Howdy all. Little background: 1988 FJ62 172k miles, all stock. Only had it about 5k miles. Runs and drives great. About a month ago I noticed it started upshifting later and later in the rpm. It got progressively worse.
After a few days it was basically undriveable because it would only shift until the engine was at redline or very close to it; I'd have to keep on the throttle until the engine reached redline or close it it before trans would upshift. Reverse still worked, as did 1st (L) and could still manually shift to 2nd. But 2nd to 3rd and 3rd to 4th would only happen at redline. Thought trans was toast.
Did some reading here on the forums on FJ62s with similar symptoms and did a Rodney Flush and party trick (party trick in 3rd gear because I couldn't go fast enough for the trans to shift into 4th without having to slow for curves). No change after Rodney flushe or party trick. Started looking for a 5.3 and 4L60E since had been wanting to do a vortec swap anyway and figure now that the A440F was toast it would be a good time to do the swap.
Then a few days ago, just before I gave up on the trans completely, I checked the "kickdown" cable. Not really a kickdown cable, more of a throttle position cable to tell the trans what the engine throttle position is at any given time. Anyway, it was fully slack in the WOT position. Unhooked it at the throttle-side and couldn't move it in or out. Tried oiling it, still no movement. Unhooked it at the trans side and no movement there either. Removed cable and still no movement! Cut cable in half with a Dremel and the cable/wire rope core itself was rusty and stuck. Had rusted enough inside the housing that the cable/wire rope started to fray.
Ordered a new cable and hoped replacing it would solve the problem. I had done some reading on the kickdown cable back when the trans first started acting up and didn't check it until now. I was hopeful, but definitely not certain, that the late upshifting was caused by the cable. Replaced it today and test drive and the trans shifted correctly and on time!! I was so stoked that an $80 cable fixed it and that I didn't have to rebuild or replace the trans.
As for specifics on the cable problem, I noticed the kickdown cable was stuck in the WOT position. Best I can gather is that because the cable was stuck at WOT, the trans thought the engine was at WOT all the time, and thus delayed the upshifting until close to redline.
I was able to fairly easily replace the cable without removing the trans filter or valve body. The FSM says to remove the valve body and drop the trans a bit; I guess to get better access to the cable. I just removed the pan, unhooked the cable end from the pulley groove piece it hooks to. Then I carefully broke off the 4 plastic tabs on the housing of the cable where it goes through the transmission case. After the tabs are broken off and you've made sure they didn't fall inside the trans somewhere, then the cable just slides out front the top. Installing the new one was not much more difficult. Routed it from the throttle-side then down to the trans. Poke the trans-side through the hole in the trans and make sure the 4 tabs snap/click into place. I oiled the o ring just above the 4 tabs before installing. Then to fit the cable end into the pulley groove I rotated the pulley around until the slot was facing me (looking up from laying down under the truck). Slip cable into slot and let it rotate back to its normal position (the pulley groove piece is spring loaded). Was really pretty easy and I definitely recommend trying it this way instead of removing the filter and valve body. Isn't even that messy after you let the ATF drain out after removing the pan.
Long-winded, but there you have it! If your trans shows these symptoms, check the kickdown cable (like I should have down early on)! Thought I had a toasted trans that would be expensive to repair or replace and ended up just being the kickdown cable.
Picture below shows the old cable after I had removed it. It wasn't frayed nearly that much in the housing. I did most of that by rolling the cable between my finger. I looped the end back on itself so you could see what it it supposed to look like when not all rusty. Hope this can be of help to someone experiencing the same thing.
Stephan
After a few days it was basically undriveable because it would only shift until the engine was at redline or very close to it; I'd have to keep on the throttle until the engine reached redline or close it it before trans would upshift. Reverse still worked, as did 1st (L) and could still manually shift to 2nd. But 2nd to 3rd and 3rd to 4th would only happen at redline. Thought trans was toast.
Did some reading here on the forums on FJ62s with similar symptoms and did a Rodney Flush and party trick (party trick in 3rd gear because I couldn't go fast enough for the trans to shift into 4th without having to slow for curves). No change after Rodney flushe or party trick. Started looking for a 5.3 and 4L60E since had been wanting to do a vortec swap anyway and figure now that the A440F was toast it would be a good time to do the swap.
Then a few days ago, just before I gave up on the trans completely, I checked the "kickdown" cable. Not really a kickdown cable, more of a throttle position cable to tell the trans what the engine throttle position is at any given time. Anyway, it was fully slack in the WOT position. Unhooked it at the throttle-side and couldn't move it in or out. Tried oiling it, still no movement. Unhooked it at the trans side and no movement there either. Removed cable and still no movement! Cut cable in half with a Dremel and the cable/wire rope core itself was rusty and stuck. Had rusted enough inside the housing that the cable/wire rope started to fray.
Ordered a new cable and hoped replacing it would solve the problem. I had done some reading on the kickdown cable back when the trans first started acting up and didn't check it until now. I was hopeful, but definitely not certain, that the late upshifting was caused by the cable. Replaced it today and test drive and the trans shifted correctly and on time!! I was so stoked that an $80 cable fixed it and that I didn't have to rebuild or replace the trans.
As for specifics on the cable problem, I noticed the kickdown cable was stuck in the WOT position. Best I can gather is that because the cable was stuck at WOT, the trans thought the engine was at WOT all the time, and thus delayed the upshifting until close to redline.
I was able to fairly easily replace the cable without removing the trans filter or valve body. The FSM says to remove the valve body and drop the trans a bit; I guess to get better access to the cable. I just removed the pan, unhooked the cable end from the pulley groove piece it hooks to. Then I carefully broke off the 4 plastic tabs on the housing of the cable where it goes through the transmission case. After the tabs are broken off and you've made sure they didn't fall inside the trans somewhere, then the cable just slides out front the top. Installing the new one was not much more difficult. Routed it from the throttle-side then down to the trans. Poke the trans-side through the hole in the trans and make sure the 4 tabs snap/click into place. I oiled the o ring just above the 4 tabs before installing. Then to fit the cable end into the pulley groove I rotated the pulley around until the slot was facing me (looking up from laying down under the truck). Slip cable into slot and let it rotate back to its normal position (the pulley groove piece is spring loaded). Was really pretty easy and I definitely recommend trying it this way instead of removing the filter and valve body. Isn't even that messy after you let the ATF drain out after removing the pan.
Long-winded, but there you have it! If your trans shows these symptoms, check the kickdown cable (like I should have down early on)! Thought I had a toasted trans that would be expensive to repair or replace and ended up just being the kickdown cable.
Picture below shows the old cable after I had removed it. It wasn't frayed nearly that much in the housing. I did most of that by rolling the cable between my finger. I looped the end back on itself so you could see what it it supposed to look like when not all rusty. Hope this can be of help to someone experiencing the same thing.
Stephan
