F53 downshifting on hills
On our trip to Niagara Falls we noticed the engine downshifting when we were going down grade. It may have done this before, but I can't recall. Is this unusual? Nothing unusual about the shift...
Forum Discussion
azdryheat wrote:
And I'll bet you were in cruise control, too. That is not how you go down a hill in a gasser. You want to be in manual control of the transmission, I like 4th gear.
What difference does it really make if the ECU decides to downshift to fourth or if you manually downshift to fourth? In either case, you're descending in fourth gear and using appropriate engine braking. It's okay if you prefer to shift manually, of course, but I don't see how that's the only appropriate method one could use in this case.
I think the computer will also downshift automatically for engine braking (under some conditions, at least) when tow/haul is engaged. Some other automatic transmissions on other vehicles will do so generally as a matter of course.
