Hey again everyone! I have a question about the 2 articles (commercial product site links redacted). They talk about how to protect and maintain a turbocharged engine so we can take care of our 2021 Ford Ranger(the 2.3 L 4-cylinder) and one thing they mention both that I am not understanding well is when they say "use your gear to overtake and not the turbo". How can I do it and if that work to in an automatic car? Thank you very much.
they say "use your gear to overtake and not the turbo".
Presumably they mean that they consider it preferable to downshift rather than getting deeper into turbocharger boost when passing.
How can I do it and if that work to in an automatic car?
If you have an automatic transmission similar to Rambler "Shift-Command" where gears can be selected manually, simply use your gear selector to downshift. Refer to your vehicle owner's manual for details.
@chucktobias accelerating slowly to pick up the speed?
That's certainly best for gas mileage but probably not what they were getting at. When passing someone, particularly on a 2-lane road, you want to do it quickly.
@chucktobias I am very sorry, but I still don't get it, how could I go fast in a lower gear?
By pressing the accelerator pedal.
@chucktobias so that mean that let say, I am in second gear and then I am trying to pass someone using the recommended speed of the gear? Personally , I always try to avoid passing people unless is an emergency, but it always good to know this,
You have to account for variables such as engine load, engine rpm, mechanical advantage of lower gears vs. rpm advantage of higher gears, your engine's power curve, road conditions, as well as current and desired road speed to arrive at the desired result. (This is something that most experienced manual transmission drivers do automatically without even consciously thinking about it.)
@chucktobias I'll see, thank you very much!
Most automatic transmissions these days are able to be shifted using paddle shifters or a conventional automatic. Automatic mode will do no real harm to the turbocharger, because the ECU automatically determines the correct gear ratio based on the engine's load, whether or not you're going uphill, etc. Revving high in a high gear ratio does a whole lot of next to nothing if you switch to manual mode, maintain a high gear ratio, and attempt to pass. You just spin the heck out of the turbocharger and it can overheat it. You downshift to increase torque (the force that pulls you back into your seat is torque, not horsepower, lower gear ratios enhance torque). You want to use the turbocharger as efficiently as possible.
My 2017 Mustang is an automatic with paddle shifters. Sometimes I'll paddle shift with Sport mode selected instead of leaving it in automatic mode. Generally, as the RPMs go up, you hit maximum torque before reaching the highest horsepower. I know more about torque curves, etc. than the average Joe, though.
A few years ago, I played a video game where you race with different kinds of Hummers. I gave myself a manual, and the computer's were all set to automatic. I wound up beating one of the computer-controlled Hummers by downshifting a gear right before the finish line. I came in first place. We were neck and neck, but I crossed the finish line with about half of my Hummer, first. Haha.
