What exactly is overdrive?
 

i know that it downshifts the engine but i dont know how, or what it does persay....

any help.?

Overdrive is the fifth gear of the transmission, the only gear that spins the output shaft faster than the input shaft.

The overdrive cancel button on the end of the shifter stalk prevents the transmission from shifting into 5th gear (OD) and also commands engine braking in 4th gear (D). Useful for towing and driving on mountain roads.

so for long freeway drives should it be on or off? im a sped lol

No for like Freeway driving like flat stuff u want the O/D on.

leave the OD on all the time. i would only turn it off for towing, to get some extra engine breaking, and for accelerating faster

The transmission defaults to O/D-allowed everytime you start the engine. Your truck makes the best fuel economy with the O/D-allowed, especially on the highway.

There is no need to turn the O/D off unless you need the extra engine braking for towing or driving hilly/mountain roads.

Remember- when the O/D light is off, overdrive operation is allowed and when the O/D light is on, overdrive is not allowed.

your forth gear is a 1:1 ratio ... when in overdrive the ratio goes to 1:0.8

Ranger automatics have a bit taller overdrive ratio than the manuals.

Mazda Manual - 1 : 0.79
5RxxE Automatic - 1 : 0.75

overdrive is never to be used when towing or plowing.

^^its not just a 5th gear, mine is the 4th gear^^

^^ isnt OD specificly for towing.... ive always heard thats when your supposed to use it...

No. OD is for saving gas milage by dropping RPMs as low as you can go.

The confusion here is about what the term overdrive means and what the O/D OFF light means.

O/D-enabled is for everyday use. Whenever you start your engine, the transmission controls default to this mode. It allows your truck to shift into all gears including 5th gear (AKA overdrive).

O/D-off (or O/D-cancel) turns the overdrive off and it turns the O/D OFF light on. Your truck can use gears 1 through 4 but 5th gear is locked out (overdrive is not allowed).

O/D-off can be useful for towing because it prevents 4-5 gear hunting and provides engine braking in 4th gear.

The button on the end of the shifter stalk allows you to toggle between O/D-enabled and O/D-off modes.

ok yea i keep thinking taht overdrive OFF is termed overdrive lol...i understand now

OD is a 4th gear plus it lets the torque convertor to lock up; dropping the rpms by 15% to 30%. never use OD while towing or you'll burn out the tranny. For a manual OD is the 5th gear.. nothing special.

That depends on the year of the truck. The OP's truck has a 5 speed automatic, so his overdrive gear is 5th gear. The Torque Converter Clutch can be engaged on command from the PCM in gears 2, 3, 4, and 5.

i turn off OD only when i'm on the bottle... its on the rest of the time.

Well said Bob, I was about to reply and I decided.. "Bob has it covered"

Rand

I sure wish my manual was a 6 speed! With a 4.10 rear end 75 mph is not gas friendly...

Are there any aftermarket overdrives available for a 5 speed manual??? :ponder:

Robert

I use overdrive when towing. I only turn if off if the engine is struggling or shifts too much.

christ this thing is 3 years old

Holy Crapper! I never even noticed

Holy bringing back the dead batman

I need some clarification on all this overdrive stuff. I have an automatic 2007 4 liter ranger, with four wheel drive. i have two questions about overdrive.

firstly, before reading this thread, i would set the switch to off, and only have overdrive on once i get to faster than 40 miles per hour. per what has been written here, it seems that i only need to set overdrive to off if i am towing and doing anything else than normal driving. is this true???

then my other question, i know that alot of manufacturers build overdrive automated in the transmission, requiring no input from the driver. for the 2007, if i wanted such automation, is that easily possible; or would that require a reprogram of the control module and some modifications with forscan??

Overdrive is automatically selected if speed is high enough and engine load is low enough
You don't need to do anything
OD is just another "gear" in an "automatic" transmission

Yes, you should turn OD off when carrying a heavy load or pulling a trailer, sometimes even when going up a long uphill grade
You can tell when to turn it off by feeling the transmission shifting back and forth between OD and 4th gear as you pull the load or climb the hill, then just select OD off at that time

So if I read this right.,If your interstate driving at around 70 mph with no extra weight in the bed or not towing a trailer loaded down then with 4:10 gears it would give you a little better gas mileage because of the higher gear and lower RPM at 70 mph,correct? I have had my truck 8 years and never touched the overdrive button.