How do I drive an automatic?

[CptClinac]

Ok. nearly one year on. Time for an update.
History --- I am old and crusty, driven manuals for all my life. almost exclusively 4 cyl.
My driving habits are well entrenched and hard to break. Add to this my car wants to take control from me and you have a recipe for an unhealthy relationship.

Fortunately my tired old brain is not yet expired and I have realised some interesting factors.
Lets start with 4 cyl vs 6 cyl. Drivers of manuals use audible keys to do gear change. They listen to their engines quite closely. The engine note is dependant on RPM but also on cylinder and stroke type. a 6 cyl 4str. does 3 bangs per rev while a 4 cyl 4str does 2 bangs per rev. Thus to my addled ears the engine was reving at 50% faster than actual.

Also with bad driving habbits, drivers tend to change down too late and under rev their engines. Releasing control to the A/T to do the change down makes lots of sense. I see the appropriate rev range is 1k8 to 3ksomething. My trying to run the truck at 2k was doomed !

I mentioned about the burst of power when the TC locks up. This can be explained by remembering that the diesel pump has a governor inside. When the revs drop on TC lock, the governor winds up the fuel.

All in all I am a convert to A/Ts and like the extra freedom to turn on the indicators or something when I would otherwise by shuffling through the gears, but still occasionally catch myself reaching for the stick or stamping at the empty floor ! ! !

Thanks all for your patience and understanding.
Dave

[taslucas]

Autos are great for 4x4ing. But your'e right, it takes a bit to learn how to drive them and how to get a feel for them. People that dont like them often feel that they slip and cant get the power to the ground but that is just the torque converter doing its thing.

Good to hear you're loving the truck again