Question regarding Toyota pickups

[Xkavar]

I've got an '86 Toyota 2WD pickup, in very good condition, purchased in March of this year. (Gotta love senior citizens who take care of their vehicles.)

It's an automatic, and on the shift there's a button marked as "Overdrive". I was told to push that button in when I'm going 60 mph or higher on a freeway and it'll put more power into the engine. Is this true, or am I wrecking my truck?

 

[topi]

Yea something like that. Im not to sure on autos, but in a freinds Rav4, you press overdrive and the revs drop for a slight acceleration increase when cruising at high speeds.

 

[DoctorP]

Actually overdrive is like having another gear. Usually when the button is depressed, (pushed in) the car will automatically shift into overdrive after a certain speed is reached. This gear is a little lower and will save you gas while driving by not working the engine so hard. If you take the truck out of overdrive it will shift back into the correct gear giving you more power. Try accelerating through the gears from a stop once with the button pressed and once with it out and you should see what I mean. With it pressed, you should feel the transmission shift one extra time into a lower gear. Hope this helped! :?

 

[Xkavar]

Actually, that makes sense now. Whenever I pushed out the button as I decelerated to an intersection, the engine would always seem to kick up into a higher gear and the truck would lurch forward a bit.

It does help. Thanks for the info. Been looking all over the net for some help!