what drive "D" do u guys drive in

[plAythiNG]

so c'mon fellas, wat drive gear do u all drive in, for an auto of course, the normal d or the blue D, also wat are the advan/disadvan of both?

[stocky]

this has been covered many times.
White D for normal suburban driving.
Blue D for highway

[plAythiNG]

sorry if i have annoyed u, first time on a forum, umm advantages/disadvtanges please? and which one is overdrive yea?

[plAythiNG]

but i find white d to rev harder/louder whenever i drive?

[Shortstuff]

I just use the normal D. It's only that i'm too lazy to knock the gear selector back another notch though

Apparently it's best to drive in the lower D under about 80kph as it keeps it from dropping into top gear. Meant to get slightly better fuel economy that way at lower speeds.

The one next to neutral lets it go into overdrive. Try driving at about 90 and move it between the two D s if you want to see the difference.

[stocky]

sorry if i have annoyed u, first time on a forum, umm advantages/disadvtanges please? and which one is overdrive yea?

no problem man, just having a long day.

ok heres why-
leaving in blue D is not good unless youre on the highway/freeway. leaving it in blue D causes the gearbox to constantly switch between 3rd and 4th gear when accelerating and this is not good for the box. 4th gear also requires more power to get back up to 80 when you drop your speed, white D does not have this problem, mainly because the gear ratio is 1:1 in 3rd gear.
as for those people that think fuel economy is worse in white D, youre wrong. using a calais dash showing instantaneous fuel usage, white d provides the same, if not better economy than blue when travelling around 80km/h

DAMN IT I WANT MANUAL

[1vngal]

DAMN IT I WANT MANUAL

Well go buy one.

[Full Spectrum]

First D i go for If I'm on the freeway and want to unlock the converter for overtaking i just drop it to the 2nd D for smooth faster overtaking.

[stocky]

Well go buy one.

i have no money though

[pro_gmh]

putting it more simply, the white D has smaller ratios which is good for surban driving, and the blue D has longer ratios, which is better for longer distance.

thats what i was lead to understand.

[1vngal]

i have no money though

Awwww stocky.....

Looks like your just going to have to pretend for now. Like start in first gear and push your imaginary clutch in when you bump it up a gear.....I've seen people do this. Nutters, the lot of them.....Oh and don't forget to make motor noises, double cluting it occasionally....

Seriously though, doesn't driving in over-drive at under 80kms, cause excessive wear on the bands? From constantly changing up down from top gear?

[90VN55]

shit aye i normally put it in overdrive and leave it. not no more

[fazz1977]

White D (fuel chewin bastard) for anything 60 and under, blue D for anything over.

[stocky]

White D (fuel chewin bastard) for anything 60 and under, blue D for anything over.

theres pretty much no difference in fuel economy between the two drive gears when travelling around 80km/h

[Reaper]

no problem man, just having a long day.

ok heres why-
leaving in blue D is not good unless youre on the highway/freeway. leaving it in blue D causes the gearbox to constantly switch between 3rd and 4th gear when accelerating and this is not good for the box. 4th gear also requires more power to get back up to 80 when you drop your speed, white D does not have this problem, mainly because the gear ratio is 1:1 in 3rd gear.
as for those people that think fuel economy is worse in white D, youre wrong. using a calais dash showing instantaneous fuel usage, white d provides the same, if not better economy than blue when travelling around 80km/h

DAMN IT I WANT MANUAL

I have done hundreds of thousands of km always in the blue "D" and have *never* had an issue. Have averaged around 60,000 km per year for as long as I can remember which is 70% in the suburbs and nearly 90% towing something heavy. I have never had to touch one beyond regular servicing (which I did get done from time to time) Think about what you are doing while you are driving and have a bit of mechanical sympathy and the blue D is fine.

Reaper

[Reaper]

putting it more simply, the white D has smaller ratios which is good for surban driving, and the blue D has longer ratios, which is better for longer distance.

thats what i was lead to understand.

So you have an 8 speed box??? I think you might need to do some more understanding.

Reaper

[1991_Vn2nV]

I have done hundreds of thousands of km always in the blue "D" and have *never* had an issue. Have averaged around 60,000 km per year for as long as I can remember which is 70% in the suburbs and nearly 90% towing something heavy. I have never had to touch one beyond regular servicing (which I did get done from time to time) Think about what you are doing while you are driving and have a bit of mechanical sympathy and the blue D is fine.

Reaper

Do you even drive a VN?

Talk about mechanical sympathy etc. why dont you simply drive it in the right gear selection for appropriate situations... There is no need to argue when the simple fact of the matter has been stated. White D is optimal for under 80km/h and Blue D is optimal for above 80km/h.

[pandaman]

but i find white d to rev harder/louder whenever i drive?

which one is overdrive yea?

Look man, I dont wanna have a go at anyone personally really, more the driver education/assessment scheme, but people with drivers licenses who make comments like these really worry me. I'm gonna do a bit of a long explanation here, if you already know this stuff then good, if not then it's kinda important to get the hang of it.

An automatic gearbox shares the same purpose as a manual, to provide a set of increasing ratios to allow a vehicle to accelerate easily from a standing start with short (low gears) ratios and cruise easily at high speeds with tall (high gears) ratios. This idea works due to a concept called mechanical advantage, a form of leverage. Basically the low gears give the engine more leverage on the rear wheels allowing faster acceleration, but a lower top speed than higher gears.

The automatic gearbox in your VN has 4 forward ratio's.
1st: 3.06:1
2nd: 1.63:1
3rd(white D): 1.00:1
4th(blue D): 0.70:1
What this means is that in first, for every turn of the input shaft of the gearbox the output shaft will turn 3.06 times. So the engine spins fast and the wheels turn slowly. In fourth the input shaft spins once, the output shaft spins 0.7 times, so if the engine is spinning at the same speed as it was for the first gear example, the wheels will be spinning much faster. Now in fourth the engine has much less leverage on the wheels than it did in first, so acceleration is slower.

Now in answer to your questions, in third (white D) the engine spins faster than it would at the same speed in fourth (blue D) so it is noisier, it revs and accelerates harder because there is better leverage. Now you'd think it'd use more fuel that way yeah? Well in some cases yes, but if you're puttering around town at 60km/h it may make no difference to fuel economy whether you're in third or fourth. There are a couple of reasons for this. At those kind of speeds the torque converter is unlocked, so third and fourth are effectively similar ratios, and also in the higer gear the engine may be labouring more and not working as efficiently as it would at slightly higher rev's. As mentioned by a couple of people, leaving it in third(white D) around town also causes less wear on the gearbox because it changes less often. I'll admit that I actually tend to manually shift the auto like a fully sick hectic brocuz because I like a bit more noise than what ya get just cruising around letting the box do it's own thing. It's probably bad for it, but if it breaks I'll just replace the bugger, God gave me two strong arms and half a brain for a reason.

Hokay, now fourth(blue D) is overdrive, the definition of an overdriven gear is where the output shaft is spinning faster than the input shaft, therefore fourth is the only overdriven ratio in the box.

If I'm being patronising and telling you stuff you already know, feel free to tell me to **** off, but a fair few of these threads have been popping up and I wanted to clear it up once and for all. If I've been helpful feel free to tell me to **** off anyway (everyone else does ) and ask some more questions!

[90VN55]

wow i feel like im at school. nice work

[pandaman]

wow i feel like im at school. nice work

Cheers bro, I'm drunk and avoiding doing an assignment.

[PaRaDoX]

i find white D drags because it usually sits in 3rd, i dont like white D
so i use blue D

[S Pack]

First D i go for If I'm on the freeway and want to unlock the converter for overtaking i just drop it to the 2nd D for smooth faster overtaking.

i drop mine into 2nd to overtake.....i find it gets a better response and accelerates from 80/90 to 100/105 much easier......but it uses way more fuel.

[1991_Vn2nV]

Look man, I dont wanna have a go at anyone personally really, more the driver education/assessment scheme, but people with drivers licenses who make comments like these really worry me. I'm gonna do a bit of a long explanation here, if you already know this stuff then good, if not then it's kinda important to get the hang of it.

An automatic gearbox shares the same purpose as a manual, to provide a set of increasing ratios to allow a vehicle to accelerate easily from a standing start with short (low gears) ratios and cruise easily at high speeds with tall (high gears) ratios. This idea works due to a concept called mechanical advantage, a form of leverage. Basically the low gears give the engine more leverage on the rear wheels allowing faster acceleration, but a lower top speed than higher gears.

The automatic gearbox in your VN has 4 forward ratio's.
1st: 3.06:1
2nd: 1.63:1
3rd(white D): 1.00:1
4th(blue D): 0.70:1
What this means is that in first, for every turn of the input shaft of the gearbox the output shaft will turn 3.06 times. So the engine spins fast and the wheels turn slowly. In fourth the input shaft spins once, the output shaft spins 0.7 times, so if the engine is spinning at the same speed as it was for the first gear example, the wheels will be spinning much faster. Now in fourth the engine has much less leverage on the wheels than it did in first, so acceleration is slower.

Now in answer to your questions, in third (white D) the engine spins faster than it would at the same speed in fourth (blue D) so it is noisier, it revs and accelerates harder because there is better leverage. Now you'd think it'd use more fuel that way yeah? Well in some cases yes, but if you're puttering around town at 60km/h it may make no difference to fuel economy whether you're in third or fourth. There are a couple of reasons for this. At those kind of speeds the torque converter is unlocked, so third and fourth are effectively similar ratios, and also in the higer gear the engine may be labouring more and not working as efficiently as it would at slightly higher rev's. As mentioned by a couple of people, leaving it in third(white D) around town also causes less wear on the gearbox because it changes less often. I'll admit that I actually tend to manually shift the auto like a fully sick hectic brocuz because I like a bit more noise than what ya get just cruising around letting the box do it's own thing. It's probably bad for it, but if it breaks I'll just replace the bugger, God gave me two strong arms and half a brain for a reason.

Hokay, now fourth(blue D) is overdrive, the definition of an overdriven gear is where the output shaft is spinning faster than the input shaft, therefore fourth is the only overdriven ratio in the box.

If I'm being patronising and telling you stuff you already know, feel free to tell me to **** off, but a fair few of these threads have been popping up and I wanted to clear it up once and for all. If I've been helpful feel free to tell me to **** off anyway (everyone else does ) and ask some more questions!

Awesome explanation man. Top post!

[wes_v8]

yea well i normally drive in white d but when i get on the main rd i pull it back to blue d

[AirStrike]

I just use 1st and 2nd.............sounds must better
AirStrike