Overdrive went out on my 1991 SC AUTO! PLease assist.

91BLOWNSC

Registered User
Ok I have a bit of a problem with my 1991 T-bird SC (auto). It currently has 120,000 miles and lately has been slipping out of Over Drive. Like it did it intermittenly before where it would shift kinda slowly into overdrive and then when i apply just a light amount of gas it will slip out and then jump back in and it would be fine...but now it just...slips out and jumps back in...slips out and jumps back in..you get the point. When I apply a steady acceleration it will do that when going over 45 (where the OD band is on) It will keep jumping back out and going in. Anyways couple of question. What is wrong with my car? Is it a OD band that is bad? Do I even have an OD band or is it a clutch pack? Should i spend a ton of $$ to get htis fixed. Its getting worse each day. Its to the point where I can't even keep it in OD any more. My friend told me to go with a kevlar OD something or other. Any ideas? Thanks for the input!
 
OD is Out

I've got a 90 SC with 148,000 and I'm stationed in Germany. (LOVE THE AUTOBAHN!!!) About two years ago, I was just pulling out from a shop & my tranny spun while I applied gas. OD band went out. Sounds almost identical to mine and happening around 120K. I had the whole tranny rebuild at the time because I planned on keeping it. Cost me around $600 if I remember right (in Virginia at the time). Have had no problems since & I'm running regularly at 130 on the Autobahn. I love this car!
 
So....

So....my only choice is to rebuild the WHOLE thing? The OD cannot be fixed alone seeing as how the trans would have to be gone through anyways right? Anyone know what a decent price for a rebuild would be and what mods they would have done while its being rebuilt? If my OD band is gone and i am having it rebuilt I want this to be the LAST time. So what are my options.
 
Well if you're gonna pay the price & labor to drop it, tear it apart & do the Overdrive band, you might as well rebuild the entire thing. They pretty much have to tear it all apart to replace the OD band anyway. Hope this helps.
 
aod OD band

91blownsc I have rebuild my own aod that was also had no OD.
It isn't that hard you just need some special tools.

You could rebuild the whole thing or have a tranny shop do and but you will pay a good $1000 depending if you have a hookup then you could get it done for $400 to $500.

If you wanted to do this your self if would cost you arround $300 with some more advice from me.
Or cheaper yet with just replacing the OD alone. Like Less than $50.



email me

hepcat75@msn.com
 
If you're gonna do it...

Do it right. You can have a bulletproof AOD for maybe $850.00 plus R&R.
The weakest part of the AOD is the 1.5 " OD band. That, along with the comfortable soft shift that Ford programed into the AOD in these Heavy cars wears out the bands fast.
There's a company called "Precision Industries" that sells all the goodies to build and AOD that'll handle 500 + hp. My entire overhaul including conversion to 2" OD band, reverse clutch drum, solid steel billet input shaft, neck snapping shift kit and a high stall Torque converter along with a whole mess of other parts cost $1600.00. That's expensive SoCal prices, with R&R, Radiator flush, everything. I'm sure in other parts of the country it'd be much less expensive. By example, Aamco wanted $1850.00 for a "stock" rebuild.
 
Ok...Thanks....

ok great great guys.......but if I have my car done somewhere can I tell them I want a 2'' OD band rather than a 1.5''? or Am I going to have to purcahse all these materials myself? If I have to do that where about to I order them from or at least some places to start looking. Thanks for all the current info!!
 
The reason I paid so much is that I had the shop that did my rebuild order all the parts from suppliers. (at the time I had no spare time to work on the car) I found all the suppliers on the 'net. Do a search for the company "Precision industries" and you will find them. I got most everything from them, except for the shift kit, which I had the shop order from "Baumann engineering" also online. The shop might be able to get a discount that you couldn't get as well.
The 2" conversion is available aftermarket thru suppliers, or if you have a good shop doing your overhaul, the mech should know all the conversion parts are also available thru Ford, since the AOD with the 2" OD came on the ranger (I think) pickup.
If you have problems working up a wish list, email me & I can tell you exactly all the stuff I bought.
Also, I suggest that you have the shop set up the 3rd/ OD shift for slightly above 45 mph, since (around here anyway) most city streets seem to be 45mph speed limit, which is exactly in between 3rd & OD.
Don't go to a big chain for the overhaul. call around to a bunch of medium sized auto repair places an ask who THEY get to do their automatic overhauls, since Tranny work is pretty specialized. Then just tell THAT guy what you want. Remember, it's your money he's working for. Listen to his suggestions, but have him build you the tranny YOU want.
 
tranny rebuild in progress

Hey guy, I have recently entered the world of the aoutomatic tranny rebuild, the wifes 91 Lincoln Towncar. :mad:

If you're gonna go through the hassle of removing the tranny, go ahead and rebuild it; the kit is around 150. I orded the cheepie from Autozone due to time constraints, it was 125 after tax, and ordered a kevlar OD band ($30) separately (the kit had one but I think the kevlar might hold up a good bit longer). I was kinda skeptical about the cheap kit, but all the seals seem to match up really good.

Hepcat, from a few posts up, above was able to give me some guidance as well.

That 2" OD band can't just be swaped out, you have to replace the drum and other misc. parts, the drum is the surface the band is applied against. They sell a kit for the swap at http://www.baumannengineering.com/aodcat.htm They don't list their prices, but when I called they wanted $350 for that kit. If I had more time, I'd find out what parts were in the kit and get them from a junk transmission. Their shift kit is 50 bucks by the way, and awhile back they seemed to be highly recommended, but I can't vouvh for their quality or performance gain..

You'll need at least a haynes manual ($15) and a set of snap ring pliers, the spring compressor (you'll see it in the book, but I used some c-clamps). You might also need the seal protector kit, that wil allow you to re-seat the pistons in the drums. I'm taking my necessary parts to the Lincoln dealer I bought it from, they said they'd let me use therie seal protectors and bench for about 5 minutes.

Hepcat told me he did his and that it wasn't that big of a deal. I have a newfound respect for someone that can rebuild one in a day, and there's alot of parts, but just keep organized and it should go pretty easily. I have a little video, and some pics of the parts, and will take some more when I put it back together. All I'm waiting on now is for the kevlar OD band to come in and I'll put that biatch back together and slap'er back in.....

I'll be able to email you some pics, maybe even an mpg video clip or two if you want. sizemoremk@yahoo.com

Hepcat has been a real help as well.

Good luck:cool:



:eek: OH!! keep in mind you'll have to remove the gas tank to get the driveshaft out.......might want to keep a low fuel level if you're gonna do it. I have access to a lift and all on an Army installation,
if you don't have access to a lift, you might think of someone you know that might have access to a military base that has an auto- hobby shop. The one here is lax, as I got out of the Corps over 2 years ago and they let me use it cuz I stilll work on the same installation. If you find someone, they will have to be there with ya though, so it better be a good freind......
 
What's your choice

hey Blown91sc

What did you decide or have ya?

Are you going to have a place rebuild it or are you going to attempt it yourself.

If you do attempt it your self give me an email and I can give you some hints on making this less work. I found a way arround not having to drop the tank to get that drive shaft out of the tranny.

Keep us informed

hepcat
 
how!!!!

How did you do this??? It's been awhile since I did mine in the SC, but that would have been helpful info back when I did...
 
drive shaft drop easy way

well first take off the driveshaft bolts and push the driveshaft up in the tranny so you have room to move it arround.

Next you need to take the exhaust off the hangers.

Next place a jack under the differencial and take out all the bolts.

Then lower the differencial and you should have enough room for the driveshaft to be pulled over the differencial.

This worked for me and I had a 21 gallon tank well that is what the book says for 89 Xr7.

There ya go.

Raymond
 
No..

Naw I am having it done by some private guy who works at fords. The only problem was he said that mine would be upgraded to a 1.5'' band which it already has right? I am confused. I don't think I am going to pay 350 bucks for the 2'' kit. He told me it wouldn't go out again if he rebuilt it. Anyways something he also mentioned to me made me worry a little. He said that a HS torque converter for my car would raise the rpm stall point by about 400-600 RPM. And he said and I quote "would put you between 1700-1800 rpm for your torque converter"......Isn't that pretty low anyways? or around stock right now? Is there any other decently priced TC I could get somewhere else? Or should I just let him put in what he thinks is good?
 
Hi

I live in Germany too. I'm live near Mannheim. I have a heavy modified 90 SC in the shop getting a fresh coat of paint at the moment.
Ken




Steve said:
I've got a 90 SC with 148,000 and I'm stationed in Germany. (LOVE THE AUTOBAHN!!!) About two years ago, I was just pulling out from a shop & my tranny spun while I applied gas. OD band went out. Sounds almost identical to mine and happening around 120K. I had the whole tranny rebuild at the time because I planned on keeping it. Cost me around $600 if I remember right (in Virginia at the time). Have had no problems since & I'm running regularly at 130 on the Autobahn. I love this car!
 
91BLOWNSC said:
Naw I am having it done by some private guy who works at fords. The only problem was he said that mine would be upgraded to a 1.5'' band which it already has right? I am confused. I don't think I am going to pay 350 bucks for the 2'' kit. He told me it wouldn't go out again if he rebuilt it. Anyways something he also mentioned to me made me worry a little. He said that a HS torque converter for my car would raise the rpm stall point by about 400-600 RPM. And he said and I quote "would put you between 1700-1800 rpm for your torque converter"......Isn't that pretty low anyways? or around stock right now? Is there any other decently priced TC I could get somewhere else? Or should I just let him put in what he thinks is good?


I don't think you need to uprade to the 2" OD band either, I've got a 1.5" Kevlar and it works fine. BTW, no overdrive band will hold up to WOT very long and my Lentech VB won't allow a WOT shift into OD and it will downshift from OD to third if you jump on the gas at anything under 90 mph. So in my car OD is just for highway cruising.

BTW, The stock converter is 12" with 1800-2000 stall, I wouldn't go any higher than 2400 stall.

David
 
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