84 LX 3.8 not wanting to downshift...

[uzukiel]

I have an old 84 that has been sitting for a while...almost two years, and i just got it running again (all it took was a new battery), but this problem was surfacing before i stopped driving it. When going down the road, say around 20-25 mph, in second gear, the car does NOT want to downshift to first. It will, but not till nearly floored. Is this normal? Is this an indication of my tranny going out? Could it just be the fluid? Transmissions are something i know very little about...so any help here would be great!

Thanks a lot, guys.

 

[Ernad]

If you're are going 20mph I don't think you should be able to put it in first from second. Try slowing down to at least 10mph, and the putting it into first.

 

[Stang2Man]

it's a safety ford put in the torque converters even in the 70's model stangs, you pull into first it won't go into first until the revs have come down enough not to break stuff unnecessarily, it's nice to have when you start horsing around and think you've broke something

 

[uzukiel]

Thanks for the replies, guys! But i'm confused...i'm not trying to "manually" downshift the motor using the shifter...just giving the car some gas. It almost seems like it bogs down before it'll finally downshift into the gear it needs and start accelerating.

Let me see if i can explain it better...i'm not sure at what exact mph it happens at...i just know that it feels like what a 5-speed does when you're going up hill in too high of a gear. You step on the gas and expect it to accelerate, but it won't...and then it won't downshift to accelerate until nearly floored..does that make any sense?

 

[Stang2Man]

Let me know if I'm interpretting this right

You're cruising down the road and want to punch it, and you only feel it drop one gear to assist in a quicker acceleration (that being the drop from 3rd or Drive to 2nd) and not feeling the drop to 1st gear? Cuz if that's what you're talking about you won't have what they call a double drop unless you've dropped a shift kit and loads of performance into your motor. A buddy of mine up home had a very built GT with AOD that would double drop once in a while, of course it would also burn the tires while running at 55, but he had alot more invested than I'd ever want to invest in one car.

 

[furvel]

You're saying the automatic tranny won't downshift when needed unless you absolutely floor the gas pedal?? Have you checked the tranny fluid, pull the dipstick and see if it looks brown or smells burnt. It may need flushed and re-filled with new fluid (and filter changed), that has worked wonders for a couple of my vehicles. Outside of that, you may want to find a transmission specialist and just have them take a preliminary look to see what the condition is. Remember, long periods of non-use can be hard on vehicles, harder in some ways than steady use over the same period of time. Fluids coagulate, seals dry up and get hard, etc. I'm a firm believer in changing the tranny fluid , especially in older cars, to get a good service life from them. Good luck!!

 

[jaridhoyt09]

84 mustang 3.8

i have an 84 3.8l lx and it has its good and bad days. sometimes the tires will roast off that thing but other days it wont even rotate. the whole part of it not shifting into first is the safty ford has put on it. if you notice you can put it and first and it will not shift down but you keep it in first and you slow down it will shift right down into first no problem. it will stay in first if you shift it down while stopped then take off but while going you must have the RPM's hit the right spot for it to shift down. theres pretty much nothing you can do about it.

 

[jaridhoyt09]

oh yeah check your 2nd gear kick. its located on the throttle