Just looking for some opinion's on driving in town/city/rural condition's with overdrive off versus overdrive on.

When I worked for Wal-Mart my ride was 8 miles each way and just about all town expect the first and last 4 miles. If I didn't screw around with my gas I could use 1/2 a tank over 2 weeks.

I usually ran with overdrive off, just to reduce unnecessary shifting, also, there's more giddy up under the pedal with OD Off.

My new job has me on the road a lot more, sometimes as much as 90 miles each way, mostly country road's with 55 speed limit. Very little interstate.

But Monday's and Friday's my route has me driving nearly 300 miles total. I've got the wife's Buick Century and on paper it's the clear choice but man I hate driving that car. I think it needs a new fuel filter, been getting sloppy on the mileage itself, just recently got new AutoLite Platinum plugs and new wires. Plus that means I have to let the old lady drive my truck

I did a short test on MPG, didn't get a chance yet to do a full tank, getting around 13MPG in rural/city driving (this test included a trip to Tifton, Ga, traffic can be very heavy and lots of stop light's and railroad crossings (traffic was held up about 10 minutes because of a malfunctioning crossing light during the test)

Is there any noticeable difference on MPG in regard's to OD On/Off? Or maybe I should ask, in theory, should there be any noticeable difference good or bad, running OD On versus Off?

Sorry this is long, just looking for some thought's from fellow Ram owner's. Who better to have opinion's on the matter then you guys?

 

I've found that with my truck, modified and loaded as it is, I'm better off in direct drive (with converter locked) at 55MPH, and overdrive at 65MPH and above. At 55 in overdrive I get around 14MPG, but at 65 it goes up to nearly 16MPG. At 55 in direct drive I get around 15MPG.

The interstates out this way are all 75MPH, so I get 5h17 per gallon in overdrive. (14MPG or so, actually). Add in a head wind and my wife bitches at the gas pump.

 

with steady highway driving at 55-60, i get better gas mileage with OD on. about 15+ with OD on and only 14 with OD off. I assume this has to do with RPM, about 1500 with OD on and 2000 with OD off.

for around town with lots of stop and go and very little over 55, i can't tell any better mileage with OD on so I usually turn it off to eliminate the 55mph low rpm lugging that happens on every up hill.

 

If I'm in the city or areas where the speed limit is 45 or less I leave OD off. If out on the highway where I'll be going 55-60 for an extended time I'll turn it on. I live in Florida though so there's not really any hills here lol.

 

Pretty much what I do.

Coincidence regarding the mpg. I've logged mine ever since purchase back in 2004. It's all hand written though, so in the process of entering into XLS and plot me some data.

I logged: date, octane, price, total sale, gallons, trip, odometer, mpg (console), mpg (calc)

 

why? it will still suck.

 

But, it will LOOK pretty as it sucks......

Post the results please.

 

Damn, I would kill for 16 mpg. I get like 8 now.
At least I now know I am not the only one that this happens to.

I roll with OD off around town for the same reasons everyone else does, better mpg and acceleration. I run with it on on the highway unless I am on a county road or something.

 

i run o/d off in city and anything over 55 i run o/d on i get 13-14 city normal accel 2k or lower in rpm and 8/12 if im being dumb and not caring bout gas and 2500-3k accel. since i live in the city all i get is city driving so best ive ever gotten was 17-18 on highway at 70-75 in florida since no hills. past georgia where there hills i get 15 consitantly ive taken many trips from florida to michigan going through kentucky, tennessee alot of hills.

 

It always seemed like I got better MPG's on the short runs to work with OD off.

Think I'll use the wife's Buick on Monday's and Friday's - unless I'm feelin' rich and wanna take the truck. 300 miles every Monday and Friday is gonna eat a lot of gas, they do pay mileage but it comes with the regular check, non taxed of course.

I'll take her on regular store calls and see what kind of mileage I get

Way back in February we hauled *** in the truck to Virginia - about a solid 8hr drive from here, 533 miles with the route we take - almost ALL interstate.

I really SHOULD have done an MPG test but I didn't. We only stopped for gas once in South Carolina. Heck, it takes 3 hrs to get to the GA/SC line from here.

She does pretty damn good on the interstate I think...

That was also with the stock tires and wheels. Since then I've gone up a size in rims and run 265/70/17, that may have a little effect on MPG.

Anywho, I'll see how she does. It needs the plenum fix and pre-02 and more then likely a new or gutted cat - no local emission requirements here, (Don't tell JohnDinCT)

Once those are fixed I'd like to think I could see 2 or 3 MPG's better overall.