing? if so leave it alone until you get to a steep grade, or are pulling a heavy load then shut it off. Otherwise leave it in O/D. The reason it is there is if you tow on grades with trans in O/D you run a very real risk of overheating your trans. that can become very expensive. O/D will give you your best MPG as it says you are overdriving the trans. Convertor clutch is locked up also more mpg. Welcome

[atomicradish]

Agreed to what these guys are saying. The overdrive button takes your truck out of overdrive and shifts down.

It could be of some use to you going down those hills however. When I'm driving through the mountains here I usually turn overdrive off to save my brakes as well as shift down to third (or second, it depends on grade).

[VetteOwner]

yup its eactly the same as a cars PNRLD most acrs ahve a D with a box around it and then a regular D the rtegular d takes it out of overdrive for steep hills to engien brake so yuor brakes dont burn up. on a truck its on the gear shift cuz they figure it would be safer when going up a long grade while towing (more likely in a truck) that shifting and potentially skipping a "slot" and throwing it into reverse or somehting.