After reading all these threads on Overdrive I'm starting to freak out, like I'm at risk of burning my tranny up, or at the least, shortening it's life span. Is the overdrive switch suppose to click or something when you push it. when I was idling one time, I' pushed the OD button and, honestly I thought it was broken since it didn't click. I've never used mine. does overdrive come stock on all 97 dodge ram 1500 5.2L That's what I have. Any info would be much appriceated

 

It doesn't click ... you'll see an "O/D Off" indicator though.

 

yup, no clicking... you should feel an indent though, if it feels mushy than its no good

 

I just tried this in my truck. when I push it , the "off" light on the button never illuminates. would that mean I need a new switch? my tranny feels solid. also I've been meaning to change my tranny fuild. Is it necessary to adjust the bands? I can work on my engine all day and night but tranny work is pretty intimidating. on last thing, If I use +4, since it's full synthetic, would my tranny develop leaks? I don't mean to bombard you all with so many questions. I just want to be well informed before I dive in head first. thanks for the help everyone.

 

Drive it up to about 50 MPH and hit the button. If the engine winds up higher, it's working and the bulb is burnt out.

 

The "O/D OFF" light is not on the button ... it's an idiot light in the cluster. Start the engine, wait for all the warning lights to go off, then press the button ... you should get the light.

Don't adjust the bands just to do it.

+4 is what should already be in there so replacing it with +4 won't hurt anything.

 

I do wait for all the lights to go off. THEN I push the button. I'll check it out the next time I'm on the freeway. As far as the tranny fluid is concerned, I'm still running +3. It's still widely available in my kneck of the woods. Thats why I asked about putting +4. My truck hasn't made that conversion yet. I just want to know If I run the risk of having a leaky tranny, since I don't now.

 

+4 is what came in the truck from the factory... Looks like we've found the problem.

 

the light itself will illuminate with the rest of the idiot lights when you first turn the key on, the reason they light up is so you can check to make sure the bulbs are all operational, if you cant find the proper light during startup, then its burnt out. but this is just to check the condition of the bulb, it has nothing to do with the acual O/D override switch

 

I believe they came from the factory with +3 and Dodge switched to +4 with a strong recommendation (and *maybe a TSB) that current owners switch from +3 to +4.