its normal. in overdrive you have that extra gear that helps lower rpm. drop that gear and you gain some rpms. Completely normal. drive is mainly for towing,or like other people said already. They like that the rpms are a little higher and in a better part of the power curve. aka a lil preppier in throttle response.

 

a habit I picked up driving Mopars, once the engine is running drop the trans in Neutral. Let it warm up 10-30 seconds before dropping in R or OD.

On a mopar, the pump doesn't pressurize the system until you leave Park. So the trans is cold even if the engine is at operating temp. I know GM's work differently, but I do it anyway

 

a habit I picked up driving Mopars, once the engine is running drop the trans in Neutral. Let it warm up 10-30 seconds before dropping in R or OD.

On a mopar, the pump doesn't pressurize the system until you leave Park. So the trans is cold even if the engine is at operating temp. I know GM's work differently, but I do it anyway

 

My seccond gear seems to stay in two and not drop to first, even from a dead start. Third will shift down and I thik it's my drive and the d is my od.

 

That's correct. 2 will hold the transmission in 2nd gear, and the same goes for 1st. 3 is the same as D in the older Blazers like mine.

 

not sure about this but heard that driving in od in the city will wear out the yoke and you'll soon be getting a clunking when the gears change.

 

I can't see how. Your yoke sees the same wear either way. It does not know what gear you are in.

I have always shut off the electronic over drive when tooling around town. More than one trans expert has told me that overdrive is the weakest link in most transmissions. I have found that it just switches in and out of od when I use it around town anyway. I do this in my F150 and my Tercel but our Blazer does not have an electronic overdrive so I just put it in drive and go. So the older Blazers have an od button?

 

Hope Im not hijacking, but my 02 blazer has a 4 speed automatic transmission, and on the dash it has 1 2 3 D. I believe selecting 1-3 will lock out all other gears- so is D the only way to get to OD on my tranny? Is 4th gear the same as OD?

 

Yes. 4th is OD. 3rd is a 1:1 ratio, and 4th is the overdrive gear. While you could technically call it a 4 speed, it's more of a three speed automatic with overdrive.

Although nobody calls a 5-speed stick shift a 4 speed with overdrive. So, it's really just semantics, I guess.

 

none of the blazers have an overdrive button but by putting it in the highest gear selection you are putting it in overdrive.