Am I supposed to be able to switch this transmission manually into different modes?

Yes. It should be able to be moved into either Power or Comfort just with an easy pushing against the button. I dont know why it wouldnt let you move it. The different modes change the different gear shifting points. When on power, the revs should generally go up more before shifting, therefore, allowing more power. Comfort makes them go down so the ride is smoother.

 

Yes, and it should light up either way when you have it switched in that direction. The shift maps change depending on the setting of the switch. I can see both the maps in the FSM and the shift schedule is noticably different. I used to drive with the power always switched on when i had my auto, with comfort on it'd shift too low, I thought.

 

Okay so then

Okay so I got one for you...

Is it "ruff" on our trannie to use the POW/COM or OD switch while driving or is that not something you should worry about I always wondered that. I only use OD for freeway and try to engage a light or 2wo before if I can....usally:smoke:

 

Reading the manual, it seems like there is a Power/Comfort switch on the AT, which you are supposed to be able to manually switch between modes.

Many of you might remember this (eBay!):

That switch is,

like a mini turbo

:lol:

Anyhow, in regards to the alarm. Look under your dash. If you are laying on your back looking up at the steering column you should see a box with I believe one plugs going into it. The box will be to the right of the steering column. (towards the driver side wheel well) There should be another smaller box attached to that one. If you have the smaller box, you have remote keyless entry. If not, you only have the factory passive alarm and no remote.

 

Power/Comfort Switch

Was there a version of the automatic transmission made that did not allow you to switch between modes?

Because it really does not seem that the Power/Comfort thing on the transmission is a switch. It seems to be made out of a solid piece of plastic, with the two light cut outs in it. I can't budge it if I press on it.

Thanks for the tip on the alarm.

 

'91 to '93 G20's with AT did not have any switch. The AT was changed for '93.5 to include this feature.

 

Re: Okay so then

Okay so I got one for you...

Is it "ruff" on our trannie to use the POW/COM or OD switch while driving or is that not something you should worry about I always wondered that. I only use OD for freeway and try to engage a light or 2wo before if I can....usally:smoke:

Huh what? I always have overdrive on. I keep thinking it should be on all the time by default because the button looks like it's meant to stay flush in the the shifter, and c'mon now...there's a freaking WARNING light if I turn it off.

 

I don't think it hurts anything if you switch between either OD or the comfort/power while driving, I just wouldn't use either of those two devices to manually shift the car. FWIW I used to leave OD on all the time too, although the speed limits in Az are pretty high (45 on normal roads, faster on the freeways) so i'd always want it to shift down into OD anyways.

 

OD

I have always been under the impression you only use OD for like Highway/freeway driving and that was it's specific purpose, why I dont know...

One guy who owns 2 Datsun 510's a 240 and 2 SE-R's who is the Nissan MAN! When I asked him to test-drive it for me (see how he thought it felt) first thing he said was "Overdrive off" I said yep he said "good"

Another guy owned a 93.5 P10 and now owns a Maxima also says that OD is mainly for Highway/freeway....

In my old Previa (Woooo) I never used OD either unless driving out of state...

Thats were all that comes from- Does this sound right?

But no one has answered me "Is it bad on the engine to do these switches while in motion/drive" thats what I am wondering...

 

I'm a loser

Hey guys,
Sorry about this whole question. Apparently the prior owner never used the switch, and it was just frozen. With enough brute force, the switch works.

Thanks

 

I only use the OD when I want quicker acceleration in city traffic or when entering the highway. I find that because I have a 4into1 STILLEN header with JWT ecu and cams that the OD button has no effect at high rpm. In other words if I'm at say 80mh, I can stomp the gas then press the OD button with no effect at all.This was not the case before I modified my engine. The transmission button I leave in comfort. I use power if I have alot people or a heavy trunk load in my car.

 

I only use the OD when I want quicker acceleration in city traffic or when entering the highway. I find that because I have a 4into1 STILLEN header with JWT ecu and cams that the OD button has no effect at high rpm. In other words if I'm at say 80mh, I can stomp the gas then press the OD button with no effect at all.This was not the case before I modified my engine. The transmission button I leave in comfort. I use power if I have alot people or a heavy trunk load in my car.

How will overdrive help you accelerate in the city? Longer gears give you faster acceleration and shorter gears are better for cruising (unless you like to sound like an airplane). Since overdrive is the shortest gear in your gearbox, turning the O/D switch on or off won't affect your acceleration. The computer is too smart to leave it in overdrive when you stomp on the gas.

I don't think anyone has yet given a logical explination of why it is bad to leave the O/D button on all the time. The only time I found it useful is when coming down out of the mountains. Then I can turn the O/D button off; the transmission will not shift past 3rd and I don't have to ride my brakes the whole way down. Otherwise just leave it on. The computer is smart enough to decide if it's OK to be in overdrive or not.

 

I thought shorter gear ratios meant quicker acceleration at the expense of top speed, and vise-versa for wider gear ratios.

 

How will overdrive help you accelerate in the city? ...

... I don't think anyone has yet given a logical explination of why it is bad to leave the O/D button on all the time.

There are two reasons why you should turn overdrive off.

1. When driving up or down inclines, turn it off to use the engine for "braking". When on the lower gear will decrease the ability to accelerate/decelerate efficiently.

2. When driving at inner city limits - usually 35-40 or less, turn the OD off so the car will not continuosly shift in and out of 3rd to OD to 3rd to OD. Bumper to bumper traffic would be a good example. That could get annoying.

The only reason to keep it on all the time is to consume less fuel. But if you like to stomp on it occasionally, leave the switch off or the computer has to figure out what you are doing and downshift an extra gear. That takes extra time and does, for a lack of better wording, "slow down" your acceleration. Or extend the time it takes to downshift to accelerate faster.

 

I only use the OD when I want quicker acceleration in city traffic or when entering the highway.

Just to make sure of your statement. You do mean push the O/D button to the "OFF" postion to accelerate quicker, right?

That would be correct. It will assist in the acceleration when turned off in the cases you pointed out like getting on the freeway, etc.

 

I thought shorter gear ratios meant quicker acceleration at the expense of top speed, and vise-versa for wider gear ratios.

I'm not talking about the range of the ratios of the gears, just one. Let me state this differently, so I'm not misunderstood. As gear ratio increases, resistance decreases. First gear will always have the hightest ratio because it requires the least resistance in order to get your car moving. As you go through the gears, ratios decrease while resistance increases. This is why you can't accelerate as fast in 2nd as you can in 1st (unless you're engine has more torque than it knows what to do with). Unfortunately, internal combustion engines are quite limited in their wide range of rotational speeds, so that's why they have transmissions: so that they can achieve speeds above 40mph. I'm sorry for the over-simplification, for those of you who notice. :cheeky:

There are two reasons why you should turn overdrive off.

1. When driving up or down inclines, turn it off to use the engine for "braking". When on the lower gear will decrease the ability to accelerate/decelerate efficiently.

2. When driving at inner city limits - usually 35-40 or less, turn the OD off so the car will not continuosly shift in and out of 3rd to OD to 3rd to OD. Bumper to bumper traffic would be a good example. That could get annoying.

The only reason to keep it on all the time is to consume less fuel. But if you like to stomp on it occasionally, leave the switch off or the computer has to figure out what you are doing and downshift an extra gear. That takes extra time and does, for a lack of better wording, "slow down" your acceleration. Or extend the time it takes to downshift to accelerate faster.

I agree. However, if response time is really that important to you, why do you have an AT? As far as stop and go driving is concerned, listening to the transmission shift in and out of different gears can't be as bad as working the clutch until you're left leg is about to fall off! :lol:

 

I agree. However, if response time is really that important to you, why do you have an AT? As far as stop and go driving is concerned, listening to the transmission shift in and out of different gears can't be as bad as working the clutch until you're left leg is about to fall off! :lol:

Good point, but I don't have a AT, I have a 5 speed. :lick: :lol:

I was just trying to help out with the O/D question. My wife's Pathfinder is a AT. Luckily, for me, I have never owned a auto.

 

Good point, but I don't have a AT, I have a 5 speed. :lick: :lol:

I was just trying to help out with the O/D question. My wife's Pathfinder is a AT. Luckily, for me, I have never owned a auto.

The MT is great fun! I would like to get a short shifter sometime, but I'm in no hurry at the moment. Good point with the stop and go traffic and the shifting being annoying. It's been so long since I drove an AT that I almost forgot what it was like. I do remember doing that now: turning off the O/D button for stop and go traffic. It made life a little easier.

One of the things that annoyed me the most about the AT is that in cold weather, it wouldn't shift into overdrive until the engine had warmed up completely. Maybe some engineer in Japan thought it was a good idea, but in reality it's just a pain. If they thought it needed to warm up faster, they should have changed the thermostat! I have no problems with how fast it warms up, though. Don't get me wrong.

 

Also as I stated the OD off (correction) works different when the engine has been modified. I'm not saying it works better. My example is when going up a hill before I had the mods I mentioned added to my car, I would use OD/off to climb really steep hills at high speed (rt 280 in New Jersey) Now that the engine has been modifified I just floor it and get the same response. If I press the OD button to off (meaning the amber dash board light is on) while I'm traveling a hill it has no response at all. The G20 is really under powered with the auto transmission without the available performance mods and god forbid you turn on the a/c on, "Say good bye to acceleration"
I will no doubt be purchasing the new G35 sometime after November.

 

in my AT stanza, turning OD off at a set speed always popped the RPMS up about 1000 rpms. this made the engine a bit more responsive and ready to get up and go

on another note....if you have an AT with a power/comfort switch, you might want to....GET A MANUAL.

seriously...you're missing out