Electronic OD questions...

[Wocketman]

I've noticed that the electronic overdrive in my 92 has varying degrees of "grip"...will try to explain:

When I start out driving, and the car is well-warmed up, the rpm will not settle into the highest/tallest gearing unless the throttle is barely applied (not accelerating at all). At 60mph when the rpm should be about 2k, it keeps sliding up and down with the slightest change of throttle position. I feel that I'm wasting gas in this mode, the engine obviously has plenty of grunt to run at the lower rpm.

However, if I get on it and get it up to 80mph for a brief period the OD starts "gripping" much better. I can then slow down to whatever speed and the rpm will be solidly at 2k at 60mph and resist going up unless a reasonble amount of throttle is applied. All is good.

Unfortunately, often after several miles at the lower speed, the OD seems to go "soft" again. I speculate that this characteristic of the transmission is one reason why I get the same (or better!) mileage at 80mph as at 60.

Is there any way to adjust or set the characteristics of the electronic OD?

[Crazy_pilot]

How long is your normal drive? The SVX's 4EAT is picky about what temperature it likes. The transmission will not lock the torque converter, and will actually not even use the overdrive (4th) gear, unless it's sufficiently warmed up. Unfortunately, idling the car does nothing to heat up the transmission. Regardless of idle time, in the morning it takes my car at least a mile to get into 4th, and I never see the torque converter lock fully in my 15-ish minute drive. On the road around 60 MPH the torque converter will very easily let the RPM's increase if I touch the gas. The coolant gauge will reach normal operating temperature in the first five minutes.

Now, that said I don't think you have the same climate that I'm living with. It's not uncommon to see -30 here, -40 and below is not particularly shocking. I'm betting you're a bit warmer that that, but I'd also still bet that your car just isn't up to operating temperature.

[dcarrb]

On both of mine the torque converter often initially locks precisely when the engine begins to lug a bit, say, transitioning to a slight incline, and I sometimes have to force a downshift to maintain speed. The teal has a much more "engaging" TC (and gets slightly better fuel economy), but since both behave pretty much the same, I figure it's curious but normal.

dcb