View Full Version : What is overdrive on an ATX
P999LTS
07-04-2003, 06:09 PM
:confused: Can you help - in the UK most automatic cars have 4 speed as normal (recently going to 5 speed) what is the difference with the Cougar as a 3 speed plus overdrive - or is it a matter of sematics?
:):smoke-g:
PizzaSlut
07-05-2003, 02:06 AM
Overdrive is just any gear with a ratio under 1.00, whether it be an ATX or MTX. Basically standard on any car out now, otherwise miles per gallon suffers.
caenus
07-05-2003, 09:21 AM
On our cougars overdrive is the fourth gear. I believe MTX have two over drive gears, 4 and 5, but I could be mistaken. Might only be 5. Anyway, if you have an atx you could turn overdrive off. This will keep your car in third gear while cruising around so when you goto accelerate the auto will downshift into second. Normally you'd be in 4th (overdrive) and it would down shift into thrid.
P999LTS
07-05-2003, 08:23 PM
Originally posted by: caenus
On our cougars overdrive is the fourth gear. I believe MTX have two over drive gears, 4 and 5, but I could be mistaken. Might only be 5. Anyway, if you have an atx you could turn overdrive off. This will keep your car in third gear while cruising around so when you goto accelerate the auto will downshift into second. Normally you'd be in 4th (overdrive) and it would down shift into thrid.
Thanks for the info - I was just wondering why it was called "overdrive", I think I now understand. With regards to downshifting the UK ATX is slightly different to the US model, we have two drive settings and when in the Sports mode I get two downshifts one at half throttle (from 4 to 3) and one at kickdown - full throttle - from 4 to 2, in our Economy setting it is as you described.
Originally posted by: caenus
On our cougars overdrive is the fourth gear. I believe MTX have two over drive gears, 4 and 5, but I could be mistaken.
Only 5th is overdriven.
CougarBalla2k5
07-09-2003, 08:49 PM
So.......if I manual shift my automatic from 1 - 2 - Drive w/ overdrive off it will stop won't shift past drive into another gear......umm........what?
caenus
07-09-2003, 09:56 PM
Only 5th is overdriven.
Gotcha, thanks for clearing it up.
Do 6-speed manuals only have 1 over drive gear also?
PizzaSlut
07-10-2003, 04:01 AM
Originally posted by: Fern
Originally posted by: caenus
On our cougars overdrive is the fourth gear. I believe MTX have two over drive gears, 4 and 5, but I could be mistaken.
Only 5th is overdriven.
Maybe in our cars, maybe not, I don't know the gear ratios for the MTX, but ANY gear that has a ratio lower than 1:1 is considered an overdrive by definition. I know that a link is now going to be necessary, so here you go (http://auto.howstuffworks.com/automatic-transmission3.htm).
Faboo
07-10-2003, 04:09 AM
Originally posted by: caenus
Only 5th is overdriven.
Gotcha, thanks for clearing it up.
Do 6-speed manuals only have 1 over drive gear also?Some dont..but i think that most do.....higher end have 5 gears and 1 overdrive.......the lesser"wanna be" sport have 2 overdrive gears....
sonza68
07-10-2003, 10:59 AM
Originally posted by: CougarBalla2k5
So.......if I manual shift my automatic from 1 - 2 - Drive w/ overdrive off it will stop won't shift past drive into another gear......umm........what?
When you put the ATX in "1" it drives only in 1st gear.
Putting it in "2" make the car only drive in 2nd gear.
"D" is automatice mode allowing the car to shift through all 4 gears as it sees fit.
Turning O/D off will tell the computer not to shift into 4th gear (overdrive).
Manually shifting from 1 to 2 will tell the computer you want to shift from 1st to 2nd. However, manually shifting from 2 to D is not the same as telling the car to shift from 2nd to 3rd. By putting the trans in "D" you are telling the car to resume automatic shifting. But if you are nearing redline in 2nd, a shift into 3rd will be prompted by the computer.
PizzaSlut
07-10-2003, 01:20 PM
Originally posted by: sonza68
Originally posted by: CougarBalla2k5
So.......if I manual shift my automatic from 1 - 2 - Drive w/ overdrive off it will stop won't shift past drive into another gear......umm........what?
When you put the ATX in "1" it drives only in 1st gear.
Putting it in "2" make the car only drive in 2nd gear.
"D" is automatice mode allowing the car to shift through all 4 gears as it sees fit.
Turning O/D off will tell the computer not to shift into 4th gear (overdrive).
Manually shifting from 1 to 2 will tell the computer you want to shift from 1st to 2nd. However, manually shifting from 2 to D is not the same as telling the car to shift from 2nd to 3rd. By putting the trans in "D" you are telling the car to resume automatic shifting. But if you are nearing redline in 2nd, a shift into 3rd will be prompted by the computer.
He was being sarcastic.
CougarBalla2k5
07-10-2003, 01:39 PM
No I wasn't.....well only slightly.....if I have overdrive turned off, there will be no 4th gear to shift into???????
sonza68
07-10-2003, 02:25 PM
Correct. It changes the shift logic to eliminate 4th gear.
arskiracer
07-13-2003, 12:25 AM
Originally posted by: sonza68
Originally posted by: CougarBalla2k5
So.......if I manual shift my automatic from 1 - 2 - Drive w/ overdrive off it will stop won't shift past drive into another gear......umm........what?
When you put the ATX in "1" it drives only in 1st gear.
Putting it in "2" make the car only drive in 2nd gear.
"D" is automatice mode allowing the car to shift through all 4 gears as it sees fit.
Turning O/D off will tell the computer not to shift into 4th gear (overdrive).
Manually shifting from 1 to 2 will tell the computer you want to shift from 1st to 2nd. However, manually shifting from 2 to D is not the same as telling the car to shift from 2nd to 3rd. By putting the trans in "D" you are telling the car to resume automatic shifting. But if you are nearing redline in 2nd, a shift into 3rd will be prompted by the computer.
I've never driven an auto cougar, but I drove a rental that was automatic - I don't remember what kind of car it was but when I put it in 2nd it shifted from first and second but never went above second. In other words it was the same idea as taking over drive off in that it keeps it one gear lower but still shifts through the lower gears; but in this case when in 2nd it wouldn't let it go above 2nd gear but it still shifted.
Are the cougars different from this? Do they stay in second even if they are stopped?
Jason J
07-13-2003, 06:20 AM
arskiracer in a cougar if you select second gear it only uses second gear if you come to a stop and pull off without shifting it will pull away in second and if you keep your foot in it will hit the rev limiter
CougarBalla2k5
07-13-2003, 01:36 PM
3rd gear better be long as hell then.....it seems like if you too overdrive off you would hit rev limiter in top gear at around 100mph.......I've been 120 w/ OD on
Jason J
07-13-2003, 01:48 PM
Originally posted by: CougarBalla2k5
3rd gear better be long as hell then.....it seems like if you too overdrive off you would hit rev limiter in top gear at around 100mph.......I've been 120 w/ OD on
3rd gear is good for around 110mph-120mph cant remember exactly can check if you want...
;)
Jason J
07-15-2003, 05:41 PM
3rd gear on atx @ 6000rpm 118mph works out to just under 20mph per 1000rpm giving a top speed in 3rd gear @7000rpm of around 135mph 4th gear (top) is geared to around 30mph per 1000rpm giving a theoretical top speed of 210mph!!! if you had enough power and enough road to gain that much speed...;):biggrin::biggrin::biggrin::biggrin::big grin: ;)