driving uphills
 

just wondering,when driving uphills(mountain highway roads)is it good for your engine todrop downto 4th gearthen go to around75-80 mph @ 4500 rpm for a the lenght of the drive up to the top? give or take slowing down for cornering and other vehicles around. the reason i ask is when i start climbing up the hills on 5th gear,it would start to bog down to about 55-60 mph and it seems to hurt the engine so i decide to drop down to 4th and then it start to pick up but i'm afraid that it might overheat the engine. i would appreciate anyone's opinion/advice about this. thanks!

RE: driving uphills
 

It is far better to downshift than to lug the engine in top gear.

RE: driving uphills
 

This is a good point by Tex here...lugging the engine at any speed is not good for any engine...

RE: driving uphills
 

you could just do what i do, get going like 80-90 in fifth so you can have it at high RPM and make enough power to make it to the top, cops dont really like that though.

RE: driving uphills
 

thanks for the response guys, yeah i would normally do what you do live2rice, but halfway upthere i start to bog down especially those type of hills that gradually gets higher and steeper. then you notice your slipping away from everyone else but the 18 wheelers :D. so i figured i'd drop down and see if i could pick it up, and it does but i was just afraid to hurt the engine by overheating it. i did try it last night on I-90 and left the saturn ION coupe after he try to leave me on the uphill, man,when my rpm reach past 4500, that engine came alive! felt really good:) thanks again fellas!

RE: driving uphills
 

leave it in the lower gear...hondas autos now do that on their own...