Tranny Slippin

['87CrownMenace]

when i aquired my 87 CV from my grandparents it only had 100,000 miles on it and the tranny was slipping just a little bit into 2nd. 4000 miles later the tranny is gettin worse(takes longer to catch). the fluid is clean. before they gave it to me my dad took it to his mechanic and he said all he needed to do was get a new modulator and it would be fine. would the modulator fix the slipping? i dont know much about transmissions. should i waste my time with the modulator?

[Archangel]

Look under the throttle body, there is a lever with three cables attached to it. While I guarantee you there will be three cables, I kinda suspect that only two of them will be still hooked up to the TB lever, the third one is very likely to just be hanging there. This is a known problem with these cars, the plastic bushing holding the cable in places fails due to heat and releases the cable. The good part - a new metal bushing is ight about $5 from your local Ford dealership. Now the bad part - the loose cable is the kickdown for the tranny, once it's loose the tranny will not "know" how much you have pressed on the gas pedal (aka how much load there is on the engine), and will therefore upshift at very low rpms, and will have hard time downshifting. Shortly after that your clutches burn, tranny starts slipping badly, and eventually loses gears. Fun time.

Now, after you're all scared and shit, go to look at them cables, and hope they are all connected nicely to the TB lever.

[Blaze86Vic]

A a modulator? LOL, sounds like a BS mechanic, I'd suggest you go back there and ask him to show you a picture of the modulator he is talking about. There are no modulators on an AOD. The one thing he MIGHT be talking about, is the governor. Which will not fix the issue. A failed governor would either result in very late shifts or very early shifts, but it does not effect the actual engagement. Accumulator pistons inside the tranny do that, and TV (that third cable that was mentioned above) is what regulates the pressure to those accumulators. This is what would cause the tranny to engage slowely or harshly into gears. Worst case being no tension on the cable would cause it to put very little pressure on the clutches and in a matter of 2-3 miles would burn up the clutches.

['87CrownMenace]

there are two cables attached to a plastic bracket attached to the lever arm on the throttle body...the plastic bracket is hella loose and wobbles when i hit the gas...could this be the problem?

[Blaze86Vic]

There is a third. NO QUESTION ABOUT IT.....as long as you have cruise control, which is what that is in the picture. The third cable is not connected, meaning your tranny is likely toast.

There is a cable coming from the transmission. On the driver side of the transmission under the car, there is a lever. On that lever are two pivoting arms. One is attached with a solid link, that is the linkage to the shifter inside the car. The other is a cable that goes to the throttle body. Follow that cable and find out where it ends. Then once you find the end, you will see that it belongs connected to the throttle bracket that everything else is.

['87CrownMenace]

there is a third further back under the throttle body but i kant get a good pic

['87CrownMenace]

i found the cable runnin from tha throttle body to the tranny and its still connected and works but i kan pull it by hand...should it be loose enough to pull by hand or tighter to where i kant

[85crownHPP]

the 2 in the pic are throttle and cruise cables - that black bracket will move a little, thats normal. The TV cable is the one you see further back - it will get pulled forward when the throttle gets pulled back. Just make sure it moves without slack in relation to the throttle lever - it doesnt need to be "tight" to pull, just adjusted properly.

[Blaze86Vic]

If there is a little plastic grommet for that cable, go to the dealership ASAP and get a brass grommet to replace it with. If that plastic fails, its GAME OVER for that tranny. Maybe it's already got a problem, but $5 is well worth the prevention of assured catastrophic failure.

[gadget73]

Its possible you've got a direct clutch going out. When they die it stops shifting out of second gear. Definitely check the condition of that plastic bushing and the replacement is also highly suggested. Usually with an AOD, overdrive stops working first but direct clutch fails aren't unheard of. Seems more common on a 4R70W and AODE though from what I've heard.

['87CrownMenace]

where is that plastic grommet? by tha tranny or the throttle body?

[gadget73]

On the throttle body. Its where that other cable hookes into the throttle body lever. Pull the cable out and you'll see a black plastic thing in there.



In that pic, you're looking at the cable on the left. The bushing is the sort of cone shaped black plastic thing just above the metal throttle lever.

['87CrownMenace]

is the metal one yall are talkin bout?

[Archangel]

Nope, the metal one has a clip on top of it to prevent the cable from popping out when the TB opens. What you have looks really weird, it ain't the typical plastic bushing for sure, but ain't the metal one either... never seen anything like that.

[88grandmarq]

Direct clutch is applied during 3rd gear operation. Forward clutch is applied for 2nd gear, along with the intermediate clutch and the intermidiate one-way clutch.

if second gear is slipping, I would venture to guess the forward clutches are toast. it's possible the one-way clutch is broken as well.