Overdrive and Transmission

[jchen]

I own a 2001 Coupe with automatic transmission. A mechanic told me the other day that I should not use overdrive while driving on surface street. He says the overdrive is designed for highway speed and the frequent on/off of the overdrive will shorten the life of the transmission. He also says that we should not manually swith out of overdrive to gain more engine breke unless the car is standing still. But he says manually switching into overdrive is ok. This makes me nervous about my driving habit. How much of what he said is true? TIA

 

[02 C-5]

Leave it in drive and go , there are no problems with the A4 transmissions .
Thanks,
Joe

 

[jchen]

What about down-shifting manually out of overdrive? Does it hurt the transmission when the car is cruising at 50mph? I need to do this every day when i am driving down a big hill. Thanks.

-James

 

[02 C-5]

I am not a tranny expert , but down shifting will not hurt the tranny , at 50 mph do not drop it into 1st gear , shift with respect and the tranny will live a full life . The engine will only use overdrive when it needs to , so don't woory .
Thanks,
Joe

 

[c4c5specialist]

HI there,
I agree here, as either way you drive, you will do fine.
Your transmission will adapt to the way that you drive. You can either leave it in OD, or you can manually shift it, without any fear of hurting your transmission.
bestoyou, c4c5