and...Another Auto Trans Question (1 Viewer)

[worshhim]

Alright, I have been reading a lot about the A440. I know that I will be purchasing an extreme trans and valve body from Rodney at Wholesale soon (this summer most likely). However I need to milk mine till then, which I thought wasn't gonna be an issue...until lately. Twice in the last week and a half I've jumped in to find NO REVERSE. After a little driving, it pops is R just fine. Also its farely regular now to slip from 2nd to 3rd when I drive it in the morning, again after warm up its great.

I have a brand new tranny cooler from B&M in the box in my living room which is gonna go in this weekend or next week along with a fluid and filter change. Now for the good stuff, I have read a lot about the suggested near death/coronary inflicting party stunt at near freeway speeds...throwing it into park at 60mph...this scares the poop outta me. I know that you guys that have done this say it has helped, and many also say its a last resort.

Correct me if I'm jumping the gun...throwing it in Park will force a backflow of the ATF clearing possible debris from the governor...if I'm gonna do this, should I do it just before the new fluid so any debris that is loosened will come out with the old ATF? Any suggestions, or advice or things I haven't thought of would be great, especially reassuring me that if I put it in Park at 60mph that my tranny isn't gonna blow up or fall out from underneath car...

Thanks

 

[archtimb]

Take your entire post and send it to Rodney. He is a really nice guy. He will tell you if your symptoms are indicative of a governor blockage, and also whether the Park trick is useful for it.

If it has not been done, the maintenance might help greatly. The cooler is always a good idea on these trannys, but it sounds like your problems are not heat related, or they could have been caused by overheating in the past followed by lack of maintenance. If the Park trick is indicated, I would do it before the passive flush, but I defer to Rodney.

Your tranny will not blow up nor fall out. If it does, it was finished anyway.



Mitch

 

[worshhim]

Thanks Mitch! I will send my post to Rodney. I have already had great experience with his quick responses.

 

[RockDoc]

Your plan sounds good to me. I did the governor flush just before a passive flush/refill myself. The only excitement was the adrenalin that built up before actually throwing it in park.
I am hoping/planning to put in a cooler and extreme valve-body this summer as well, time to make that slush-box shine.

 

[cruiser88]

The park trick doesssssss wonders

 

[RockDoc]

Worshhim, once you've done it, post up to help calm the fears of others down the line. How is the fluid in it now? With the governor flushed, the screen cleaned, all the fluid flushed and your kick-down cable adjusted right (I don't think you mentioned this) you should be able to evaluate the condition of the trans with a fair bit of certainty. Hope it clears up all the problems.

 

[worshhim]

I am so new to the tranny stuff that I've heard about the kick down cable, but I don't know what it is, or how to adjust it.

 

[RockDoc]

Basically at the throttle body there is the throttle cable (from the skinny pedal) and the tranny kick down cable, which relays throttle position to the valving in the tranny. That controls the shift points and kick down when you boot it. I think a good point to start it from is where it is just shy of taught when the throttle plate is closed (idle position). Loosening it makes the tranny shift at lower rpm and less inclined to down-shift, and tighter will make it shift at a higher rpm with a greater willingness to kick-down.

 

[worshhim]

Thanks for the input, I've recieved an unfortunate but great email from Rodney:

"Hi Hans it's Rodney here from Wholesale Automatics

I will do my best to cover a few different items that you have in the message that you sent. In short you have "hard seals" and this is what is affecting both reverse and 3rd as they both share the same clutch pack, Direct also known as High Reverse. This is an unrepairable problem that will eventually help me make a sale. As the seals worm up they become more pliable and start sealing again but this problem will very slowly get worse. The party trick or park trick is Only! for trying to unstick valves by causing a resiance (vibration of the right kind) to clear the valves. Your definition of what the party trick does was half right but in Your case this wont do a thing so there no use in trying.

You can put a seal softener in but please be aware that this softener wont stop and after a few Short months the seals will be comes so soft that they will in fact turn to Jelly and just blows them out completely."

RockDoc: after you suggested adjusting the kick-down cable, I went to my FSM, and made the quick adjustment, drove her around and can feel a tremendous difference. That being said, I'll know better in the morning if it affected reverse at all and if 2nd to 3rd slips. I'll update tomorrow. Bummer on the party trick.

 

[RockDoc]

If it behaves better after it heats up, maybe on of these would help. You could pretend you are a northerner when you plug it in.

 

[weak-link]

if the kickdown cable is not pulled out a little at idle 3rd and rev wont go at all. funny that the god of A440's doesn't even mention the kickdown cable

 

[worshhim]

If it behaves better after it heats up, maybe on of these would help. You could pretend you are a northerner when you plug it in.

yes! of course, and I could tell all my neighbors my poor "Cranny" (thats what we call her) has a bad flu! Kidding...I don't know if anyone in SoCal would believe me if I told why I had a hot-pad on my trans.

 

[worshhim]

if the kickdown cable is not pulled out a little at idle 3rd and rev wont go at all. funny that the god of A440's doesn't even mention the kickdown cable

What do you mean "pulled out" at idle, slack...or...less slack? He is only a lesser 'god', and not the Almighty...