Tranny Question

[ETalon95]

I have a 95 Eagle Talon N/A with an automatic transmission. I was wondering what the Low Gear does and what the 2nd Gear does? If i drive in the low gear the car always redlines I can also manually shift up through teh gear. which would be better to race with Low gear or just the drive gear????

 

[Doug99RS]

Most of the time you will start off in second gear simply because the power/gearing is not needed. When you accelerate heavily from a stop then it would probably kick down in order to do just what you tell it to do. For racing, it would be best to put it in first from the get go. Once you get up and going, just hold it on the floor and shift it back in to drive and be done with it until you let off.

Overdrive will not have an affect because it is a final drive. It's kinda like 5th gear. It won't change the shift points at all. On newer chrysler products like the Dodge Ram and Dakota, the OD button is called "Tow/haul". It is used when you are doing just that. Shift points are changed to help towing and the transmission does not go in to "lock-up" like it normally would at normal cruising speed. This "Lock-Up", when used while towing, will cause the transmission to keep switching in and out of final drive because of the additional weight added to the vehicle.

But... this still doesn't affect us on the 2gnt auto.
Doug

 

[ETalon95]

My tranny is (P R N D 2 L) so when im racing it would be better to leave it in low gear and just let it automaically shift for me b/c it doesnt shift until the redline when i leave it in low. or should i shift from L into 2 and then into drive and treat them as all seperate gears???

 

[Doug99RS]

Put it in Low just to make sure you launch in first gear (low). Once you get rolling you can put it in Drive. Reason being that even in drive if you hold it on the floor from a dead stop, it's not going to shift until it hits the rev-limiter. This rev-limiter is the same regardless of the position of the shifter.

 

[ETalon95]

Ok, but would i be able to just leave it in low gear the whole time through????