98 Dakota, overrdrive question

In the nine years I've owned my '98 Dakota, 3.9L 2WD, AT, I had never turned the OD off. Last week, while pulling a fairly light trailer in a hilly area I decided to turn it off (manual says to in order to cut down on the transmission hunting). When I turned it off, I noticed that it stopped the shift to OD but also into the fourth range. Is that right? Is that what it is supposed to do?

Reply to
Frank Boettcher
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Yeah, the fourth range is OD.

Reply to
Ed H.

Thanks for the info, but I'm confused. From a dead stop, transmission shifts three times indicating four gear ranges, and within about 5 seconds of shifting into the fourth range if there is no load other than cruising, the RPM's drop again.

I thought that was the overdrive. What happens at that point? Is that another gear range or something else associated with the fourth range?

Reply to
Frank Boettcher

That last RPM drop is the torque converter locking up. You still get converter lock-up in 3rd with overdrive disengaged.

When not locked, the torque converter provides a fluid coupling between the engine and the transmission. The engine is turning one half of the torque converter directly (it's bolted to the output shaft of the engine). The other half is driven by the fluid that the first half is churning around. This means that the engine is always turning faster than the input shaft of the transmission. This is why, when you're cruising at around 30MPH or so, and you nail the gas (but not enough to cause a downshift), the engine RPMs rise quickly, but your speed doesn't immediately increase.

Now, when the computer feels like it (several conditions have to be met... speed, throttle position, temperature, etc.), it will engage a clutch inside that torque converter, which will mechanically lock both halves of the torque converter together. Now the engine is effectively DIRECTLY coupled to the transmission (like in a manual transmission), and any change in engine speed has an immediate and direct effect on the vehicle's speed. When the converter is locked, you can vary your throttle from a little to a lot, and you'll notice the engine RPMs don't change. Let completely off the throttle, or mash it to the floor, and the computer will unlock the converter. Tap on the brake pedal, and the computer will unlock the converter.

You want to operate with your converter locked as much as possible. It's more efficient (the whole reason companies developed a lock-up converter in the first place), and it creates less heat inside the transmission (the transmission fluid heats up quickest when the converter is unlocked, due to the friction of the fluid sliding across the blades inside the converter). This is exactly why you're instructed to disable overdrive when towing. It's not that 4th gear is worse than 3rd - it's to eliminate the constant locking/unlocking of the converter, which causes heat, which kills transmissions.

Reply to
Tom Lawrence

Thanks for the detailed explanation.

Frank

Reply to
Frank Boettcher

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