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1990 Mustang AOD Problems

Found an interesitng solution to what I thought was a dying AOD.

Had a battery problem with the car. First off, let me tell you SEAERS SUCKS. Bought a 100 month Die Hard battery for my 1990 Mustang in (roughly) summer of 2000. Misplaced the receipt. Sears keeps records of every DUMB thing they've ever sold me and want to extend a warranty on. NOT CAR BATTERIES! Apparently the advances in computers and databases, record keeping etc. does NOT extend to Die Hard batteries. And (of course) the battery tester did not work at the facility I went to to check if it was any good. Alls I had to do was pay the 84.99 for the full battery and I'm in business. Screw that...

Went home with said battery, hooked it up to grandpa's old 6 amp battery charger for about 8 hours and it worked fine. Car started like a champ. Ran it for a while in the park and reved engine from the throttle body....WHICH CAUSED (I THINK) transmission problems....I think I popped off the clip from the TV cable to the throttle body. But before I realized it....

Went for a test drive in the stang to relearn fuel curve, get the engine rolling, and see how it was and if I shouldbuy a new battery (NOT A SEARS DIE HARD FOR SURE!) Got car on the highway, hit the gas and pedal was soft, tranny slipping...I thought "oh shit, AOD death" and got the car home ASAP. Car would not downshift and went through the gears real sloppy. Ful throttle was like driving a wet noodle. Scary. Got home, and checked the transmission fluid. Dark, not red...dead AOD for sure. No doubts. But wait...Google just to check...

Suire enough a search on this list (RAMFM) provided the solution. Not to the darkened transmission fluid, but to the shittly shifting problem. There is a clip that holds the TV cable to the throttle body. That clip went missing, and transmission shifted like shit. Like it was dead/ gonna die real soon. And one looke at the fluid (before I knew about the clip) "confirmed" my problem. A google search of the old news archive provided this from mach1man Dan:

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Hold your Horses Michael. I had the same symptoms from my car. got real soft pedal. When I held down the pedal it would not shift then fall into neutral. BUt it got real soft. DONT DRIVE THE CAR! tow, push, pull it to your local reputable tranny shop. It is a little bracket or connection type thing. Its plastic is in the engine Bay. And cost me 25 bucks to have fix instead of the 1200 for a rebuild. I talked to the guy over the phone and told him what type of car it was he knew the problem without seeing the car. If you drive the car it will ruin the tranny. They repaced the part with a metal replacement and said it wont break any more. It is common in AOD's I guess.

Good Luck, Let me know how it goes. Dan

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THIS was exactly the problem. A couple of zip ties, and car was running FINE despite discolored fluid (83,000 miles, and had car 15 years...time to change it? Probably not...wait for it to die and go tremec...LOL)

Ordered new TV cable from ford for 54 bucks. AND THEY THROW IN THE CLIP....

So....before you think your AOD is D-E-A-D.....check that TV cable attachment to the throttle body. And keep your battery terminals clean.

Happy Halloween!

Jimmy

Reply to
- Captain Ahab -
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"Sudden trans problems? Check trans cable at throttle body"

Good lesson... but change that fluid, anyway. You have no idea how long you'll need that trans... put in a bottle of Lucas AT fix when you change fluid and it will last you longer than you'll need it.

Good lesson #2: Dont fall for that 'diehard' crap! I learned my lesson when the brand was new in early 70's... Sears refused to replace a new one because tester showed it had enough amps at room temp. Problem was it had a near-dead cell and wouldnt crank engine fast enough for good start when temp was 30 deg or lower.

NEVER buy a 'diehard'... it ranks right up with Fram and Pennzoil as 'all marketing hype'

"- Captain Ahab -" wrote in news:VaB9f.37739$ snipped-for-privacy@fe10.lga:

Reply to
Backyard Mechanic

Any recommends in place of Die Hard? I've been using them since the early 70s when Sears exchanged them no questions asked, and only once have had a problem.

Who makes Die Hard? As I understand it, there are really only a couple or three battery makers who produce under many brand names. A switch to another brand (WallyMart? Costco? Target? Les Schwab?) might see a different name on the same battery.

Reply to
Spike

Spike wrote

Never had a problem with one step above cheapest at Kmart, Walmart.

Maybe I've been lucky.

Reply to
Backyard Mechanic

Reply to
razz

My last one came from COSTCO and it worked great (not sure what happened with it after I sold the car). Even the Die Hards I had worked great, but I bought the Gold level which is, IIRC, the top of the Die Hard line, and pricey.

Reply to
Spike

That's all I buy. Got one in each of the Mustangs and just put one in my daughter's car. Never a problem from them.

dwight

Reply to
dwight

Consumer Reports does a test on car batteries just about every year. The top rated are generally DieHard, Duralast, AC Delco, and Costco brand. The order seems to change every year, so I don't think it matters all that much which one you pick. Over the last few years I've been buying Duralast from Autozone with a lifetime warranty. I wait for them to go on sale, so they are pretty cheap. I haven't had one go bad yet, so I can't say anything about warranty replacement. With winter coming up, they should go on sale soon. I'll be buying one for my truck this year.

Reply to
.boB

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