In the past month, it was the only time I started to drive a car with automatic transmission. I have been used to driving vehicles with manual transmission for more than 30 years. The reason I did not like cars with automatic transmission is because of the engines sound like a sliding clutch and is not as responsive as a car with manual transmission. It is more challenging and exciting to drive with standard gear shifting.

Well, I had to learn how to use the automatic transmission properly to achieve fuel economy while not sacrificing engine power. The car is a 1994 Mitsubishi Lancer and the shifter had the regular P, R, N, D, L1 and L2 shifting options. This really made me say that it is so easy to drive with automatic transmission. But then, I saw two buttons, one on the gear stick shaft and another on the console below it. The button on the console is easier to understand because it had the options to press for either power or economy. When I pressed the button on the stick shaft, a display showed on the instrument panel said "Off O.D.". O.D. means over-drive. This meant that when driving with automatic transmission with overdrive "On", it means a gear on the transmission is delivering a speed faster than the engine speed. This is the reason that when going downhill, you need to step on the brakes more frequently! When it is on the "Off O.D." setting, the engine brakes will help in slowing down the car downhill. This means that the engine speed is governing the speed of the car and you will have lesser need for the use of the brake. For uphill driving, it is not very noticeable but it helps very much when in times there is a need to decelerate then accelerate again.

So, when is it best to use with the Overdrive set “On”? It is best to use when driving on generally flat roads and while cruising on the highway. It relieves stress from the engine and would give better fuel economy. Once you have gotten the hang of when to use that button, it will be an advantage using it with the power and economy button. There are some cars though that do not have the power and economy button. To get more mileage out of driving a car with automatic transmission, take time to learn when and where to use the “Off and On” settings of the Overdrive button. I am now getting better fuel economy with its proper use. Technorati Profile

 

When driving a car, generally drivers just see what’s ahead of them and glimpses at their rear and side view mirrors. Defensive driving is letting your mind and body beware of any impending possibility for what you have sensed. And this is not for the eyes only! The ears, nose and touch (feel) contribute largely on how a driver would react to a given situation. Unmindful drivers only have a reflex reaction at the spur of the moment, which is mostly the opposite of what they should have done.
An example is on sudden braking. Whether someone crosses the road from behind a parked truck or bus at the other lane. When the car in front of you suddenly brakes. The parked truck or bus could have unloaded a passenger bound to cross, you don’t see, smell or hear that, but that should give you the ‘feel’! The car in front might just not have been looking further ahead. Cars slowing down further ahead should mean that there might come a point when you need to stop. This is especially so when driving on the highway. If the images of the vehicles in front seemed to become larger while you were practically running at the same speed, it means something has caused them to slow down or stop.
When driving, you might just have a vision range of about 120 degrees. Your ‘look’ might just be 30 degrees and your focus might just be somewhere between 10 to 15 degrees. The degrees mentioned here of course pertain to the horizontal swathe of vision.
Reading some driving tips like this will sort of ‘program’ your mind and reaction when the time calls for it. Driving within specified speed limits will make driving safer.

You are driving in bad weather and your car air-conditioning suddenly quits. Your windshields and windows start to have mist inside. No matter how often you wipe it off, in seconds or few minutes, you need to wipe it off again! No problem! Make sure you have in handy, a small bottle of spray containing a very mild mixture of hair shampoo and water. Stop on a safe side of the road and spray sparingly inside of the windshield and windows then spread it thinly all over even with just your hands. This would keep from having mist inside your windshield no matter how long or how far you drive in the bad weather. I learned about this from taxi drivers in Baguio City, Philippines, in the 1980s.
The mixture loses its effect only when it dries up under the heat of the sun or when the weather has cleared for several hours. Do not use the same mixture for your windshield washer. It will not do any better than proprietary windshield washer additive.

Did you know that diesel engines do not need batteries to run? Diesel engines do not have spark plugs like gasoline engines. Gasoline engines have Spark Combustion while Diesel Engines have Compression Combustion to run. Gasoline engines compress the fuel and air mixture of around 10:1. So if that volume of 10 fuel/air mixture is compressed to 1, it will need the spark from the spark plug to have combustion. The diesel engine meanwhile, has a bigger compression ratio of around 24:1. So, when a volume of 24 pure air is compressed to 1, diesel is injected, combustion occurs! In place of spark plugs, diesel engines have diesel injection to do the job. It was my former mechanic who taught me about this first.
Note that gasoline engines compress the fuel/air mixture. Diesel compresses only the air first and when it is about to be compressed to 1, diesel fuel is injected. So, if your diesel-engined vehicle has a dead battery, you can still start the engine start the engine by pushing the car and crank starting it! Beware though, if your transmission is automatic, this might not allow crank starting!