Tranny finally got me?

[B94Sport]

Well I knew that posting about how well my tranny runs and all of that kind of stuff would jinx me eventually, and now it seems that my time has come. My A4LD has 121,000 miles on it. As some of you know, 2 weekends ago I did some tranny work and replaced the reverse servo O-rings, vacuum modulator, re-torqued the valve body body bolts, and replaced the filter...

Today I began the drive to work, turned onto a street and drove the way I always do... Suddenly I realized that it did not feel right. I looked down at the tach and the engine was redlining! (It's never been above 4500 RPM when I floor it, and this was just regular driving and it hit 5000.) I took my foot off the gas lightly and it shifted to second gear... Watched the tach, and it did the same thing - redlined, took my foot off of the gas, and it shifted... The other gears were fine. This problem is only occuring during shifting out of first and second. I do not know what the problem could be. Kickdown cable? I can't imagine that it would just all of a sudden start causing shifting problems. Yesterday everything worked flawlessly. Cold tranny? I don't know... Any input is appreciated. I will see how it shifts when I leave work today.

Details:
With selector in Over Drive, the tranny

• Redlines in first gear, upshifts when I let off of the gas
• Redlines in second gear, upshifts when I let off of the gas
• Shifts normally out of third gear and into fourth
• Downshifts normally when braking and at a complete stop

If I select first gear with the gear selector, the gear engages fine. If I select second gear, it also engages fine but I am not sure that the shift from first to second is okay because I could not drive that fast in the parking lot. Selecting Drive, Over Drive, Park, Neutral, and Reverse all work.

 

[J. Kennedy]

same thing

same thing just happened to me. search my recent posts. I never let it go above 3500 rpm tho.

check the play in your kickdown cable if you have one ( I did not) otherwise, pucker up and kiss $2500 goodbye.

I hope its not that bad.

 

[88vert]

Does it shift fine when the tranny fluid is warm?

 

[B94Sport]

I am not sure yet about tranny function at a warmer fluid temp yet. I will find out this afternoon when I leave work... Yes, I do have a kickdown cable.

 

[88vert]

Mine does the same thing,but when the fluid warms up it is fine

 

[B94Sport]

Well that is reassuring... At least I may not need to blow 2 grand. We'll see how it does this afternoon. It was about 34 degrees outside last night.

 

[88vert]

Mine really has been doing that for three years

 

[Opera House]

I'll have to think about that

If it was just the 1-2 shift, I'd say it's time to pull out the govenor. Besides the kickdown, these problems sorta point to the vacuum modulator you replaced. Did you blow out the vacuum line to the modulator? The modulator has a small internal orfice. If some old oil came down with gunk and clogged it, you might get these symptoms. Just speculation based on this being connected to the work done. Hope the kickdown cable just fell off. Had you removed it?

 

[B94Sport]

I have never touched the kickdown cable, although I did adjust the throttle cable slack at the pedal about 3 years ago. Could that finally be causing problems?

 

[Opera House]

I thought you had said

you dropped the transmission down a little bit to get at the vacuum modulator. Maybe you got a little dirt in the VM on the second try. You sure you got the filter up there tight? One other guy had shifting problems and he found out his filter has dropped down and he was sucking air. Didn't use the little spacer.

 

[B94Sport]

No... I removed the panel in the floor to get at the VMV... The only thing I dropped was the pan when I checked the valve body bolt torques, replaced the filter, and replaced the reverse servo O-rings. I did use the spacer and made sure that it was tight.

 

[Opera House]

OK, I've thought

You said that you adjusted the vacuum modulator to shift higher than normal. So now you have a higher spring tension and it takes more vacuum. So any leak, those vacuum hoses were oil soaked, could cause a problem and I'm still concerned about oil in the vacuum line slowly dripping back into that orifice. Also the aluminum spool valve just behind the VM might have some dirt and sticking. With the higher spring pressure, there would be less force to move it. Really think the problem is associated with that valve. Anyway, now that you are a tramsmission expert, you can do the valve body. Boingggggg...... Be carefull if you ever take that apart. At least it's not a hard parts problem. I think you'll look and find something obvious.

 

[B94Sport]

I will check it out if it ever stops raining here...

I drove it some more, tranny fluid temp was 84 degrees and it still did the same thing... But now that I am paying more attention to it, it seems like the gears are only partially engaging, if that makes sense. Driving in first and second gear, it feels like the engine is just revving and revving but not transferring that power to the wheels... Like I have a whole lot less horsepower or torque than I did two days ago when it all worked fine. Also, it seems like the tranny wants to shift when it should, but does not fully shift... Example: I held it at 4,000 RPM in second gear and watched my speed actually drop like whatever gear attaches to the driveshaft had disengaged from the gear that attaches to the engine but not yet engaged the next higher gear that it was supposed to move to. (I do not know how these things work so I apologize if I am sounding dumb ). As for the kickdown cable, I checked it at the pedal and the tip of it is sticking out about 4 inches from the pedal... I am not sure if that is how it always was or not. I pulled on it and it did not move though, so I am guessing it is not broken. During today's drive to work I further perfected driving my new manual/auto Explorer though... I figured out that if I do not let it rev very high before taking my foot off of the gas, it is more likely to shift to the next gear... It is like the RPMs have to drop to a certain point once I take my foot off of the gas in order for the tranny to shift to the next gear.

Still no clunk into reverse though

 

[Runnin'OnEmpty]

Ray, did you replace that little pin that came out with the old modulator valve? The new valve dosen't come with a new pin, and they are very easy to lose.

 

[B94Sport]

Yes I did replace it.

 

[B94Sport]

Hmm... Just got curious and went out to check the kick down cable again... I pressed on the gas pedal while holding the portion of the cable that is behind the top of the pedal (the part that heads out through the firewall)... To my amazement, the kick down cable did not move at all! Shouldn't it be moving? I pressed the pedal all the way to the floor and it did nothing. Is there some way that the cable is physically attached to the pedal, or should it just be pulled so far back that there is no room for the spring to move?

Would an immobile kick down cable be causing my problems described above?

 

[B94Sport]

Last night I went through the procedure to readjust the kickdown cable, and that did nothing... Tried Zip ties on the kick down cable to get rid of the slack (in stages), and that also did nothing (actually made it worse). As a last ditch effort, I turned the screw on the VMV waaaay out (past the factory calibrated normal setting) and removed the superchip (thinking that it could be malfunctioning)... Again, that did nothing. The truck will still go to 5000 RPM in first and second gear if I let it.

Well I am taking it in for the new exhaust system on Tuesday morning, and it just so happens that this place I am taking it to also does transmissions, and they are very honest and knowledable. I will have them drive it and see what they think of the situation.

 

[Opera House]

You got the weekend still

I don't know how easy it was to get at the VM through the carpets but I would sure pull it out and get in there with a tweezers and see if I could move the aluminum piston. Just move it 1/4 inch, don't pull it out. Wouldn't be hard for something to get in there and make it stick. Worth a try before you go to the shop. Never could get an answer out of the shops when I went around. They just said you need a rebuild. I must drive like an old lady. I can't remember when I've ever had mine taching over 3K.

 

[Runnin'OnEmpty]

B94, this sounds too simple, but check to see that you are getting vacuum to the modulator. You can pull the hose off with the engine at idle to check it.

 

[B94Sport]

Just got back from the shop. I had them put on my new exhaust (Mandrel bent 2 1/4" pipe throughout, Dynomax Super Turbo muffler, SS tip under bumper - $300), and I had them check out the tranny... The guy came back and said that 9 times out of 10, it is a failed servo that is causing all of my problems. This makes sense to me, and they want about $200 to fix it. Tranny experts - opinions?