Who locks their transmission out of overdrive?

hlweyl · Jun 1, 2004

I do when I know I will be travelling 50 and under. I find my 01' Odyssey shifts back and forth from 3rd to 4th so much when I'm on certain roads.

It seems around 40mph everytime I start going up a slight hill, the van downshifts and at the crest of the hill shifts back into fourth and so on and so on.

Travelling to my in-laws we average between 30 and 50 mph roads. I think it is better to lock it out of overdrive to prevent so many shifts.

Does anyone else do this? I'd be interested to hear thoughts/opinions.

b17gsr · Jun 1, 2004

Our Ody is the first automatic we've ever owned. I never had to worry about gear hunting before.

Something to think about I guess.

Hey · Jun 2, 2004

Sometimes. It can be really fun when you get up to around 45-50mph and you get on the gas a bit. It makes it easy to pass other cars at that speed. I think it surprises other drivers too.

Guest · Jun 2, 2004

hlweyl said:
I do when I know I will be travelling 50 and under. I find my 01' Odyssey shifts back and forth from 3rd to 4th so much when I'm on certain roads.

It seems around 40mph everytime I start going up a slight hill, the van downshifts and at the crest of the hill shifts back into fourth and so on and so on.

Travelling to my in-laws we average between 30 and 50 mph roads. I think it is better to lock it out of overdrive to prevent so many shifts.

Does anyone else do this? I'd be interested to hear thoughts/opinions.

Well, you have a transmission and control program designed to optimize your fuel economy, so it will shift into the highest gear possible at all times. The only thing preventing this is Honda's "Grade Logic", which will maintain running in a certain gear if the computer can determine that shifting to a higher gear won't provide enough power for climbing, or if you are on the brake pedal for several seconds while descending at high speed.

I know Grade Logic is present in the 5-speed, but don't know if it came with the 4-speed.

Wayne

Guest · Jun 2, 2004

I usually put it in D5 and forget about it. However, there are times I will play around with it and drop it down to D3 for engine braking. The only gripe I have is NOT having the D4 option on my '02.

wild willy · Jun 2, 2004

Re: Re: Who locks their transmission out of overdrive?

Wayne Lim said:
Well, you have a transmission and control program designed to optimize your fuel economy

Wayne

Well thank God for that...Imagine where I would be with out that perfect program...6-7mpg.

hlweyl.......No I do not do that

Mel · Jun 2, 2004

Re: Re: Who locks their transmission out of overdrive?

Wayne Lim said:
I know Grade Logic is present in the 5-speed, but don't know if it came with the 4-speed.

Yes, it does. I only wish it was a little more sensitive, i.e., downshifted sooner, descending grades. If the throttle is closed then it doesn't effect fuel efficiency much what the RPM is or what gear you're in.

Mel

hlweyl · Jun 2, 2004

Yes, I can feel grade logic kick in on downhills sometimes but it is not perfect. I gave the trip to the in-laws as an example of the type of road(30-50 mph) that I think locking out helps.

If I leave it in D4 on that trip the tranny would probably shift about 50 times from 3rd to 4th. My opinion is that it is healthier for the transmission to lock it out of 4th thereby preventing all of the unecessary shifts.

Mexjames · Jun 2, 2004

I live in a hilly area and I try to prevent my cars' transmissions to do any unnecessary shifts.

I find the grade-logic thing though very useful and both the wife and I have learned to let it do some of the shifting for us, except in one extreme 900-feet long ramp, where we shift to second gear.

dicnic · Jun 3, 2004

It would be wonderful if the 5 speed in my '02 Ody had a button to shift from 5th to 4th while driving around the suburbs at 45 - 50 mph. Seems like 5th is too difficult for the engine and 3rd is unecessary! Why on earth they would make a 5 speed with D and D3 etc. on the shift quadrant and not have a method of locking it into 4th. My '94 Villager had a button on the end of the shift lever that allowed you to drop it out of overdrive with a mere push of the button. I think the Ford Windstar/Freestar has this now. I miss this feature in the Ody.

hlweyl · Jun 3, 2004

I don't think a 5 speed automatic is necessary anyway. It's just Honda keeping up with the industry trends. Extra gears mean more that can go wrong.

One of the best transmissions ever built was the GM 2 speed powerglides. I bet some of you old timers remember that eh?

Go to any race track in America and you will find the big horsepower guys running those bulletproof powerglides.

Guest · Jun 3, 2004

hlweyl said:
I don't think a 5 speed automatic is necessary anyway. It's just Honda keeping up with the industry trends. Extra gears mean more that can go wrong.

One of the best transmissions ever built was the GM 2 speed powerglides. I bet some of you old timers remember that eh?

Go to any race track in America and you will find the big horsepower guys running those bulletproof powerglides.

That's because GM knows how to design transmissions! Maybe Honda should just copy their designs!

Mel · Jun 3, 2004

hlweyl said:
One of the best transmissions ever built was the GM 2 speed powerglides. I bet some of you old timers remember that eh?

Yea. My first car, a '51 Chevy, had one. We called it the "the original mashed potato drive." BTW, it died, the tranny that is, the day before I graduated from high school.

Mel

windman · Jun 3, 2004

As soon I get out of the highway and put it in D3. With all the transmissions problems we ear, I think preventing it to shift from D3 to 4th gear in city driving can save a bit of the tranny, and what the hell with the increase gas consumption, anyway it's not in the city driving that you will be on the economy mode...nop ????

hlweyl · Jun 3, 2004

Mel said:
Yea. My first car, a '51 Chevy, had one. We called it the "the original mashed potato drive." BTW, it died, the tranny that is, the day before I graduated from high school.

Mel

I guess that shows that back when we were in high school, we could break ANYTHING, even a powerglide.

BTW just put my transcooler in, much thanks for those instructions Mel.

STM · Jun 4, 2004

dicnic said:
Why on earth they would make a 5 speed with D and D3 etc. on the shift quadrant and not have a method of locking it into 4th. My '94 Villager had a button on the end of the shift lever that allowed you to drop it out of overdrive with a mere push of the button. I think the Ford Windstar/Freestar has this now. I miss this feature in the Ody.

I would love to have this feature ... or even better a manual shift selection (like the "tip-tronic" from Audi). However, the Odyssey is not very expensive and probably Honda must save the money somewhere...

We have a lot of streets here in the suburbs with 40 to 45 miles speed limit. You could easily cruise in 5th gear but sometimes it is just not enough that the transmission shifts

BTW, both, 5th and 4th gears are overdrives.
http://www.odyclub.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=14813

staypuft · Jun 6, 2004

I use D3 on our '00 whenever we drive under 55 mph. The 4th gear lugging is unbearable.

Passing is so much easier without waiting for the thing to downshift.

fcatwo · Jun 6, 2004

Question for STM

I don't understand the significance you place on both 4th and 5th being overdrives. There is no 1 to 1 gear in the 02-04 5speed Ody transmission. It has a low final drive ratio (like 4+ to 1) and 1st thru 3rd are more than 1 to 1 and 4th and 5th are less than 1 to 1. I have assumed the term "overdrive" is commonly used these days to denote the highest available gear but you must know something I don't. I agree of course that 4th and 5th are both technically overdrives but what difference does that make in terms of not being able to lock out 5th only? Can you help me out here.

Frank

STM · Jun 7, 2004

fcatwo:

I probably don't know more than you. The technical definition of overdrive (final drive ratio below 1) is for me just the explanation that the Ody has only manual selections up to D3 since the 3rd gear is the highest gear below the overdrives (4 and 5). That means that (theoretically) the Ody has a lock out of overdrive (D3), which was questioned.

However, I agree that it would be nice to take your definition and to have a D4. I would definitely use it. It was probably a matter of money that Honda was not going that route and included this feature by going from a 4-speed to a 5-speed. :dunno:

fcatwo · Jun 7, 2004

STM

Thanks for responding. You are probably right that it was a matter of the cost of another dash button and associated trans computer programming that prevented them from allowing selection of D4. I was thinking something more sinister- like the clutches etc of 4th are not up to the task of more constant use. I suppose I should be ashamed of myself for having such thoughts about a Honda transmission

.

I was reading about a new 300hp 05 Acura today that will allow manual shifting of it's automatic trans and I assume that means all 5 gears. I plan to move to a vehicle with that option within the next year and I hope it will be another Odyssey. I've been reading about the Toyota trucks lately and although they permit the selection of D4 on their 5 speeds they are a lot less fuel efficient and appear to have more owner complaints than the Hondas.

frank

dicnic · Jun 10, 2004

For those of us that do a lot of driving in the ;burbs at 40 - 50 MPH, the ability to prevent the transmission from going into 5th gear would be wonderful. Seems like 3rd is unecessary and 5th is too high, 4th would be just right. My Ody drops into 5th at around 45 or so, which is only 1400 rpm. The torque curve is quite flat (for a Honda engine) but the torque is much less at 1300 - 1500 rpm than at 2300 or so! Seems that the engine is really straining at 1400 rpm in 5th. Too bad we cannot come up with a DIY mod to add a 5th gear lockout switch!!

Any ideas? I would love this!!!

fcatwo · Jun 16, 2004

I may be the only one who didn't know this but I noticed today that the 04 Acura MDX shifter has a D-4 position. Apparently Honda is still holding things back to make the Acura a little different- like the old days when you couldn't get a V-6 in the Accord. Toyota made Honda pay by taking market share back then and hopefully that will happen again. I'm not sure the new Sienna has D-4 but I've read that Toyota is putting a 5sp transmission with D-4 in most of their 05 trucks from the Landcruiser to the 4Runner. The LC and 4R have them this year.

Frank

Who locks their transmission out of overdrive?

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