09 5 spd auto trans observation

Was just reading the manual on something urelated and just happened to read the page noting shifting patterns and I had no idea that in drive, shifter to the left is 4th and shifter to the right is the correct "drive" postion. There is a notation that says for optimum gas milege and "less noise" use the shifter position to the right. I can't believe I'm the only one that missed this. We're talking about 3/8" difference between 4th and drive. Any potential damage from driving all the time in 4th?

 

Thanks Chris. nest time try and get that reply a bit quicker..........lol

 

Not really.

Driving in 4 just limits the trans to 4th gear as the top end gear, effectively removing the 5th ratio. This'll kill your mileage if you get to higher speeds (above 40mph or so), and maybe put a little more wear on the engine from higher sustained RPM, but nothing that'll make your truck blow up right then and there. The extra wear might mean the difference between 350,000 mi and 349,850 mi...

Around town you likely never hit 5th gear anyway, so there's no real difference. Just make sure you're in "D" on the highway or you'll be getting Tundra mileage.

 

Did that myself when I first got the truck.

50,000kms later and no issues.


Unless you count me draining my tranny...


and attempting to refill it via the radiator...