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How to use Overdrive?

Fordzilla80

Ranger Lariat
6,372
262
Narnia
I feel dumb, but how do you do use overdrive? Nothing i've ever driven has had manual overdrive, so the overdrive on the Ranger is new to me.

The reason I'm asking is because I had a scare today. I was coming home from school, and the O/D Off light started flashing at about 50 mph. Then, the transmission started shifting hard. I got pretty pissed, but was able to make it home. Anyways, I researched, and it seems this was a common problem, and meant transmission failure. I got even more pissed, but decided it'd be smarter to calm down. I went out to the truck and started it back up, and the light was off. I took it back out for a drive, and the light didn't come back on, and the truck shifted fine. So I thought about it, and when I played with the O/D button on the shift lever, the O/D Off light came on, but it wasn't flashing. So, were my problems caused by the transmission being in overdrive? I'm kinda thinking the flashing O/D light was either telling me to shut the O/D off or On for the conditions I was driving.

So basically, when is the best time to use overdrive? Do I have to use overdrive? Is the 5R44E an automatic overdrive unit?

Thanks for any help. I'm really ignorant when it comes to overdrive, so you might have to explain it in simple terms for me. Thanks!
 

LEB Ben

Arrogant A-hole At-Large
34,919
1,124
outside your house
For me...I only use OD when I'm cruising highway speeds, I find there to be a negligible difference in using OD for in town driving. I also never use OD while towing. Not that there's any merit to any of that, but that's what some of the Ford techs always told me and my dad at the lot he bought Thunder from...so that's what I've always done. Beyond that, I have no clue when it comes to transmissions either, but I have read several places when guys have trouble with their transmissions while OD is activated and simply turning it off does allow some more life out of their trannies.
 

Truckin4life

Texas Chapter Leader
Od is a crusing gear not a working gear. Simple answer



Basically, don't use it towing or while loaded down heavey, go up steep hills or anything like that. As for the light flashing, has it thrown a code?
 

Fordzilla80

Ranger Lariat
6,372
262
Narnia
I never use it, so I'm not entirely worried on how to use it or when, I just wanna know if there's certain times when overdrive shouldn't be used. It seems that the OD on my Ranger automatically comes on, and I have to manually press the button to shut it off. I'm just bitin my lip on it because I have no idea why the O/D Off light started flashing, but won't come back on now. I'm just hoping this isn't a problem.
 

fatdan460

BANNED IN MOST PLACES
as been said, leave the overdrive off for in town driving. if you don't plan to go faster than 55 you don't need it. it's the weakest gear in a tranny, and you gain nothing but excess heat build up by using it at lower speeds.
 

Fordzilla80

Ranger Lariat
6,372
262
Narnia
Od is a crusing gear not a working gear. Simple answer



Basically, don't use it towing or while loaded down heavey, go up steep hills or anything like that. As for the light flashing, has it thrown a code?

Nope, no codes, which really surprised me. The light came on when I was going about 50 mph.
 

polarbear

just growing older not up
12,878
607
Boring, Oregon
Paging Eric (1070Custom) to the red courtesy phone in the lobby...


I got this phone call about 11:30 at night last year. Eric was driving his Explorer home from Sacramento to idaho and somewhere along the Donner Pass the OD light started flashing. My immediate response was something along the lines of "take that Mf'er OUT of OD and LEAVE IT OUT when you're climbing a steep grade like that." The flashing stopped later... but it did come back. The bad news- it was signalling that the OD gear in the tranny was on it's way out. The good news- they can drive many thousands of miles without that gear- just hit the OD off button right after you start it and proceed- works like a three-speed automatic.

A few things to remember:

1. The OD exists to generate stellar CAFE fuel economy numbers. It does NOT exist to improve driveability or increase the lifespan of your transmission. Around town, climbing hills, or any other situation that doesn't include consistently staying over about 60 mph, run in the "OD Off" position in the interests of the lifespan of your transmission. And your nerves- in normal traffic, that thing will shift in and out of OD enough times to drive you crazy. Everytime it shifts, it generates transmiission wear.

2. In OD, the transmission pumps turn slower- which means the fluid is getting cooled less efficiently. Transmissions only overheat once- there is no second time.

3. NEVER tow in overdrive. I delivered a new Suburban that got so hot on a climb through the Coast Range, the breather tube melted, increasing the pressure inside the tranny. That caused a leak out of the front seal onto the exhaust manifold, which started a fire and incinerated the truck.
willy_nilly.gif
It was only hours old when this happened.
 

Fordzilla80

Ranger Lariat
6,372
262
Narnia
Paging Eric (1070Custom) to the red courtesy phone in the lobby...


I got this phone call about 11:30 at night last year. Eric was driving his Explorer home from Sacramento to idaho and somewhere along the Donner Pass the OD light started flashing. My immediate response was something along the lines of "take that Mf'er OUT of OD and LEAVE IT OUT when you're climbing a steep grade like that." The flashing stopped later... but it did come back. The bad news- it was signalling that the OD gear in the tranny was on it's way out. The good news- they can drive many thousands of miles without that gear- just hit the OD off button right after you start it and proceed- works like a three-speed automatic.

A few things to remember:

1. The OD exists to generate stellar CAFE fuel economy numbers. It does NOT exist to improve driveability or increase the lifespan of your transmission. Around town, climbing hills, or any other situation that doesn't include consistently staying over about 60 mph, run in the "OD Off" position in the interests of the lifespan of your transmission. And your nerves- in normal traffic, that thing will shift in and out of OD enough times to drive you crazy. Everytime it shifts, it generates transmiission wear.

2. In OD, the transmission pumps turn slower- which means the fluid is getting cooled less efficiently. Transmissions only overheat once- there is no second time.

3. NEVER tow in overdrive. I delivered a new Suburban that got so hot on a climb through the Coast Range, the breather tube melted, increasing the pressure inside the tranny. That caused a leak out of the front seal onto the exhaust manifold, which started a fire and incinerated the truck.
willy_nilly.gif
It was only hours old when this happened.

Okay, well that explains alot. Thanks Ernie!

Judging by what you said, the truck has been in OD since I got it. Great. Makes me wonder if any of the previous owners continuously drove it in overdrive. The truck is a Florida truck, and came from down south, and with traffic the way it is down there, i'm pretty sure it never got above 45 mph. We have no hills, so there's no reason for it to be on. I never use OD, so I'll just keep pressing the button in when I hop in the truck to shut it off.

Thanks again Ernie!
 

Skandocious

Post Whores Make Me Sick
19,076
655
California
Just to clear a few things up here... That truck was manufactured by Ford with intent for the consumer to generally not use the overdrive disable switch, unless they need to kill that extra gear. Translation-- leave the switch alone and let the overdrive do it's thing unless you NEED to disable that gear (ie, when towing or pulling up a long steep grade). The switch was never meant to be used as a manual toggle every time you want to enable and disable overdrive-- it's there to give you the ability to disable it when needed; otherwise keep it on and use it while driving.

In-town driving will NOT be affected by disabling that switch. The overdrive gear is not active until your tranny is ready to shift out of 3rd. In my truck, at light throttle, it'll switch into OD as early as 35mph but that's VERY light throttle and if I move the throttle at all then it'll drop back down to 3rd. Generally speaking mine won't shift into OD until at least 45mph. If you're really underrevving it then the tranny will drop back down to 3rd-- this is fine. But those speeds will vary from truck to truck depending on tranny gear ratios, rear axle gear ratio, and tire size.

Other than that-- Ernie is correct. Lower RPMs means the pump (read: torque converter) is spinning at slower speeds which means less fluid circulation. If you're in a situation that will stress the transmission then definitely turn off OD, otherwise you should forget that you even have the switch. Most consumers have no idea what overdrive is or does, and therefore Ford would be pretty naive to think that their customers would be smart enough to constantly toggle it on and off else smoke the transmission immediately.
 
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Fordzilla80

Ranger Lariat
6,372
262
Narnia
So, what in the world is right, and what is wrong? I'm getting confused again. Why would the truck throw that light if it was in OD? Is it a warning light? I wasn't on a hill, wasn't towing anything, and wasn't in stop and go traffic. I was just going highway speeds down a straight flat stretch of road.

I just got back from Taco Bell, and it shifts beautifully. We'll see what happens tomorrow I guess.
 

Skandocious

Post Whores Make Me Sick
19,076
655
California
Oh I forgot to address that part.

When the OD light flashes it means the transmission has gone into "limp mode." This means that a malfunction took place, and as a safety precaution it will increase the fluid pressure in the transmission which subsequently increases shift harshness. It does this to prevent the transmission from causing further damage to itself before you're able to "limp" it home.

You need to pull the codes to see exactly what cause the tranny to drop into limp mode-- can be one of many things including non-transmission related problems such as a faulty VSS or throttle body sensor.

Sometimes limp mode will also disable 1-2 gears (ie, not let you shift past 2nd), also as a safety precaution.
 
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Fordzilla80

Ranger Lariat
6,372
262
Narnia
Oh I forgot to address that part.

When the OD light flashes it means the transmission has gone into "limp mode." This means that a malfunction took place, and as a safety precaution it will increase the fluid pressure in the transmission which subsequently increases shift harshness. It does this to prevent the transmission from causing further damage to itself before you're able to "limp" it home.

You need to pull the codes to see exactly what cause the tranny to drop into limp mode-- can be one of many things including non-transmission related problems such as a faulty VSS or throttle body sensor.

Sometimes limp mode will also disable 1-2 gears (ie, not let you shift past 2nd), also as a safety precaution.

The Auto Zone code reader said no code, but then again it was after I had already shut the truck off. I've heard that the crappy AZ readers can't read transmission codes, and i'll need to hook up an actual scanner to it. I'm gonna drive it to school tomorrow and see what happens, but if it comes back on i'm gonna take it over to the tranny shop and see what they say.

It shifts great when it's not in fail safe mode, so I don't see how something could be catastrophic enough to throw a code.

I was just having a problem with the code in mom's car for the transmission, which is why we got rid of it and got this Ranger. It better not be the same thing. If it is, i'm gonna have to assume the position, find more work, and pay to get it fixed. It's a great truck, and I love it to death, it's just ridiculous that it's already doing this at such an early age. My other Ranger had 189,000 on the original 4R44E that pulled horse trailers, and didn't even throw a code.

I hope it's something easy.


Thanks Chris.
 
I know somebody with an A4LD that has been driving around with a broken overdrive for a while with seemingly no negative results.
 
Last edited:

1970Custom

They call me Spuds
14,107
447
Middleton, ID
Paging Eric (1070Custom) to the red courtesy phone in the lobby...


I got this phone call about 11:30 at night last year. Eric was driving his Explorer home from Sacramento to idaho and somewhere along the Donner Pass the OD light started flashing. My immediate response was something along the lines of "take that Mf'er OUT of OD and LEAVE IT OUT when you're climbing a steep grade like that." The flashing stopped later... but it did come back. The bad news- it was signalling that the OD gear in the tranny was on it's way out. The good news- they can drive many thousands of miles without that gear- just hit the OD off button right after you start it and proceed- works like a three-speed automatic....
Okay Mr pachyderm, I screwed up I'll admit it but after it was replaced the new trans did the same thing when my dad was driving it... smilietease
 

DNFXDLI

The Token Canadian
Staff member
Day-to-day driving will not cause significant harm to the transmission if you keep overdrive turned on. Trust me.

I gotta agree with you Chris..I've done the same thing with no ill effects.
 

Fordzilla80

Ranger Lariat
6,372
262
Narnia
Well, it didn't throw the light today, and no hard shifting. She shifted beautifully. I drove all the way to school, and then to lunch a few miles away, then back to school, then moved the truck to another parking lot, and then drove home, and it's all good. I figure that's at least 3 key cycles so I imagine it would've picked it up again.

Just in case though, I called my trusted transmission shop, and they said they have a scanner and they won't charge me anything to scan it, so if it arises, I will go in and have her scanned.
 

BKW

Ford Parts Guru
If you don't have the owners manual, you can get a brand new original from helminc.com.
 

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