[bobes75]

Hey everyone,
Question about the overdrive function on the auto tranny. I've got a 2006 Escape XLT (V6 3.0) with the auto and wanted to know if I should leave the overdrive on when I'm doing regular driving (no towing) or turn it off. I know that on my dad's old F250 he would turn the overdrive off when he was pulling a trailer and would leave it on when doing normal driving and I realize that the overdrive is always on every time you turn your truck on. Should it be left on when you do regular driving or turned off? I've heard different things and wanted to try and get the correct info. Thanks for any help.

[mod]Moved to Tailgate Chat.[/mod]

 

[Jeff M]

Seems to me you've answered you own question in your post.

Yes leave it on, unless you are going up long steep hills, going off-road, or towing. That is if you care about gas milage, and the life of your tranny.

 

[bobes75]

Seems to me you've answered you own question in your post.

Yes leave it on, unless you are going up long steep hills, going off-road, or towing. That is if you care about gas milage, and the life of your tranny.

Thanks for the reply. Just wanted to confirm since I've heard many different things online and its been a few (way more than a few) years since I've had a truck/SUV. Thanks again.

 

[jonas1022]

The tranny up shifts at about 35 mph. If you are doing alot of city driving where you transition up and down past the 35 mph, and your transmission is doing alot of up and down shifting as a result. You are supposed to turn it off. I'm thinking that you would have to be in freeway traffic that starts up, drives along then stops again. With mulitple repeats of shifting for like an hour that would make the defeat of the Overdrive worth considering. Supposedly that shifting will heat up the tranny and cause it to fail earlier in it's lifetime. :shrug:

Personnally, I don't bother. We live in DFW. We have plenty of traffic jams and heavy up/down shifting to our driving. Our Escorts and our other wheels that have the same or similar trannies have not failed as a result of not defeating the O/D. ;-|