Won't shift out of first gear.......

[Z66 Butch]

Hi guys, I am researching for my son and daughter-in-law. Friday on the way home from work her 1991 Explorer started running real crappy and it happened all at once. Saturday they brought it out to my garage, the family workshop and he started messing with it. He found the vacuum block where it looked like a line had popped off. My other son came out and they were both out there and somehow another vacuum line got broke. Well they never found where the lines went and just capped them at the block. He went ahead and put new plugs in it and took it a test drive. Reported that it was running great and they headed home.

Well wouldn't you know it.........first thing this morning my daughter-in-law called and said the Explorer would not shift out of first gear! I immediately thought that that one vacuum line must have came off of the modulator valve and it would be an easy fix. My son said he spent all afternoon under it and finely determined that the vacuum line was in fact attached at the modulator valve.

The vacuum schematic is of no use because it only shows two lines from that block and it looks like there should be four!

I did do a search and found no cure for not shifting out of first gear. It worked and shifted fine Saturday after he worked on it so any ideas of what the problem is and a cure?

Great idea for a 911 on this fourm!

Butch

 

[Glacier991]

A no shift out of first in many cases is a stuck governor... do a search using "governor" and you will find a lot of info about it. However the proximity timewise to the vacuum issue certainly points, as you suggested, to the vacuum line to the modulator - the only vacuum connection to the transmission. Do they in fact have vacuum at the modulator connection? From what you said it wasn't clear that the line might have been connected to the modulator but not to the vacuum tree (sometimes called the octopus).

 

[Z66 Butch]

That is correct, we do not know if the vacuum lines missing from the "octopus" even go to the modulator or if it even has one. That is just what came to my mind as I had had that problem with a older car in the past. The kicker in this is that the Explored DID shift fine right after he capped those openings from the octopus! It was two days later that it would not shift. I will go search for governor.

Thanks, Butch

 

[Glacier991]

By the way, some of those ports did not have lines, just caps.....You can get replacements at Autozone, Kragen, Pep Boys etc....

 

[Josh]

If the vacum line is missing off the modualtor it will shift but at very high rpms. Also when you let off it will down shift. This is what my truck did when it backfired and blew off the vacum line to the tranny. If you havent already located the modulator, its behind a plate next to the CAT passenger side. Its an L shaped bracket I think. Also, I believe there is a hard line(Metal) that has a softline connecting it to the manifold. That is the tranny line. Also, make sure there is no trans fluid in that line. if there is, its time for a new modulator.

 

[BauerOnDubs]

it's also a good idea to check for vacuum at the tranny, not check for a connection at the "octopus". That would be my guess aswell. I'm sure it shifts eventually, it's just that most people don't like needling the thing to get it to kick.

 

[Josh]

. I'm sure it shifts eventually, it's just that most people don't like needling the thing to get it to kick.

Those were the symptoms of my experience and not a suggestion to go out and try it.

 

[Glacier991]

it's also a good idea to check for vacuum at the tranny, not check for a connection at the "octopus". That would be my guess as well.

I wasn't clear.... that is the suggestion... pull the tubing from the modulator and see if you have vacuum there, at the modulator connection.

 

[WPM55]

That is correct, we do not know if the vacuum lines missing from the "octopus" even go to the modulator or if it even has one. That is just what came to my mind as I had had that problem with a older car in the past. The kicker in this is that the Explored DID shift fine right after he capped those openings from the octopus! It was two days later that it would not shift. I will go search for governor.

Thanks, Butch

Those were the symptoms of my experience

 

[WPM55]

But mine controls the shifting with solenoids. Anyone had that problem?

 

[RangerX]

But mine controls the shifting with solenoids. Anyone had that problem?

This thread was about a Gen1, yours is a Gen4. I would suggest you start a thread with this question in the Gen4 section for best help.