How bad is it to drive around with a bad OD band?

Hi all,

Was driving home today and OD will either seem to work, or when it shifts to OD it will just neutral out, forcing me to shift down to D. It has 127K miles, I do the 1-d-1 shift once in a while, and stomp on the gas when its in OD.....searching all the posts I now realize THAT'S VERY BAD!

Anyway, I am planning on doing a T5 swap in the near future. My question now is, how long will the AOD last if I baby it and keep it in D? How hard is it to go down to Autozone and change the band( assuming its the OD band) myself until I can get the T5? I have read driving on a burnt band will lead to slushbox guts littering the street with transfluid and internals.......

Finally, does anyone feel like giving away their complete T5 set up and shipping it to me in Hawaii?

Any input would be great and helpful.

Aloha!

Thanks for the info...I will check it out today. I get the feeling tho, that since it DOES shift to OD, but just revs once it gets there, just like its in neutral, it may not be. I hope it is the grommet tho...