Power drive light question....

[RaistlinM]

Hello all, thanks for all the great info out there, it's been a big help and tremendous money saver up to this point. My Power drive light has recently quit on me....Now, I think that I understand this to be used mainly for towing (which I don't do), but the OCD in me wants to make sure I don't have any problems with this vehicle as I'm about to make a trip across the US. Is there any way I can tell if I just have a burnt light or identify this as a different problem? Thanks for reading. Any help would be appreciated.

[amigo-2k]

You can pull the switch and see if it needs to be cleaned out (spilled soad or coffee may of gummed it up).

[trooperbc]

Originally Posted by RaistlinM

Hello all, thanks for all the great info out there, it's been a big help and tremendous money saver up to this point. My Power drive light has recently quit on me....Now, I think that I understand this to be used mainly for towing (which I don't do), but the OCD in me wants to make sure I don't have any problems with this vehicle as I'm about to make a trip across the US. Is there any way I can tell if I just have a burnt light or identify this as a different problem? Thanks for reading. Any help would be appreciated.

like amigo said, take the switch out and have a look.

but the Power drive isn't just a towing thing; all it does is change the shift points so that you stay longer in a lower gear before upshifting. this can be helpful on hilly areas, or even just around town if you like to 'drive' and get a feeling of a little more acceleration. for tough hill towing and for hill climbing where your trans keeps hunting back and forth then it's usually better to manually downshift to 3 third.
btw, there's no problem using the Power mode in the lower gears. it is not an overload to your transmission or your engine since it only shifts those shift points by vehicle speed, and not a great deal. although you might notice a change in gas mileage.

it should be easy enough to tell by looking at the tach and speedometer whether your Power mode is working. try it on a open stretch both with and without the button pushed and see at what speed it shifts.

//bc