practical applications of the hold button

Hey guys - I have a hold button on my 06 aveo (automatic)..... i haven't used it once. My understanding is it 'holds' the gear you're in.

So.... does this mean, from zero mph, you could put the hold button on, then put the shifter in 1st, shift to 2nd, shift to drive (this is where 3rd is), then release the hold button for 4th gear? is this basically our ghetto version of techtonic (however you spell it) paddle shifting?

the manual states the hold button is practical, for example if you're stuck in snow for extra traction.

either way, i'm a little nervous about throwing out my auto tranny to touch it, i used to have a 89 honda prelude (4 wheel steering woot!) that had a 'sport' mode on the automatic that let you shift between 3rd and 4th gear, so i guess this is similar, but on the honda prelude it seemed more intuitive. the position of the hold button is odd, most cars that have this feature put it on the shifter stick somewhere.

From my limited experience using this function, I recall the trans staying in whatever gear your in when you push the button, not the gear shift. ex: Driving in second gear, press hold, stop car and try to take off, trans will be in second even if gear selector was in drive the whole time. I've only used this for winter driving so the trans doesn't down-shift going up a hill and cause the car to loose traction.

it's exactly how the OP says it works. The auto tranny is made by Aisin, a japanese company who makes darn good auto transmissions. If you're doing a lot of city driving that doesn't need 4th gear all that often, and want to get a bit more control, by all means use the HOLD. As long as you don't overrev the tranny (i.e. shift down at too high a speed which can ruin the torque converter and cook the tranny) you shouldn't hurt it using the hold function.

i have it in my 04. what the hell would i use it for? i dont know. but i like the pretty light that comes on up by the clock.

I wondered what it was used for too. It makes sense to use it while going up really long inclines (like the "Grape Vine" in Calif.). Where the car might just jump in and out of gear. And when you are in the sandy conditions or snow. That being said, I sometimes will redline her from the stop light. redline on each shift. A shift light would be nice. Not often just once in a while.

Victor

i dont believe it is meant, or good for, you to hold to redline. As they said before it's suppossed to be for inclines or limited traction situations. But if you still want to use it a lot, i would suggest getting a transmission cooler so you wont cook your tranny (or at least not as fast)

Oh I totally agree. It's not designed to sustain that kind of abuse. such is life.

every once in a while I have used it like the OP said....Ive also hit it by accident at a stop and took it all the way to fuel cut-out :shock: scary but the aveo is still going strong...i usually hold 1-2 and sometimes 3rd i think but by then i believe you hit 60 so I don't go any faster than that on side roads

Fuel cut wont hurt anything unless you try to hold it there. It is there so that nothing bad does happen.

I have a 'relate' that might help put the hold button in perspective. A while back I traded some parts for a V8 monza (GM H body) for another complete running old mans H body.

A plain brown 1978 sunbird 4cyl. 80 tired hp, Auto, Rwd. 2400lbs.

As you can imagine..the car is terribly terribly slow. Ran great, but holy smokes the thing was pissing every other car off. Like I was trying to go really slow.

I soon learned that just pressing the gas and waiting was not going to cut it.

The thing shifted gears fast for economy, but too slow for good acceleration so I soon learned I was going to have to take matters into my own hands.

Once I learned that I wasnt going to break anything driving this little iron 151ci 4cyl to its max, driving became somewhat normal and rather fun.

At a stoplight I'd drop the shifter down into L1. When it was time, I'd run the car up to 4,500 rpm in gear (much higher than the regular shift point).
I'd use the least pedal pressure possible, so as not to run the car to rich.
Then I'd pop the shifter to L2 and almost get a chirp from the rear wheels.

Again, running the rpms up until I dared no more, then slip, on into third gear.

The hold feature is essentially the same thing. As I was doing by holding the shifter in gear, until I felt it should be shifted.

Helped the car be much more fun to drive.

Downshifting worked well to, because the car also had non power brakes (no assist) ever drive an old car like that? And down shifting would slow the car much more smothly.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Monzaveo

At a stoplight I'd drop the shifter down into L1. When it was time, I'd run the car up to 4,500 rpm in gear (much higher than the regular shift point).
I'd use the least pedal pressure possible, so as not to run the car to rich.
Then I'd pop the shifter to L2 and almost get a chirp from the rear wheels.

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Not to nitpick and all, but on a carburated engine holding the throttle open wider than it needs to be makes it run lean not rich. Again, i'm just bugging and not trying to sound like a dick.

No problem Jib, but I think I'm not explaining it right.

I while holding the car in gear, I could have mashed the accelerator, past the point acceleration, opening the butterflies more than they needed to be with the tell-tale black smoke dumping out the exhaust.
That would indeed be driving it 'rich'

But thats just plain senseless.

I would only use as much pedal as the car would take, sometimes even backing off as the rev's climb higher and faster. than when you bogg the car out with a mashed accelerator.

Engines seems to respond more crisply, than when the gas pedal is over used.

So I call it running it lean, as opposed to running it rich, but it might not actually be lean.

Yeah, no prob. I know what you're talking about with keeping the throttle open just as much as it needs. On my old Suzuki GS400E motorbike, you can feel when the throttle is open too much and you seem to get more power riding just under that point.

Hi,
So, a few days ago I accidentally spilled some water.... well ok... it was a little more than some... on the shifter part of my car. Which is a 2010 Chevy Aveo. I cleaned up the water as fast as I could. Then the next day I was going about 40 mph and then my car started to shake as I was trying to go faster... Noticed the hold button light was on while I was trying to do the speed limit. But, I slowed down pressed the hold button, light went out and car was fine and I was able to drive... then the light comes on again real quick then goes out then goes on then out. Sometimes it would stay on but every time I would press the button real quick. I called the Chevy Dealership and spoke with them... They ask if i had a bunch of snow and/or ice build up around the tires and I said yes so they said take it through the carwash to see if that helps. I did just that... didn't work... then I called back and was finally able to tell them what happened. The guy I spoke with said it sounds like some of the water go to the button and to blare the heat for about an hour to try and dry out the button and to see if that works. I did just that! So from 6-7pm the heat was going full max- Then at 8:30pm I had to drive about 20 min to pick up my Boyfriend from work the light did not come back on while driving to get him and it didn't turn on driving home.... I haven't drove the car yet today- but could water getting to the button cause this? Oh. ps. one of the times when the Hold Button Light was freaking out my check engine light came on real quick flashed at me real quick and when away! But, when the car was shaking I did not try and push it only because the car was saying "Hey don't push me or something bad will happen." I'm just worried only because I've had the car for a little over a year paid a bit for it and I have a 4 year old with me too! And where we live it's a little to cold out to be walking because the car **** the bed! Any opinions??