No First Gear

[Tiggie]

It seems the wagon has lost first gear. Still has second, third, OD, and reverse and all work fine. Manual Low just keeps it in second and gives it a braking effect.

Is this a sign if eminent AOD death? Or something else?

Any ideas on what might be wrong? It seems I might have another powerglide AOD...

[88grandmarq]

according to the clutch and band application chart in my AOD repair manual. it appears the planetary oneway clutch has failed in your transmission.

[Tiggie]

Wonderful. I am thinking it is some kind of hard failure, rather than something like a sticking valvebody, so a planetary oneway clutch might be the cause. I drove it a while today to get the tranny fluid good and hot, and it didn't change anything.

I experimented a little with manual low. Just pulling it in manual low at a stop will keep the car in second. Pulling in low above 25 MPH brings it into second like it's supposed to, but it gets interesting when you slow under 20 MPH, in which when the tranny tries to shift to first, it's like someone throws on the brakes. The car will still drive, it is still engaged in second. It is just hard to get to move until you bring it back out of L into D.

It's smooth as it can be. I'm going to keep driving it I guess. Now I just wonder how much time I have left on it. I need a minimum of 2 more months of daily driving out of it. I'll keep driving until it won't drive no more...

[Tiggie]

PS: Find me a cheap T5 and I'll do a conversion...

[86GmLsCoupe]

My car was shifting real smooth for awhile about 3 years back and one day I went to drop a friend off a good distance away from me. Made it down and back most of the way and while going through the toll booth for my exit the planetary gear grenaded. On thing that seemed a little worse in the short time prior was the downshifts were a tad harsh but nothing else that would have clued me into the fact that the trans was about to go.

[88grandmarq]

check out the clutch & band application chart.
the only part 1st gear manual low and 1st in drive have in common is the planetary one-way clutch. Its not very common that they fail, but it isnt a very strong part to begin with.

[Tiggie]

Would you all believe me if I told you first gear came back today?

I was taking off this morning... still in second. I came to a light, took off, still in second. Then at about 10MPH it decided it wanted first, and came back to first for about one second, then back into second. The next light, she came back into first, took off, shifted ok.

I drove it about 30 miles today with no problems. It's holding first a little longer than it really should, up to 20 MPH or so with normal throttle. Also holding second up to 25 MPH, even with zero throttle input. Holds second to 33 MPH under normal throttle, just like it always has. Third and OD are perfectly normal.

I'm hoping it was just the valvebody sticking. It is much warmer today than Friday. Automatics are so mystifying.

EDIT: I didn't try manual low today. I don't want to upset anything.

[87gtVIC]

I believe you. The same thing happened to my Grandmas Escort.

[Tiggie]

I believe you. The same thing happened to my Grandmas Escort.

While a totally different tranny, just out of curiousity what ended up happening to it (the tranny)? Did it eventually lose it completely?

[86VickyLX]

PS: Find me a cheap T5 and I'll do a conversion...

Bubbaking is selling an AOD on here.

[Tiggie]

Just an update here, but I drove the car over 150 miles this morning. No problems whatsoever. I guess there was some frozen sweat or something that blocked up the valvebody. It really seems to be okay (crossing my fingers).