Low Gear Lock out?

[D-Ice]

Someone once told me that if you have an automatic car, and your gears are setup like "P R N D 3 2 1" If you put it in "3" you are doing something called low gear lockout, saids it makes the car get off the line quicker or something? I serched on google for "Low Gear Lockout" but no luck. So like is this true, or is this person crazy?

 

[MrbeefyVII]

it takes you out of overdrive and would cause quicker acceleration for that reason but if u went WOT it would downshift anyway. What i do when i race is i start in 1 let it go to just before redline and shift into D which would be second. Then i pull the shifter back into 1 and hold until just before the redline of second. Then push the shifter back into D which would then be 3rd. Mycar tops out in third anyway so i don't have to bother shifting into od which my trans will not do at WOT anyway because of some safety measure built into stock transmissions. so if u know how to hold gears longer like i did going to redline your car will probably be quicker than usual because you use the entire rpm range istead of letting your transmission shift at 4500 rpm. hope that clears up anything.

 

[D-Ice]

I sorta understand you, is there anyone that can explain in a more simple fasion?

 

[torquemonkey]

Overdrive is a factor only when the car shifts into it. If you turn it off, it has no effect what so ever on the gear ratio. After all, you only have one set of gears in the tranny (1-2-3+OD). The idea in "low gear lock out" is to prevent shifting. Putting it in first and leaving it there is helpful in performance, only in achieving the shift point you want. Overriding the transmission valve body shift point or computer set shift point.
So, it don’t get you off the line quicker. It allows you to choose to redline your car or shift into 2 when you want. On a track, this type of manipulation may save you 1/10th of a second.

 

[MrbeefyVII]

yeah what he said lmfao

 

[Antny]

91 stang notch back

I used to do this with my 91 stang. It was an AOD tranny, I bought the car from sister-in-law who babied it.

You start in 1st and go to redline, shift up to D (Car goes into 2nd) and shift the car quickly back to 1st position. YOU WON'T downshift and blowup the tranny like I first thought.

Then you push 2nd to redline, shift up to D .... etc, etc...

I used to push my stang against manual trannies and kept right up. What's more amazing is that it works on the highway. I used to downshift with the same mehod to catch up to someone or just have fun.