Lost first gear in AOD

madison

Registered User
I recently replaced the front seal in my daughters 91 LX which has an AOD. Upon the test drive I found that it had no first gear. If I put the selector in low the car feels like it wants to go in reverse. I don't know if the tranny has been smoked or if there is some other explaination.
 
I recently replaced the front seal in my daughters 91 LX which has an AOD. Upon the test drive I found that it had no first gear. If I put the selector in low the car feels like it wants to go in reverse. I don't know if the tranny has been smoked or if there is some other explaination.

Check to see if the TV cable is still attached to the throttle linkage.

David
 
Thanks for the reply. yes the tv cable is attached and I believe is adjusted correctly. It kicks down from 3RD to 2ND. Just can't find first
 
have you lost any other gears? like reverse? i know when i lost 3rd and OD i also lost reverse. So that told me there was a burnt up clutch in the tranny. This could be your problem but unlikely.
 
Put the shift lever on the console in park. Raise the car up and detach the shift cable from the tranny; loosen the adjuster nut; move the lever on the tranny back and forth all the way and count the number of detents. Should be 5 clicks both ways.

Put the tranny lever the all the way forward to the Park position and the reattach the cable and tighten the adjuster nut. And have someone shift it back and forth to see if the tranny level settles in the correct position. See if it makes any difference.

1st gear only uses the fwd clutch. 2nd gear is fwd + intermediate clutches... if it were a forward clutch problem, you wouldn't have 2nd gear either. Did you change the fluid+filter also? Did you dissassemble any other part of the tranny? Any problems getting it to bolt back up to the engine?

Next step may be to drop the pan and look for metal shavings.
 
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In my AOD I lost 2nd gear only once, which came back.. then i lost only 1st gear, but like 2nd gear it Came back too :)
Sorry no idea what caused it, like 5-6 months after 1st came back, Lost 3rd gear and soon after (like 5 miles) 4th gear went out too.. and that when i swapped in the 5spd :)
 
One thing that will cause that, is if the valve body has had any work on it, or someone has repositioned the gear selector on the tans. It is fairly easy to place the selector arm into the wrong slot in the valve body. If this is done, the shift cable can be adjusted to allow the shifter to line up correctly, but will not be able to engage 1st gear.

gear%20sel.jpg
 
have you lost any other gears? like reverse? i know when i lost 3rd and OD i also lost reverse. So that told me there was a burnt up clutch in the tranny. This could be your problem but unlikely.
That's strange I lost 1st and 2nd along with reverse and assumed it meant clutches also.The car will pull through 1 and 2 w/light throttle and is fine when it gets into 3 and 4.
I'd still check TV linkage or valvebody as suggested since it worked before work was done it would have to be related to that it would seem.
 
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