1991 Thunderbird transmission problems

My 91 T-bird LX 5.0 AOD is giving me some trouble. The other day I was on the highway doing about 70 and suddenly noticed that I felt like the car suddenly dropped into neutral. I didn't want to take a chance cooking the tranny so I pulled over right away and had it towed back home. Fluid level was fine. I learned of the notorious faulty TV cable grommet later that night and checked for that right away. Sure enough, I looked under the hood and found the cable hanging off with no grommet in sight. I hooked it back up and tested it out. Now all upshifts seem ok including od but when I decelerate from od the tranny neutrals out and doesn't engage again until I drop to about 20mph. If I'm in D (not OD) there's no problem shifting at all. My brother in law who is a mechanic tells me that the OD gear is burned out but I can't figure out why it will shift into OD if thats the case. Am I in for a rebuild? Any ideas or suggestions are greatly appreciated. Thanks very much Anthony

Reply to
AnthSF
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What you have is a classic failure of the OD band because the throttle cable for the trans disconnected. That cable controls the line pressure in that trans to increase pressure as the throttle is advanced. With the cable disconnected, the line pressure has been low allowing the trans to slip. Unfortunately, the only cure is a trans rebuild since the front internals have to come out to replace the band. Once you get there, you are 85% of a complete overhaul. Make damn sure that cable bushing gets replaced with the new updated one and is properly adjusted. That trans is very sensitive to that adjustment and can burn out in only a few miles if disconnected.

Cheers

Lugnut

Reply to
lugnut

Try this for just a few dollars and minutes:

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If it doesn't work, it may be time for a new (rebuilt) transmission.

Reply to
Sharon Cooke

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