Fox T-Bird/Cougar Forums

Technical => Drivetrain Tech => Topic started by: grutinator on October 11, 2009, 03:46:52 PM

Title: no 3rd-4th
Post by: grutinator on October 11, 2009, 03:46:52 PM
i got no 3rd or fourth in my blue bird. shifts one and two perfect, but will hold 2nd till about 50mph and then will act like its in nuetral. let off and at about 40 it will go back into second and drive fine. its almost like it tries to shift but there just isnt anymore gears left. i changed the 3-4 shaft out for a hardened one. i have trouble believing a messed that up, its a simple install and i compared both new and old shaft and they were dimensionally the same. i also swapped the converter for a high stall one. it was used which makes me a little leery of it. what would happen if you installed a non lock up converter into a lock up style trans? thats almost what i think happened. the converter was suppose to be this: TCI 433100 which is a lock up.

but the tv cable is set correct. it had 3 and 4 before all this. and its full of fluid. what does this sound like to you all?
Title: no 3rd-4th
Post by: ZondaC12 on October 11, 2009, 05:11:37 PM
Worst case clutches/bands have finally let go. Best case...you mighta messed up the valvebody gasket if you touched that at all. Now I didnt even have second gear but the second time I had my vb apart (to bump my shift kit up because it wouldnt yet chirp the tires ;)) the gasket shifted as I tightened the vb down, unbeknownst to me, and the result was it went into gear fine, but would not come out of first, and I feel like reverse might not even have worked.
 
I have a dirty dog non-lockup TC in my AOD that has no other modifications besides the Baumann kit and the TV cable pulled all the way out to the max setting. Shouldnt cause you any trouble there...itll just feel a little "rubber band"-ish in 3rd and OD. Took me a couple weeks of getting used to but thats all.
Title: no 3rd-4th
Post by: grutinator on October 11, 2009, 05:52:31 PM
well i had 3 and 4 with no problems before the project. now i have none. i didnt have those gears and they slowly slipped away or gradually lost them. or even had them and suddenly lost them when i was driving. the only thing i've done at all to the trans was add a cooler, install a hardened 3-4 shaft and a converter. thats it. if a non lock will actually work then i'm about out of ideas... but either way, it ain't right
Title: no 3rd-4th
Post by: ZondaC12 on October 11, 2009, 06:14:56 PM
Well I cant speak for the hardened shaft. I dont know how thats done...sounds like the vb does not have to be dropped to install that from what you're saying.
 
Just throwing it out there because when that happened to me I shat a brick, I just assumed the worst and figured everything was cooked (nevermind the fact that I only attempted to drive it about 100 feet :rollin:) and it ended up being something silly.
 
My buddy at the local hangout went "awwww ya covered up the holes didnt ya haha" Im like "yea thanks jackass" lol
 
Hope you get it sorted out though. Fortunately its not like youre gonna fork over a ton if you have to get another AOD.
Title: no 3rd-4th
Post by: TurboCoupe50 on October 11, 2009, 09:08:48 PM
The hardened shaft should replace the original without issue, pull out orig, reinst the new one ... It may well be the converter since it happened with the change...

I lost 3rd & 4th when I broke the original shaft in mine, acted same as you say yours is doing...
Title: no 3rd-4th
Post by: grutinator on October 11, 2009, 09:26:20 PM
yeah. thats all i did. pull the old shaft out, compare the two, then stick the new one in. i didn't think there was more to it then that. thats why i'm leaning towards the converter. idk how the converter would cause this especially since zonda said he ran a non-lock up perfectly fine in his lockup trans. but its the only other variable.

i've only bought a handfull of used parts. almost everything is new. but almost every single one of the used ones have turned aound to bite me in the ass. i'm not saying the people i bought it from were trying to screw me or anything. but i definatly should have antied up on bought new stuff the first time around on everything. :toilet:
Title: no 3rd-4th
Post by: TurboCoupe50 on October 11, 2009, 09:54:44 PM
Unless you have a non-lockup converter designed for the split shaft, that is surely your problem... Most non-lockup converters require the front pump assembly be changed to a single input shaft configuration...

Can tell by looking inside the converter to see if it has splines for the inner shaft... Look at orig, you'll see what I mean... The original setup drives the inner shaft directly from the converter hub, while a non lockup for the split shaft, drives both inner and outer shaft from the turbine... Must be two sets of splines in the converter to use the orig setup...
Title: no 3rd-4th
Post by: grutinator on October 12, 2009, 04:18:29 AM
well it wouldnt surprise me then if this is a non lock converter. im not sure what else it would be. lame
Title: no 3rd-4th
Post by: Whiteboy on October 13, 2009, 10:06:08 PM
no this just happened to me, if u look in my '88 AOD forum i explain what happened, first check your TV cable. if it comes loose if you drive it at all it will most likely burn out 3-4th gears, also, if you have it in regular drive, it doesnt go to nuetral does it? it just runs up RPM. thats what mine did cuz when i had it in O.D. it ran itself into nuetral. You're gunna need a new tranny, i just got mine today. But if its not your TV cable maybe something else. (Check your gas pedal, does it feel loose? like less pressure is needed to gas your car?)
Title: no 3rd-4th
Post by: Haystack on October 14, 2009, 04:19:39 AM
If it was working fine before the swap, its not the TV valve. I had one come off my first car when I was 16 and didn't know what it did. I still had 3-4 shift. It did act funny, and did burn out, but it did shift. It did not neutral shift.

Also, if you read what was posted, other people said that if it was not specifically designed to be used in his trans, it would do exactly what he said its doing.
Title: no 3rd-4th
Post by: V8Demon on October 14, 2009, 11:22:20 AM
Quote from: Whiteboy;294718
no this just happened to me, if u look in my '88 AOD forum i explain what happened, first check your TV cable.)


Quote from: THE FIRST POST
the tv cable is set correct


.......

My money's on the inner shaft.
Title: no 3rd-4th
Post by: grutinator on October 14, 2009, 02:55:19 PM
Quote from: V8Demon;294784
.......

My money's on the inner shaft.


why do you say that? i replaced it with a hardened one. it was pretty simple to install i doubt i messed up but its always possible
Title: no 3rd-4th
Post by: V8Demon on October 14, 2009, 03:10:42 PM
Well it's either that or you got the wrong converter.

I'm betting on a defective shaft.  You won't know till you pull it apart....
Title: no 3rd-4th
Post by: grutinator on October 14, 2009, 04:32:44 PM
im not even sure what to look for. if the shaft isnt broke, i guess its the converter. its kinda weird to have it break without even getting it ti go into third even once, or hearing it break. and if it were defective from the start i would think i would have noticed when i compared it to the old. i guess either way ill have to take the trans out. and what a freaking pain that is now. :punchballs:
Title: no 3rd-4th
Post by: Haystack on October 14, 2009, 05:52:04 PM
there easy to pull out.
Title: no 3rd-4th
Post by: TurboCoupe50 on October 14, 2009, 06:57:08 PM
As long as the shaft was the correct length and diameter that ain't your problem... You said you compared them any difference would have been obvious...

Like I said earlier, look into the converter...
Title: no 3rd-4th
Post by: ZondaC12 on October 14, 2009, 06:58:38 PM
Quote from: Haystack;294814
there easy to pull out.

Yeah cmon bro you can do it!!! Ive only had mine out twice and I got that down to a science now :rollin:
Title: no 3rd-4th
Post by: Haystack on October 14, 2009, 07:32:05 PM
first time its a pain, after the second or third time you know what you have to do and its alot easier.
Title: no 3rd-4th
Post by: grutinator on October 14, 2009, 07:43:13 PM
haha. usually they aint too bad. but i got a bigger pan. so i cant get to the converter bolts though the bottom side. i had to install them through the starter hole. and to take out the starter i have to take out the motor mount, unbolt the exhaust, lift up the one side of the engine, and unbolt and pull out both the header and the starter together.

this is why i started a thread asking about converters before i bought one. and why i started this thread asking if there was anything else i could do. cause i taking out the trans itself isnt bad, but taking out everything else to ge to the trans is what is gonna suck. im pretty pissed off. i'll have all winter to do this, and i knew i didn't plan on running a mostly stock AOD forever, but i really didn't plan on having to remove it now.


how hard is it to install a c-4? are they smaller or lighter? i'm almost thinking if i gotta pull it out, i might send this AOD to get beefed up. but built c-4's are way more common and cheaper. i'm kinda just batting around ideas. idk if its worth it.
Title: no 3rd-4th
Post by: Haystack on October 15, 2009, 12:50:57 AM
c4 has no overdrive. That alone wouldn't make it worth it for me if I ever wanted to drive on the highway.