1988 Mercury Cougar 5.0 V8 Transmission/Shifting Question.?
I recently bought at 1988 Mercury Cougar 5.0L V8
All of the work done on the car was done by a Mercury dealership by the previous owner.
---- A few things that I have noticed as I have drove it is that it doesnt shift until 3500+ RPM's.
---- The car does have a shift kit but im not sure when it was done. I am looking at the fuel mileage. I am aware that its a 5.0L V8 and yes, its going to love the flavor of gas but lately ive been getting around 12mpg (City) and 17mpg (Highway). The Government fuel economy for it is supposed to be 16 city 18 combined and 23 highway. I have tried the slow start offs and early breaking but with the same or worse results.
----- So my first question is would it be better to floor the car and allow it to shift into second gear at 3500 RMPs or continue to go slow and let it stay at the high RMPs for long periods of time? The car shifts from first to second at 30mph so in other words creep slowly to 30mph while my RPMs stay around 3200 or quickly get it into second gear so the engine doesnt run at such high RPMs so long. Im not really sure how to explain it? Im aware that normally a car/truck will shift around 2000-3000RPMs on slow take offs which save you a nice amount of gas.
----- My second question is that my gear box? (PRNDL3) all of the gears on the dash are off by one so if I want to be in drive I have to put the gear in what would appear to be neutral. Would this be caused by the shift kit? Could this shift kit be the reason for shifting at such high RMPs?
----------SPECIFICS----------
1988 Mercury Cougar
8 cyl, 5.0 L
Automatic 4-spd
Regular Gasoline
Rear Wheel Drive
I recently bought at 1988 Mercury Cougar 5.0L V8
All of the work done on the car was done by a Mercury dealership by the previous owner.
---- A few things that I have noticed as I have drove it is that it doesnt shift until 3500+ RPM's.
---- The car does have a shift kit but im not sure when it was done. I am looking at the fuel mileage. I am aware that its a 5.0L V8 and yes, its going to love the flavor of gas but lately ive been getting around 12mpg (City) and 17mpg (Highway). The Government fuel economy for it is supposed to be 16 city 18 combined and 23 highway. I have tried the slow start offs and early breaking but with the same or worse results.
----- So my first question is would it be better to floor the car and allow it to shift into second gear at 3500 RMPs or continue to go slow and let it stay at the high RMPs for long periods of time? The car shifts from first to second at 30mph so in other words creep slowly to 30mph while my RPMs stay around 3200 or quickly get it into second gear so the engine doesnt run at such high RPMs so long. Im not really sure how to explain it? Im aware that normally a car/truck will shift around 2000-3000RPMs on slow take offs which save you a nice amount of gas.
----- My second question is that my gear box? (PRNDL3) all of the gears on the dash are off by one so if I want to be in drive I have to put the gear in what would appear to be neutral. Would this be caused by the shift kit? Could this shift kit be the reason for shifting at such high RMPs?
----------SPECIFICS----------
1988 Mercury Cougar
8 cyl, 5.0 L
Automatic 4-spd
Regular Gasoline
Rear Wheel Drive