Advice (build or quick fix?) - Tranny lost 3rd & 4th

E

eduncan911

Registered
Ok, car is stock w/92k on the odometer. On the way to Atlanta, during a downshift to 3rd, the gear kept revving up and I lost 3rd. Let off the gas and waited for 4th to shift back in, and it just spun up (no pull, free revving). After pulling over and commanding 1st, then 2nd, then slowly into 3rd you can feel it try to catch 3rd, but applying anything more then a cruise amount of the pedal, free-revs the motor/tranny. That, and the smell of burnt tranny fluid.

I don't really have the means anytime soon to take the time to put the car up on stands and pull the tranny for a rebuild. I do plan on putting a turbo (or NOS) with a built motor I have on the stand in some year, but not anytime soon. So a "back to stock" is fine for me.

I'm not fimilar with the 4R70W and haven't built an AODE in almost 8 years. So I can't recall off hand...

Does this sound like a piston broke? One that possibly controls a band that holds a drum for 3rd and 4th gears? In that case, I could just take the valve body off and replace it (and do the JMOD at the same time).

Or does this tranny use a clutch pack for 3rd and 4th that I just burned out (and need to pull it apart to replace)? *cross fingers, hoping not*

I need to break open the manual, but been swamped with work. This happened 1 week ago today. Top cruise speed is about 40mph in 2nd (50mph gets the engine warm at 3000rpms). So now it's a great grociery getter, but that's about it. And it just happened to be the first week we are seeing normal Summer temps, of over 80 degrees. That A/C would be very nice right about now (my beater has no A/C). DOH!

Thanks in advance!
Eric
 
RE: Advice (build or quick fix?) - Tranny lost 3rd & 4th

sorry to tell you the bad news, but this sounds like your tranny is fried. Same thing happened to mine and a few others, i ended up getting a rebuilt. 92k miles is not an uncommon milage for this to happen, mine happened at 70k. Check the transmission fluid, if its brown and it looks like there are metallic particles in it, then you know its done.
 
RE: Advice (build or quick fix?) - Tranny lost 3rd & 4th

My tranny did the same thing, so I'm gonna replace it. I feel your pain!!! I have 140,000 miles tho.
 
RE: Advice (build or quick fix?) - Tranny lost 3rd & 4th

Yup your tranny is done :(

The same thing happened to mine..........twice. The first time was at 35,000 (under warranty) and the second was at 135,000. Both times I needed a full rebuild.

If you're going to rebuild the tranny yourself make sure you get the 'jerry specs'. Might as well put a higher stall speed convertor (or at least a new one) in there if you're planning all those mods.

Ken
 
RE: Advice (build or quick fix?) - Tranny lost 3rd & 4th

Same thing happened to me today! Talk about a great Mothers's Day gift for ME! I was lucky to get home, it happened on the highway! My trans fluid seems good though. I had been having a "slip" between 3rd and 4th since I got the car (3000 miles ago). A trans shop told me a rebuild costs between $1500 and $1800. I'm not sure if that is a reasonable price or not. What do you guys think? What should I look for in a rebuild?

Jon
 
RE: Advice (build or quick fix?) - Tranny lost 3rd & 4th

I would just find a used low-mileage 98-up tranny. You need to do a few mods to hook up the wiring though. should be a lot cheaper than a rebuild, and last just as long.
 
RE: Advice (build or quick fix?) - Tranny lost 3rd & 4th

Why are the '98 transmissions better, what needs to be done to modify them to work?
 
RE: Advice (build or quick fix?) - Tranny lost 3rd & 4th

They have all the upgraded parts, 1-2 acc, deep fluid pan, some other stuff plus mercon V from the factory.
You have to move some pins on the main connector, very easy to do.
 
RE: Advice (build or quick fix?) - Tranny lost 3rd & 4th

Excellent idea about the 98-up. Just talked with my Lincoln buddy this weekend (low 10s daily driver Mark VII, 306 with a LOTTA Nos and TKO). He was recommending Stage 10 (Spec 10?) for total rebuild kits (to hold up to 800TQ). Anyone got an upgrade to this place?

Eric
 
RE: Advice (build or quick fix?) - Tranny lost 3rd & 4th

I think I may have the same tranny problem and just want to clarify it. First off the Overdrive does not work so last weekend I was cruising along at 70mph (about 2900 rpms) and the engine started speeding up so I hurriedly clicked the cruise off and just waited for the rpms to get back to where they should normally be which they did. It did it once more during my 20 mile trip, but since I didn't have the cruise on it didn't rev up that much.

I'm wondering if that is a slip (I think so) or is it just jumping out of gear or something like that?? It definetly didn't downshift to second, I guess it's possible that it tried to go to 4th (cause it does that once in a while) and maybe there was no 4th left lol.

Either way I have to work on that thing before the snow falls next winter.

The mercon V is still red and doesn't smell burnt, but it's only slipped (or whatever it's doing) 3 times so far.
 
RE: Advice (build or quick fix?) - Tranny lost 3rd & 4th

doesnt matter what color the fuild is, once the clutch packs wear out and theres no more friction surface, thats the the of the ballgame.
 
RE: Advice (build or quick fix?) - Tranny lost 3rd & 4th

[div class="dcquote"][strong]Quote[/strong]
I think I may have the same tranny problem and just want to clarify it. First off the Overdrive does not work so last weekend I was cruising along at 70mph (about 2900 rpms) and the engine started speeding up so I hurriedly clicked the cruise off and just waited for the rpms to get back to where they should normally be which they did. It did it once more during my 20 mile trip, but since I didn't have the cruise on it didn't rev up that much. I'm wondering if that is a slip (I think so) or is it just jumping out of gear or something like that?? It definetly didn't downshift to second, I guess it's possible that it tried to go to 4th (cause it does that once in a while) and maybe there was no 4th left lol. Either way I have to work on that thing before the snow falls next winter.The mercon V is still red and doesn't smell burnt, but it's only slipped (or whatever it's doing) 3 times so far.
[/div]Oops, sorry. Missed this thread.

Yes, that is tranny slip! And exactly what happened to mine! i was cruising at about 80mph or so and the rpms started climbing up and the car slowed.

Except, i went down to 3rd and had 3rd for about 5 minutes. Then it went away.

I turned around and drove the 130 miles back home, at 40mph. :(
 
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