The "W" button - is it okay to drive at highway speeds?

Hi

Just got back from NorthBay... where it was snowing quite a bit, i've never had such trouble driving a car in my life... Tried the W button and it helped a bit getting things going... and I used it on the snow covered highways at speeds from 50-90kph.... When the roads turned dry I turned it off.... Even when I had to accelerate to get up hills I didn't have any fish tailing it was good... But was it okay to just leave it on? I under stand it locks the car in 3rd for starting up... felt like it went into 4th for the highway tho.... and considering it was a 3rd gear start the car (960 2.9L) didn't feel sluggish AT ALL.

Reply to
Rob Guenther
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I would only use it in slippery conditions. By blocking out the lower gears, it reduces the amount of tractive force available at the wheels, preventing wheel spin and loss of directional control.

Under normal conditions, with W engaged, the torque converter will have to work a lot harder every time you start off from rest - generating a lot of heat and burning more fuel than you do when you use the gears for low speed acceleration.

Reply to
Bonnet Lock

I had it on in town to get me out of parking lots and maneuver around corners, then resume down the road... On the highway I only had to stop twice (at the lights in 2 small towns... I needed the W mode as much as in North Bay at those stops, one was black ice... ABS was kicked in under light braking from 100m away doing 40-50 kph, the other was snow).... For the most part on the highway I was driving in 3rd or what felt like 4th gear.... but going up hills my RPMs were only 1300-2000 rpm.... usually the tranny would downshift -I'm glad it didn't.

Reply to
Rob Guenther

Once you are moving at highway speeds, the W setting makes no difference. In my experience, fish tailing doesn't happen with front wheel drives. If you also have front wheel traction control, that will help pull you up hills. And if you are going up a snowy hill at low speed, the W setting also helps.

Reply to
Marvin Margoshes

The 960 was always a rear drive car... i've had experience with this vehicle starting to slightly fish tail (well, slide its rear end to one side just a little bit, then have the limited slip diff kick in and straighten things out) while just giving the car some mild throttle inputs to accelerate while at-speed to maintain speed up hills or one flat road surfaces.

Reply to
Rob Guenther

I understand the 'W' button disengages the locking ring on the torque converter. This normally engages after a gearchange so the change is smooth, but the mechanical efficiency after is as good as a manual clutch. Without it the converter is only 80-85% efficient & torque transfer would be limited, hence it is best permanently disengaged when high torque to the wheels is not needed.

As far as I'm aware there is no limitation on the gear selection when this is in use in Drive mode. The older style of auto which has manual 1-2-3 selection is intended for towing or driving up/down hills, where unplanned upshifts could be dangerous.

Reply to
Andrew Potter

"Rob Guenther" skrev i meddelandet news:WtJsd.815$l% snipped-for-privacy@news20.bellglobal.com...

I´m not too shure about the latest models are you ?

:)

Gert C

Sweden (Used to be a Volvo Country).

Reply to
Arne C

The 960 and the S/V90 were rear drive 6-cylinder cars... Nothing but.

Reply to
Rob Guenther

The W state is just using the higher gear and skipping first and second. That is best at highway speeds. It is real gutless at low speeds.

Reply to
Stephen Henning

At highway speeds it doesn't make any difference - because it won't be using the lower gears anyway!

W is good for low speed use on surfaces with poor adhesion, because it greatly reduced the risk of wheel spin. However, it *shouldn't* be used on good adhesion surfaces because it is gutless and inefficient. Using the lower gears to generate acceleration torque is far more efficient - and effective - than generating torque by excessive torque converter slip.

Reply to
Bonnet Lock

Reply to
Rob Guenther

Perhaps different models / autos in the Volvo range deal with it differently - but AFAIK W(inter) mode makes it start from standing in 3rd gear.

It probably does prevent lock-up in the torque converter, too - but is fundamentally for starting off in a higher gear, in order to alleviate wheelspin.

Reply to
Zed's Dead baby

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