'88 LX automatic tranmission problem after going to Midas?

you should have not let them change anything on the transmission... the dirt that was sitting on the floor in the transmssion must have moved up into the valve body and now is causing problems....

If this is the case, will the dirt eventually settle? Everyone I talk to about it seems to think that with time, things will settle and we will either see an improvement, or things will get worse in the tranny.

How likely do you think the problem is caused by dirt moving up into the transmission? 50%? 90%?

These transmissions are terrible. You'll be driving along fine and the next minute nothing. The modulators are known to pop quit often also. I doubt the root cause was something Midas did per se but they might have hastened its demise. Chances are it was going to die soon anyway judging by the poor shape of the fluid. These cars are much better with a 5 speed. I know that is cold comfort for you but I would avoid the 2.3 l AOD like the plague. StuK

comfort for you but

If the modulator valve's diaphram was breached, you would know it: it would shift very harshly (nearly slamming into gear), and at a very low RPM. You would also see tons of white smoke exiting the exhaust, as transmission fluid would be drawn through the vacuum tree into the engine intake manifold. I seriously doubt there was anything wrong with the modulator valve here.

They retail for $9 dollars, and take 5 minutes to install using simple hand tools.

Oldest trick in the book. They showed you the yucky, brown transmission fluid next to bright red fluid on a mirror, right? What you saw was old engine fluid, dipped from a jar up on the shelf. This old trick is also used when selling up a rear differential fluid change.

The second part of this trick is usually to charge the customer for this 'service' without actually performing anything substantial.

It's possible that they didn't plug the vacuum hose back into the modulator valve they just installed. Crawl underneath for a check.

It's also very possible that they installed the wrong type of transmission fluid. I've seen Type-F installed instead of Mercon/Dexron; worse, I've seen one Midas retard pump in several quarts of MOTOR OIL into an automatic transmission fill hole.

Midas is full of shit and ripped you off. It is now time for you to seek out a decent, local, independant transmission shop for inspection and diagnosis of the problems you describe. Stay away from the national chains; the worst are Dura-Built and AAMCO. Keep in mind that your problem may have never been transmission-related to begin with; something as simple as a non-op TPS sensor can cause shifting problems.

-JD

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I hope you don't have any problems.

How many miles? They do go for a long time but when the fail it isn't usually gradual! Have you owned the car from new and maintained it well? It is usually the total lack of care by the P.O. that will do in the auto trans regardless.

I still have never understood why manufacturers don't make them as easy to service as a simple engine oil change! StuK

It just rolled over, it shows 5,000 miles (but thats actually

I recently bought the car, I have had it for only a month. I do know from the car's history that it had sat around for several years due to an accident, which is why the car has so few miles on it. The accident was a fender bender to the driver's front wheel area -- the hood of the car and the fender were both replaced and the car repainted.

I have 156,000 on mine. I've owned it since it hit 150,000. It was owned by

Sounds like they failed to hook up the vacuum line to the modulator valve, or the hose has a hole in it. The symptoms you mentioned point in that direction. Check the hose and make sure it is connected correctly. If it looks like it is hooked up, trace the hose/line back to the engine compartment, looking very closely for a break/hole in the line.

Way back in my teens, we found out that if we unhook the vacuum line from the modulator valve, and plug it, we had a harder, manually shifting auto tranny for drag racing.

I don't know if it would apply to this particular transmission but I've heard that one some of the ford trannies (possibly the 4ald), it's not uncommon for people who replace the modulator and who don't really know what they are doing, to actually loose the pin that goes inside it - it falls out and they don't even notice it when they pull the old one. Then they put the new one in without the pin that goes inside it and of course it doesn't do anything since the pin is what transfers the movement of the modulator diaphragm to the inside part of the transmission. It's like not having the modulator there at all. I would not keep driving it like it is but would take it someplace that specializes in autotrans, NOT another Midas. In my experience, Midas has a hard time even doing exhaust work correctly, I would never let them touch my drive train.

----------------- Jim '88 LX 5.0 (now in car heaven) '89 LX 5.0 vert '99 GT 35th Anniversery Edition - Silver Mods to date - Relocated trunk release to drivers side, shortened throttle cable.