Nina, my 96 Jeep had the same idiot light. Supposedly these are shift points
for maximum fuel economy. I found, in my car, that the only time I could make
those shifts were when I was on level or slightly declining ground and I was
alone in the car with no other people or cargo. If those things happened then
those shift points were fine. Any other circumstances and the engine would bog
down.
BTW my idiot light would retrigger at ~4k RPM, perhaps it was another
suggestion of when to shift.
My advice to you is to either stop looking at the shift light, or put the tape
back over it.
On Fri, Nov 10, 2000 at 12:43:36PM -0800, Nina Barton profoundly declared:
> Hi List,
> I have always driven my MGB, and other cars, in the following
> manner. Start from stop, rev up to what seems an appropriate level
> (usually 3500 or so in the BGT), shift, rev up to somewhere around the same
> level, shift again, etc. I recently had problems with the troop carrier (a
> 93 Saturn) which turned out to be that the bulb on the dash showing optimal
> shift for premium gas mileage had burned out. I didn't know it was there,
> as the previous owner had taped over it. It has now been uncovered, and
> besides being a pain in the a**, I notice that it suggests that I shift
> from first to second around 3000 Rpm, second to third at 2500 Rpm, and
> third to fourth at 2100 Rpm. Why? It seems like I'm not going fast enough
> in the car when the shift light comes on, much of the time, and it goes
> against my whole driving style. If one of the knowledgeable people on this
> list could explain why lugging your engine is good for the car, I'd like to
> know. Thanks, Nina
>
--
James Nazarian
71 MGB roadster
71 MGBGT (the one that is supposed to be a v8)
01 Impreza 2.5RS
"Given a conflict, Murphy's law supercedes Newton's."
-Anon
"Nothing good has ever been reported about the full rotation
of a race car about either its pitch or roll axis."
-Carroll Smith
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