I recently bought a great 96 Accord EX V6. I took it on a long drive this week and noticed that it didn't seem to shift into overdrive. I would accelerate to cruising speed, and get no drop in RPMs. My other cars with overdrive have a noticeable drop of a few hundred RPMs at cruising speed.

When I set the cruise at 78 MPH, the tachometer showed about 3200 RPMs. At 70 MPH, the tach read about 2900.

Are those normal RPMs for those speeds? If there is no overdrive kicking in, what could be the problem?

Thanks for any help!!!

 

That seems roughly correct.

 

Are you confusing overdrive with torque converter lockup? "Overdrive" is just another name for 4th gear. 4th gear can be locked or open depending on engine load, throttle position, etc.

 

After doing more research, I think I am confusing the two. I don't think I'm getting any lockup from the torque converter. It does need a transmission fluid change, so I'm going to try to take care of that today. If that does not fix the problem, are there any other suggestions on fixxing it?

Thanks.