GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

Hi Folks, greetings from hot, humid, Toronto, Canada. I have just purchased a 2005 AWD Vibe and I love this car apart from a few small problems (clicking noise from passenger wheel, roof rack cover flying off on the highways (replaced two already and only had the car 6 weeks). I do have one question and please forgive me for sounding dumb (but I am blonde!). I realize the O/D button is for a burst of speed when you need it and it should be off when driving normal speeds, but when I start my engine do I have to click on the O/D button to show that the "O/D off light" on my dash or do I just start my engine and away I go? I find that when I'm driving in the city I click the O/D button on and have the O/D light showing on the dashboard. Hope this makes sense to someone as I don't want to be doing the wrong thing with this O/D button and damaging my transmission.

Welcome to GenVibe! When you start the car the OD is always on and the dash light is off. You can just start and go. When you want to turn the OD off you push the button and the dash light comes on. Kinda opposite of what you would think it should be.

When you first start your car, it is in O/D. This is what you want it to be in for 99% of your driving. Some of us use it for slowing down of interstate's and such. I'm sure some of the towers use it. I don't tow anything so I can say for certain.**Guess I'm a slow typer as BC beat me to it lolWelcome to GenVibe btw!!

When you first start your car, it is in O/D. This is what you want it to be in for 99% of your driving. Maybe 99.9%. Even in overdrive the trans will drop to a lower gear if you floor it for a burst of speed.

Don't forget that your O/D on saves you gas at speeds over 35 to 40 mph by allowing lower engine revs. The best time to turn O/D off is when you are towing a heavy trailer... carrying a lot of cargo or climbing a long hill. Defeating (turning O/D off) will help keep your transmission from "hunting" back and forth between third and fourth gears continuously under high load situations. Like previous advice, in normal driving, your automatic will know when to kick down a gear or two when you push the "go pedal" to pass. So, you really shouldn't have to turn O/D off in most cases.

Welcome. It seems like everyone else answered all your questions, so I would just be repeating them.

Thank you so much for your quick response to my question. I have never driven a car with an O/D button and was doing it all wrong - I was pushing the O/D button so that when I was normal driving the O/D light was showing on my dashboard. Many thanks again. This is a great site.

The transmission is a 4 speed automatic... Drive is 3rdOVERdrive is 4thyou can see 2 and 1 on the shifter.. Hitting the O/D button allows you to stay in 3rd gear... you can easily test it all out buy running up to a steady highway speed and shutting O/D off... You can actually shift the car manually, using the O/D button, 2 and 1... I use it all the time in the winter, to help slow the car without using the brakes.. Speaking of brakes, do yourself a favor and get some snow tires for the car, it will help A LOT...

While there have been some perfectly legitimate uses of the O/D off button mentioned, the most common use for me is descending long grades. This allows the engine to hold your speed without having to ride the brakes all the way down the hill/mountain. For lower speeds and steeper grades it may be useful to gear down further to second or first gear.PlatinumVibe08