Is this dealer feedin me BS or what???

cobra1015

Founding Member
Oct 18, 2001
1,697
0
0
Lynn, Massachusetts
The dealer I bought my car from said Do Not punch it in overdrive. What is that all about? When people drag the AOD what do they do put it in D run it through the first three gears throw it in OD and coast? Also my car goes P,R,N OD,D, and 1 but for whatever reason it doesnt do anything when I put in it 1 the tranny stays in D. Also I thought the mustang gears were messed up because the tranny went 2,1 D or something like that. Any opinions??
 
  • Sponsors (?)


This may be the first salesman you can trust. He probabally owns one himself. He is telling you the truth. If you wanna race the AOD just take it down the 1320 in D. Only use OD on the highway. I dont even hit the gas I take my foot off the pedal and allow the car to place itself in OD.
 
He's right. But technically you can't go WOT in Overdrive. if you do the tranny will always downshift.

OD and D are the same basic thing in terms of shift patterns. The only difference is when the shifter is in D you only use 3 gears of the tranny. When the shifter is in OD, you use all 4 gears. There is no difference in shift patterns. You car will not be any faster in D than in OD.

But OD is weak, so generally drive the car around with the shifter in D. When you get up on the highway, get to cruise RPM and then shift to OD and cruise. WHen you are slowing down, downshift to D.

The 1 position is a little tricky. From a dead stop it will start in first gear (same as D) but it will not upshift to 2nd or third gear. When at speed, the 1 positon will automatically downshift the tranny 1 gear. For example, driving 60MPH in D. You are in 3rd gear at say 2000RPM. You pull the shifter to 1 and it will downshift to second gear. If you let the car decelerate in gear withthe shifter still in 1, the tranny will automatically downshift to first gear when it gets slow enough.

There is no way to hold 2 unless you do the 1-D-1 shuffle at WOT or you get up to crusing speed in 3rd gear and pull the shifter to 1 and do not slow down far enough to downshift into first gear.

Generally, when the shifter is in 1, the OD band is engauged somewhat. If you do it too much, you will burn it out.

So, just a recap.
Drive in D, cruise on highway in OD
try to ease off the driving in 1
 
Don't shift AOD unless the car is at rest (that means not moving at all).

WOT will downshift an AOD, unless you're at very high speed.
So unless you have a supercharger to make you race at high speeds (foolish to begin with), you won't burn anything in simple stoplight races. 1/4 mile racing may be tougher on the AOD. I don't know because I don't take it to the track. I've done WOTs anywhere from 0-40 mph without any problems. You may not want to do it continously though. That could overheat it and cause problems. Just shift at rest only and you'll be fine.
 
i dont have an auto and have always wondered about this topic. so if you are driving around town, not racing or anything, you should be in D, not OD?
if the car gets into OD, if you hit the gas at all, it downshifts anyhow, right? so is that harder on the trans still (nice to be goin say 50mph on a rural highway in OD, vs. revving more in D).

i think you are all just talkin about racing, WOT, etc, but wanted to confirm. all the other cars in the family have autos and i want to spread the good word if something needs to change.......and sorry if i missed the boat on all of this. many thanks.
 
HISSIN50 said:
i dont have an auto and have always wondered about this topic. so if you are driving around town, not racing or anything, you should be in D, not OD?
if the car gets into OD, if you hit the gas at all, it downshifts anyhow, right? so is that harder on the trans still (nice to be goin say 50mph on a rural highway in OD, vs. revving more in D).

The AOD will downshift from OD to D only at about 75-80% throttle. You could be doing 130MPH in OD at 4000RPM, you floor it and it will downshift. Not a good thing when you have 3.73's and your top speed in D is 106MPH.

OD is weak. It cannot take mach torque. Thats why it automatically downshifts. You just want to engage to OD when at a cruise RPM and not roll on the gas afterwords. It's not just Mustangs, other cars benefit from the "no OD until on highway" rule. I've met tons of other drivers that do this and a local livery company has made it a policy for their drivers to not have OD on unless cruising on the freeway.

When racing, OD or D doesn't really matter. If you are WOT it will never go to Overdrive anyway and the shift points do not change.

Now the 1-D-1 shuffle is another story.

Oh and i use the 1 position for downshifting all the time. if i'm up on the highway doing 65MPH asnd i come up on a ramp, i'll pull the shifter to 1 and let the engine slow me down in 2nd gear. It's not good for the tranny, but i hate my AOD and have been trying to blow it up for the last 50,000 miles. Unfortunately for me, i have the most indesctructable AOD ford ever made :rolleyes:
 
Mustang5L5 said:
He's right. But technically you can't go WOT in Overdrive. if you do the tranny will always downshift.

OD and D are the same basic thing in terms of shift patterns. The only difference is when the shifter is in D you only use 3 gears of the tranny. When the shifter is in OD, you use all 4 gears. There is no difference in shift patterns. You car will not be any faster in D than in OD.

But OD is weak, so generally drive the car around with the shifter in D. When you get up on the highway, get to cruise RPM and then shift to OD and cruise. WHen you are slowing down, downshift to D.

The 1 position is a little tricky. From a dead stop it will start in first gear (same as D) but it will not upshift to 2nd or third gear. When at speed, the 1 positon will automatically downshift the tranny 1 gear. For example, driving 60MPH in D. You are in 3rd gear at say 2000RPM. You pull the shifter to 1 and it will downshift to second gear. If you let the car decelerate in gear withthe shifter still in 1, the tranny will automatically downshift to first gear when it gets slow enough.

There is no way to hold 2 unless you do the 1-D-1 shuffle at WOT or you get up to crusing speed in 3rd gear and pull the shifter to 1 and do not slow down far enough to downshift into first gear.

Generally, when the shifter is in 1, the OD band is engauged somewhat. If you do it too much, you will burn it out.

So, just a recap.
Drive in D, cruise on highway in OD
try to ease off the driving in 1


All very interesting. I have a good feelin this guy was tellin the truth and tryin to fck me at the same time. Heres the deal my car will not go into 1. If I put in in 1 it doesnt do anything. It doesnt catch and stay their its like their is no 1 at all. It just slides back up to D. Now when I drive I drive around in D but when it starts to get up to like 40-45 it is up at 2k and just keeps climbin like their should be another gear before I would have to shift into OD but their isnt. So when you say I should be in D going 60 at 2k my car is going 45 at 2k in D and I have to shift to OD. Here is the shady part the tranny had to be replaced before I bought it because the OD was gone so they brought it to a "tranny shop" so he says and had them put in another one. When I'm in OD going 75 the car is at 2300-2400 so I'm sure the OD is right, but I'm thinkin the tranny they put in is fudged and that their is not D but when my car says it is in D I'm actually in 1 and that is why I have to shift so damn early. Does this make sence to anyone but me??
 
Actually i think it sounds like your missing your third gear. Theres no way you would only be at 2k RPM @ 45 mph in first gear. That sounds like a second gear number to me, also what rear end gears do u have? because that overdrive number seems a little high too. 2400 at 75 sounds a little off for OD. I would take it to a reputable tranny shop or speed shop and have someone that knows what they are doing work on it. good luck man
 
ninety15.0 said:
Actually i think it sounds like your missing your third gear. Theres no way you would only be at 2k RPM @ 45 mph in first gear. That sounds like a second gear number to me, also what rear end gears do u have? because that overdrive number seems a little high too. 2400 at 75 sounds a little off for OD. I would take it to a reputable tranny shop or speed shop and have someone that knows what they are doing work on it. good luck man


I cant have any work done to it. Or it will void my 60 day warrentee. The car is supposed to be stock but who knows what gears are in their. Damn I dont know what to do.
 
U have a sixty day warrantee from the dealer or from the previous transmission shop that just "put a new one in." If its from the tranny shop i would bring it right back to them and tell em somethings really wrong. If its from teh dealership i would bring it to them and tell them to fix it while its still under warrantee. You dont want your warrantee to run out and then get stuck with the bill for a new tranny. See i they will take care of it....and if not...take it easy on the car for the 60 days and then bring it to a reputable tranny shop.....good luck man
 
You are not sure if you have 3rd gear or not? Thats what I am getting. Take off in D and count the shifts, there should be two. Put it in first and start out normally. It should not shift to second until you put it in D manually, that is the difference. If your trans does not do this something is wrong. Take it back before the warranty is up.