Transmission Problems... Check it out.

[flosho]

My friend just bought his sho. He had to put a new tranny in it cuz the old one was shot. Well this "new" transmission isnt working out too great. I'll just describe how it works.

Driving around town at normal speed all the shifts are sharp and crisp. It does seem to shift more often, or earlier than my car. Maybe not and I just think this because the shifts are definatly more noticable.

At WOT its a completely different story. It runs fine up to 7k where it shifts but hesitates, and its not hard and crisp like the other shifts, its kinda sloppy. Then after it shifts and grabs it shifts again! The first shift is at ~50MPH and the second shift is at ~60. Whats going on? It shifts out of second really quick and bogs the car so it has no balls after 60.

What could be wrong with this transmission? Is it junk? Could this be normal and its something like the computer learning the new transmission. I am stumped! :headbang: Tomorrow he is gonna come over and I'm gonna run the CEL and see what codes it throws out. It has a 90 day warranty on it also.

Your help is appreciated!
Jason

 

[Axianator]

Out of curiosity, what year is his SHO and which PCM is he using (H3Z or D4U1)? I assume he's running with the stock computer and no chip?

The only things I could think off the top of my head that might apply to your situation would be VSS, converter issues or an internal tranny problem. Assuming it's not an EEC-controlled isuue, it may be time to head back to the shop and make use of that 90-day warranty.

 

[Dr_Thompson]

Did the old tranny have the same symptoms?

 

[flosho]

He is driving a 95. So he should have the D4U1 assuming all is stock and unchanged. The car is completely stock as far as I know. Could this problem be because it has a 93 transmission in it??

The old tranny wouldn't shift out of first while going slow. It would hit 3-4K under normal accelleration and just wouldn't shift all the time. It was really bad. Nothing like this problem though.

He's coming over in 15 min to have me pull the codes, I'll see if there are any VSS codes. Hopefully we can get this solved and he can actually enjoy driving his car.

 

[flosho]

Well, I ran the codes got a 539? Turned the AC off and got 111 across the board. I cleared the stored codes. We drove around with no CEL and the tranny was shifting much smoother nowl; even on the normal accellaration shifts. On the way to my house he said it was stiff shifting harsh under normal accel.

Now, under WOT from ~8mph roll we took it up to speed it wasn't as sloppy on the 1-2 shift but it didn't skip over 2nd gear like it was before. It actually held 2nd gear and shifted at the right time! HOW? It appears as though clearing the codes did the trick? I wont know for sure until tonite after we take it out again. This is really weird.

 

[Axianator]

Interesting. Have you had any more CE lights since resetting the codes?

 

[Bryan C. King]

Sounds like a tranny job that I just did on a 4x4 Ford Ranger.

Where did you get the tranny from? How many miles are on it and how long did it sit without being used?

I got a tranny from a local junkyard, truck was in an accident and tranny was in good working order. Tranny sat in a storage container for a year and a half before I got it. I installed the tranny, dropped the pan and installed a new filter and fluid. Went to drive it up the street to power flush the rest of the old fluid out of the tourque conver and lines ect... and noticed that the tranny was shifting weird. It would tach out in all gears before actually shifting, and would shift very late. If I manually shifted the transmission it would work just fine. After the power flush it was still the same.

Went to a local tranny shop and talked with them. They seemed to think that, I believe that it was called a govenor in the tailshaft of the transmission was gummed up from sitting for so long. They told me that it needed to be cleaned, so that meant removing the transfer case and cleaning this part, not that bad of a job.

Just for chuckles I went to another tranny shop that I do business with. Spoke with them and left it with them overnight. They called me in the morning and told me that the tranny was junk and it needed to be rebuilt. I went there shortly thereafter and picked up the truck. Figured I'd try to clean this Govenor thing, before having the customer pay for a rebuild.

When I drove out of the parking lot, the transmission never shifter better. Seems that whatever gummed up the govenor freed itself and it was performing like it should. I checked the fluids and took it for an extended test drive. Told the customer what had transpired, and he took it for a few days. No complaints, customer has told me that it shifts perfect now and has been for over 1000 miles with no issues.

Sorry for the long post, but if I were you whatever you do, change the filter and power flush the tranny. Especially when installing used trannys from other vehilces. Your old fluid that is still in your transmission lines and tranny cooler need to be flushed of the contaminated oil so it won't ruin the used tranny you just put in. Maybe with the power flush, filter and what you have just done, you might be ok to go...........