I have a 1993 ford taurus 3.8L V6 automatic. Can you tell me if I have a three or four speed automatic if I have two drive gears and one 1st gear. One of the drive gears is "overdrive."
by 
russharv63
ANSWERS: 2
-
You have a 3 speed automatic with overdrive. You will see a D with an 'O' around it, 2, and 1 on your gear indicator. That D means "the vehicle will select the most appropriate of the 3rd gears, and if you drive at highway speeds, overdrive will kick in to lower the rpms and save fuel." The 2 means "the vehicle will stay in 2nd gear until you choose a different gear selector position (some vehicles will shift between 1st and 2nd gear in this position - yours may do that instead)." The 1 means "the vehicle will stay in 1st gear at all times until you choose a different position with the gear selector." This is suitable for tough starts, heavy loads, tough hills, etc. Edit: I guess I should point out that the overdrive function acts as a sort of 4th gear. As such, you could say that you have a 4 speed transmission, but not in the full sense. Hope this helps, Good luck
-
It is a four-speed. Just so you know, overdrive is an antiquated term from the days when transmissions only had three gears. When some chrome-domed automotive genius figured out how to put a FOURTH (*gasp!*) gear into the transmission thus allowing the vehicle to achieve higher speeds without over-revving the engine, they called it overdrive for marketing purposes. Flash forward a few decades. Many of Ford's prospective buyers are people like my father-in-law who is still looking for the carburetor on his '98 Taurus. They remember their hot rod Lincoln. Offering them a four-speed isn't good. Offering them a car with overdrive though... they might go for that; maybe for the glory of younger days and all, maybe just for familiarity. While certain older Taurus' do have three-speeds, the three-speeds do NOT had overdrive.
RELATED QUESTIONS
Copyright 2023, Wired Ivy, LLC