Drivetrain Aod from hell!

87slow.0

Member
Aug 24, 2020
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Indiana
Hello all. New to the forum. I just recently picked up another fox after 15 years of regretting letting the others go. This is far from my first but is the first aod car. On the drive home I realized it was skipping 2nd gear all together. I should have noticed before but while taking it easy it's hardly noticeable with the 4:10 gears. I did however try the ol aod shuffle and second gear is there that way it just wont shift into 2nd in drive or od. So I know second gear isn't gone it's just skipping it for some reason. Anyway I take it in as I have no knowledge of these transmissions and have heard they are very touchy when it comes to the tv cable adjustment and I didn't feel comfortable winging it myself. The tech at the shop says it's a long procedure and seems to dodging setting it. Last week he called and said it appears the trans is rebuilt and looks good and he thinks it's the valve body so I ordered a performance automatic street/strip valve body and dropped it off at shop this morning. Now he tells me i have 2nd but od is neutraling out. He says it shifts fine 1-2-3 but no od. I asked about tv pressure and he keeps dodging it and says he will get to it in about a week. So I guess what I'm asking is could it just be that the tv pressure is off and to blame for the whole problem? It shifted fine b4 just missed 2nd now hes saying it's just not grabbing in od.. getting very. Frustrated and dont know if I should just pick up my car and try it myself or wait but it sounds lime hes been driving it to mess with it but still has yet to set line pressure. Just worried he is gonna smoke my trans b44 he figures it out.
 
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Should have brought it home and tried it yourself. You have a week to fool with it, and read up. Or you could pester another mechanic
I'm thinking about doing just that. From what I have read and he said that the cable is about maxed out I believe the pressure is high. The car is about 25 minutes from home. So if it is high will it be ok to drive home to attempt it on my own?
 
Has anybody here used the performance automatic street/strip valve body? I have my car in the shop now getting it done. Yesterday they had me ready to go get my car and finish it myself saying I now had no od but tech called me today and said hes got it on the rack and getting ready to set tv pressure. Hopefully they get it all worked out but just wondering what to expect from the valve body. The car already has 4:10s installed so I'm hoping this combo will work well.
 
My 90 GT with a basically stock AOD, including torque converter with only a Lentech VB as an upgrade. When I installed the VB I did not change, check or do any pressure adjustments, I just set TV cable as per Lentech instructions. Trans worked great but was a bit on the firm side, felt aggressive but definitely firm. What I didn't like was I needed to run up to about 55 mph and then back off and coast if I wanted it to shift into OD if just cruising along easily. It also would downshift aggressively when coasting down from highway speed into town.

I readjusted the TV cable a bit softer and much better now. If just loafing along on a cruise it will shift nice and easily into OD. If WOT the trans will shift each gear around 45-4700 RPM when in automatic and OD will not come in while at WOT.

If I remember correctly I started at a fully relaxed TV cable and pulled it about 1/2-3/4" of tension on the cable and then reconnected to TB.

If I leave gently from a light it will shift from 1st to 2nd about 30 feet from where I was stopped, the rest of the gears as you would expect on a leisurely cruise. My car has 3.73s in the rear.
 
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My 90 GT with a basically stock AOD, including torque converter with only a Lentech VB as an upgrade. When I installed the VB I did not change, check or do any pressure adjustments, I just set TV cable as per Lentech instructions. Trans worked great but was a bit on the firm side, felt aggressive but definitely firm. What I didn't like was I needed to run up to about 55 mph and then back off and coast if I wanted it to shift into OD if just cruising along easily. It also would downshift aggressively when coasting down from highway speed into town.

I readjusted the TV cable a bit softer and much better now. If just loafing along on a cruise it will shift nice and easily into OD. If WOT the trans will shift each gear around 45-4700 RPM when in automatic and OD will not come in while at WOT.

If I remember correctly I started at a fully relaxed TV cable and pulled it about 1/2-3/4" of tension on the cable and then reconnected to TB.

If I leave gently from a light it will shift from 1st to 2nd about 30 feet from where I was stopped, the rest of the gears as you would expect on a leisurely cruise. My car has 3.73s in the rear.
How are the 3:73s on the highway? Mine has 4:10s and at 70 mph on highway I'm pushing about 3k rpm. When I bought the car I had just over a hour drive home on highway and heavy traffic. Running 80 to not get run down in traffic was just a little worrisome spinning the engine at 3500+ rpm for an extended period of time. I love the gears around town but want something in the middle so it's still fun in town but a little more capable of cruising down the highway from time to time..
 
I don't usually cruise at 80 mph (speed limits here are 60 mph) but I would rev about 2600 in OD to do so, and about 2250 to run 70 mph. I rev around 1900 to do 60 mph.
 
The tech at the shop says it's a long procedure
It's not. It's literally hooking a pressure gauge up to the side of the transmission, letting the car warm up to operating temperature, putting a spacer on the cable, and adjusting it so it's tight at that point, then verifying the pressure.

Find a different tech.
 
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here some more AOD stuff
 

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my Plastic Block was bad ..so i invented my own adjuster .. easy to adjust and works perfect :nice::nice: I have a rebuild AOD with some mods, PA Valve Body and TCI 10inch lock up Converter ..
How do you like you pa valve body? It's to late for me to do tv pressure the tech installed my valve body for me didn't set the tv and burned my trans. I'm so angry.. he told me of wasn't working and tried to blame the valve body.. it shifts into od but neutrals out.. then I picked it up and didn't even make it home. So I'm now in need of a rebuild but there's no damn way I'm taking it back to this shop.
 
tried like 3 different VBs ..also made my own one with the Transgo AOD-HP kit ..changed govenor valve too...but the Transgo VB was to hard on shifts and shift points moved up to like 42 -4500 rpm.. not so good for a street car ..PA valvbody is not bad under full Throttle it holds first gear up to 6000rpm but thats also because of the Govoner Valve I changed .. also the new TCI Converter changed the shifting... but under full throttle shifts are fast and firm ...and its also doing smooth downshifts at lower speeds .... so I m happy with it .. its good for street and ok for Drag Race ..
 

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tried like 3 different VBs ..also made my own one with the Transgo AOD-HP kit ..changed govenor valve too...but the Transgo VB was to hard on shifts and shift points moved up to like 42 -4500 rpm.. not so good for a street car ..PA valvbody is not bad under full Throttle it holds first gear up to 6000rpm but thats also because of the Govoner Valve I changed .. also the new TCI Converter changed the shifting... but under full throttle shifts are fast and firm ...and its also doing smooth downshifts at lower speeds .... so I m happy with it .. its good for street and ok for Drag Race ..
I may look into the governer kit. I have 4:10s in the rear end so I ma
Y need it to ke
E
P the shifts right. I have heard that these transmissions get screwy about shifting early with the numerically higher gears.