It was for the driver’s convenience and the only vehicles that I drove with factory throttles had manual transmissions. I specifically recall a 1960 Ford Galaxy, a 1960 Ford Ranchero, a 1961 Ford Falcon wagon, more than a dozen early 50s to mid 60s Chevrolet pickups and medium duty trucks. Every school bus that I drove in the 60s had a hand throttle.
“2008 Expedition.
Why? To save fuel and pollution.”
Robert, your responses (quoted above) point out an obvious contradiction that we’ve discussed before. If you feel compelled to save fuel and pollution, you’re driving the wrong vehicle.
Re: the question of whether it can be adjusted to slowly accelerate to maintain speed…it already is. But at some point, in order to muster enough power to pull that enormous brick up the slope at a continuous speed, the engine has to get into a better place in its power curve…it simp[y needs to downshift. That’s just the way it is. No way around it other than to not use the cruise control. You cannot adjust it to sccelerate slower when it’s in cruise and needs more power.
Downshifting does not mean wasting gas. You waste more gas below the powerband curve than you do when you’re in the sweet spot of the powerband. Your car knows this, even if you don’t, and is adjusting things to keep the engine in its most power-efficient range when acceleration is required.
That said, your responses make it pretty obvious that you intend to do this, and you just want us to tell you “sure, it’s fine, nothing bad could ever happen, do it,” which we are not going to do.
The good news is that even though you’re going to try to do it anyway, you’ll be stopped when you discover that your vehicle has an electronic throttle control rather than a cable.
Don’t even think about it…A decent hand throttle must be engineered into the throttle linkage to avoid interfering with normal throttle action…A gerry-rigged throttle is asking for disaster…
If you don’t want to or can’t DRIVE your vehicle, then move over to the right-hand seat and let someone else drive it…
Try this - take your transmission out of overdrive if the shifting bothers you so much, then it’ll be less likely to downshift on hills. But I’d just live with it.
Shoving aside the fact that it’s just a bad idea what would you connect a cable to anyway; the foot pedal? The vehicle has drive by wire.
"Shoving aside the fact that it's just a bad idea what would you connect a cable to anyway; the foot pedal? The vehicle has drive by wire."Suspected it was electronic throttle but did not know. Wish that I could connecthe choke cable to push the accelerator pedal such that depressing the brake would release the accelerator.
The automatic transmission downshifting doesn’t hurt anything. That’s what it’s for. You might want to get your vehicle checked to see if it has a problem though. It sounds like you have some kind of power loss that forces your transmission to downshift.
Have you done other modifications on this vehicle that might have damaged it? You aren’t over-inflating your tires or abusing this vehicle by driving it 100 MPH, are you? If so, you definitely want to have this vehicle checked out ASAP.
A throttle lock might not even solve your problem. Your transmission might still downshift if the throttle is locked.
For one thing, you’re not going to do that, there’s no place to put it on electronic throttle control.
For another thing…the transmission WILL downshift even so. Even with constant rpm applied, when there is drag present ( up hill, towing heavy, head wind ) the transmission WILL down shift. ( and our big Expeditions tend to create a lot of drag anyway by virtue of their size and weight )
The ONLY way to prvent downshift is to NOT use cruise or constant throttle pressure. YOU ease off the pressure to allow gradual slow down at such a rate that the transmission does not sense the need to downshift.
YOU ease off the pressure to allow gradual slow down at such a rate that the transmission does not sense the need to downshiftThank you. That is exactly what I do as the load starts to increase. I have no issue with it downshifting - perfectly understood.
My complaint is Cruise Control trying to maintain set speed at all costs - which means fuel waste.
My manual throttling (foot on accelerator) has managed to attain 20.2 mpg according to the odometereadout.
Handicap drivers sometimes have hand controls for the accelerator and brake. The accelerator doesn’t lock in place but with this set up you can find a way. With electronic throttle control the accelerator pedal is the only thing you will be able to attach a mechanical device to.
I doubt this will work as well as using your right foot.
My impression is that you believe that connecting the cable such that pressing the brake will release the accelerator will make your cable hookup safe and functional. It will not. Your engine is operated using sophosticated electronic systems. You cannot hook up a cable to the throttle in any manner whatsoever that will make this work. I urge you not to play with your accelerator system.
If you insist that shifting is bothering you, follow Texases’ advice and don’t put the shifter into overdrive. But be aware that this will negate your other goal of saving gas. You’ll use even more than you already do…and on an Expedition it’ll be a lot.
Robert gift wants to save fuel ???
AM I ON CANDID CAMERA ?
You may have taken some time off from posting here BUT you’re the guy who complained that your ( & my ) Expedition wouldn’t top 100 mph !
What a difference a little vacation makes :))
I want overdrive. Most of the time thExpedition is in Overdrive because I keep the load at a minimum.
Yes, Nevada, as an (AAA) driver instructor in college, I taught hand controls and usually drove the vehicle using them. Would be nice to use the hand controlever to replace my foot on the accelerator to keep a steady throttle.
Doesn’t the computer limit maximum speed on late model vehicles to well under 100 mph?
Though not the choke cable you have in mind, Have you checked to mobility adaption places recently ?
With todays technology spread widely over the industry I’ve gotta bet there realy is a hand control kit in existance which would still allow foot control too.
I can envision an all eletronic joy stick style control for these drive by wire vehicles.
True, Ken, but he IS consistant about wanting to save gas…in his Expedition…at 100 mph.
I guess we all have conflicting goals in some area. Me, I’d like to spend like a drunken gambler and still pay all my bills.
Rod Knox,
yes, the Expedition is computer limited.
I can smoothly and easily get to 100 and it feels like the vehicle could just keep right on accelerating with ease.
THEN , at 102 ( indicated ), I feel an ignition miss and loss of throttle response until I slow down some.
'round these parts it’s a pretty bad idea to drive that fast because of the road surfaces not being suited for such. ( I’ll bet they do that on purpose ) AND the Expedition not very well suited either except under perfect conditions. I’ve only experimented with this a few times to completly learn the truck’s perameters.
I too have this “problem” with my Vic…It ONLY happens when driving in C.C. in hilly country, specifically, going uphill at high speeds…At high elevation, (Colorado) 20% of the engines power is lost so the transmission must make up for the lost power by increasing the engines RPM where adequate power is available… At least when controlling the throttle yourself, you KNOW when the downshift is going to occur…A hand throttle will accomplish nothing other than to force you to turn on your flashers as a slow-moving vehicle. Driving in the mountains takes extra fuel. Live with it…
"You may have taken some time off from posting here BUT you're the guy who complained that your ( & my ) Expedition wouldn't top 100 mph !"Not complaining. This Expedition does exceed 100 mph. Seems governed at 103. And on slight downgrades rolls even faster.
But on the return from emergentransports I’m usually 50 to 55 mph in 65 mph zones trying to make up for the terrible fueloss.
A steady throttle would be.st.