What does Overdrive do?

[Tripzter08]

i have a toyota corolla S, and it has a overdrive button at the stick, what does this thing do? does it goes you fast?

[Tavel]

Originally Posted by Tripzter08

i have a toyota corolla S, and it has a overdrive button at the stick, what does this thing do? does it goes you fast?

overdrive is the 4th gear. the button turns it on or off, leave it on unless you have some specific reason to turn it off.

"does it goes you fast?" uhm...sure.

[Tripzter08]

does it turn on when a press the button? i mean coz when i turn it on, there's a light said "O/V OFF" is this turn it on or its off?

[Tripzter08]

so u mean, it is already on, when i put it on Drive? or not yet? u have to push the button

[vibebreaker]

its always on. when you press it you see a light on your dash that says its off...

[Criard]

Originally Posted by Tripzter08

does it turn on when a press the button? i mean coz when i turn it on, there's a light said "O/V OFF" is this turn it on or its off?

don't press button. 'o/v off' light on is no no

[touringcamry]

Overdrive is any gear that has a ratio of less than one. This means the input from the engine to the transmission is turning slower than the output from the transmission to the differential.

When you turn the car on, OD is automatically on meaning the transmission will shift 1st through 4th gear. Fourth is an overdrive drive gear. When you press the button and turn overdrive off, it will not engage 4th gear. It will only shift 1st through 3rd. Third gear has a gear ratio bigger than 1 so it is not an overdrive gear.

The torque converter only locks up in 4th gear on these cars so you also prevent the torque converter from locking up.

[Crowbar911]

I only turn it off when Im driving in snow. depending how the roads are, I will also put it in second, or first. This allowme/forces me to go slow, and also allows me to engine brake. which is very helpful when driving in a foot, foot and a half of snow.

[silver04rollas]

O/D is supposed to be switched off in steep uphill driving in order to prevent the transmission from shifting up to overdrive gear(4th). By switching the O/D off, essentially the car will stay in 3rd gear thus providing the necessary torque for uphill driving.

[KornD]

when driving in town , turn it off , only useful on highway, you prevent gear shifting that way and keep the tranny alive longer

[Crowbar911]

If you keep it off during city driving, you will hurt your gas mileage. the corolla can go 35 mph and be in 4th, at 1250 rpms. at third, 1800ish. (rough estimates off the top of my head)

[REN69]

Just keep it on at for both city and highway driving, only turn it off when necessary as everyone said (weather, steep hills, etc).

[empirefalls]

Lets sum this post up

Drive your Toyota overdrive 'on', meaning light off on the dashboard
Drive your Toyota overdrive 'off, meaning light on on the dashboard,when going up a steep hill


feel free to modifly the above.