FAQ: Hold Button

[UltraMagnus]

I was not sure where to post this but on my 96 mx3 auto, there is a second button on the shifter
I have never seen more than just the shift unlocker before
so far I have found that its useless, I would mod it to shoot N02 but only babys are bottle fed

[Savin]

That button is probably the "Hold" button. It holds your car in whatever gear it is in when you press it. Its pretty much used to stop it from going into overdrive and such.

[Nd4SpdSe]

That button is probably the "Hold" button. It holds your car in whatever gear it is in when you press it. Its pretty much used to stop it from going into overdrive and such.

Ya, exactly

The Hold button is used to lock into a specific gear. Your automatic has 4 speeds. As well, your shifter has 3 options, D, S & L:

D - Hold locks tranny in 3rd, downshifts to 2nd from a dead stop.
S - Hold's tranny in 2nd
L - Hold's tranny in 1st

Essentially you can engage HOLD and shift like a faux-manual, but the tranny doesn't like that.

Hold is good for forcing a downshift and locking it in that gear when going uphill, especially in scenarios where your at the point where it wants to constantly hunt for a gear (shift up and down), so it'll stop the tranny from hunting for gears. New cars can have an option like O/D Off, it disables the Overdrive gear (typically 4th). I used it in a rental v6 Mustang because it kept up and downshifting on some hills where the torque was high in 3rd, but because of the hi-revs, it shifted to 4th, but in 4th gear it's too low for enough power to get up the hill, so it shifted to 3rd again, and repeat the cycle

For those who drive in the snow, it's handy to downshift and using the compression of the motor to slow the car down rather than using the brakes (especially if you don't have ABS). As well, you can lock it in 2nd for starting in second gear so you don't spin the tires as much when starting off.

You can try to engage hold but if it will go out of the RPM range (beyond redliine) if you engage it, it'll know and disengage it. You can force it, but catch it quck before you blow or break your motor.