Manual Mode

[Christiank22]

Does someone wanna explain to me why when I put my truck in "manual" mode and keep it in 6th it holds the gear way better uphill than it does in drive? I thought the manual mode just limited the number of gears used, like if I put it in 4th it only uses gears 1-4

[MikeNH]

Never noticed that in my 2011. All M mode does is exactly as you wrote.

[Btuggle88]

i use manual when i am in the mountains to keep from the constant shifting but never really tried it in sixth, sharp truck kinda jealous of the lift thats my next project.

[Christiank22]

Thanks a lot! Might sell it this summer for a 14 or 15 6.2, but I don't wanna start all over haha! And yeah I was pretty confused on why it made a difference, it's not in my head either because on my drive back to school today there are hills where I always have to shift on and now it stayed in gear the entire time.

[SILVERADOSC540]

I know that tow/haul mode will hold gears longer, not sure about manual mode

[mike94silverado]

Curious about this too as it would be nice to use this feature more often (still chuckle that probably 90% of people who have these trucks and have tried it are probably tapping the button to "shift" lol)

[MikeNH]

I think it may be an imagined difference honestly. All manual mode does is enable you to lock out gears. Like I've said, unless I'm getting on the highway and don't plan to stop till I need gas I use M4 or M5 till I reach the highway and once to speed I select M6 and it drives like I'm in D.

[Christiank22]

I thought it may be imagined, but there were truthfully hills were it always shift into 5th and it didn't this go around. I do live in ND so wind is almost always a factor when I'm driving, so maybe there was a lot less wind on this drive. I also noticed my gas mileage was a lot better. I used to get 10mpg or so at 80mph and I got 12.4-12.6 at 80 Friday... It was really weird. When I head home I'm going to do a little test run and go up a hill about 2 miles from my house in both drive and M6 and see if there is a difference. Also while I'm in Fargo, since there's really no hills in the eastern 1/5 of ND I'll drive a stretch of road in drive and M6 and watch the gas mileage on both.

[Big Whiskey]

I also think it was imagined. Unless you just got some really good gas, and had the wind behind you, lol. It really shouldn't have any effect, other than locking out gears.

[SILVERADOSC540]

 

Curious about this too as it would be nice to use this feature more often (still chuckle that probably 90% of people who have these trucks and have tried it are probably tapping the button to "shift" lol)

I thought that was what the button is for, hence the term "manual mode" to shift manually, up or down. While it does offer a top gear limit feature, it also offers a "manual mode", that allows the user to shift manually through the gears, shifting at whatever rpm he or she desires...Also offers rev matching on downshifts.

[Christiank22]

Well, after my little gas mileage "test" the results are about identical, with the Drive mode actually having slightly better gas mileage 14.6 in M6 and 14.8 in D at 56mph on the freeway and 35mph in town driving. There are no elevation changes on the freeway though, so I suppose it's to be expected that they are similar. Still confused on why I held so much better going up hills in M6...