Is this the problem!?

5o4SHO

Registered User
I have a 92' Supercoupe. The automatic transmission in it is acting up. The tranny has been built, has a shift kit, and a 2200 stall. I know it is not the transmission that is the problem here. The fluid is still bright red, and its not slipping or clucking. I "THINK" it could be the kickdown cable. The bracket that holds the cable down with 2 bolts is hanging loose, a the black tubing around the cable appears to have a chunk missing out of it. Whenever im driving in O/D on the freeway. Its fine, doesnt have any problems. In city driving though, it likes to short shift for some reason. If I just have a little bit of pressure on the gas pedal like under normal daily driving conditions. It shifts up before it should, so when I go to press the gas its in too high of a gear and chugs. Its like trying to gas a maual car when you are doin 20mph and its in 3rd or 4th. What the heck could be causing this?
 
That "kickdown cable" is the throttle valve cable. It basically controls your transmission operation. It's adjustment and proper function are absolutely vital to your transmission operating properly and not burning up. I would resolve any issues you have with the cable (i.e. hanging bracket, etc) and make sure it is properly adjusted before driving the car any more. I would also replace the grommet on the throttle body that the tv cable snaps into. These have been known to dry out and crack and allow the cable to completely fall out under operation. If you don't know how to adjust the tv cable any decent transmission shop should be able to do it for you for a small fee.
 
You may have just saved me some money then. I told a Ford Dealer that I wanted it replaced and set to the tension it needs to be at before. They are charging me $80 just to look at the car. Do you need a special machine to read how tight it is or how do you adjust it on your own?
 
You need to hook up a pressure gage to the port on the passenger side of the transmission to read the tv pressure. You then have to put a block on the end of the cable which displaces the cable a specific amount and adjust the cable to the correct pressure reading. Well that is how the book says to do it. I usually adjust it by shift feel and timing, but that's probably not a widely recommended process. I believe Baumann has the book procedure on their website somewhere. It should also be in the factory service manual, but I haven't looked at it in a while.

If you do a search here in the tech forum on tv pressure you'll probably find a plethora of information as well.
 
Alright, thanks for getting me started on getting this problem fixed! Also, I have no plans to drive this car until the problem is resolved.
 
Alright, thanks for getting me started on getting this problem fixed! Also, I have no plans to drive this car until the problem is resolved.

If, you made no adjustments to the TV cable, then you should just be able to bolt it back in place where it was.
 
Following Lentech's reccomendation, I set mine as tight as possible without restricting the throttle from going wide open. Even at the tightest settings, under light throttle the darn thing is usually in third gear before crossing most intersections.

That chugging stuff your dealing with could have been corrected by going to a non locking converter. Instead of bogging and chugging along in 3rd until you press the throttle far enough to get a downshift to 2nd, it just slips a little and the car accelerates smoothly.

David
 
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