No 1-2 Upshift from 500 mile Art Carr

89psychobird

Registered User
I installed my Art Carr Trans from supercoupeperformance.com late last year with help from a co-worker that wrenches on the side. This was not his 1st AOD install. When we first road tested it, it did not shift consistantly, but was fine within about 10 miles of driving.

I am not sure if this is important or not - Often when accelerating medium to hard (especially in a turn) there is a shutter from what seems to be wheel hop with only one wheel (trac-loc needs rebuilt). It is possible that it was the trans. It is hard to tell because my old tires don't alway squeal when I spin them.

Today I got in to leave for work and as my luck would have it, it will not upshift out of 1st gear. When I take my foot off the gas, there is no engine braking. I have always driven this new trans with it in Overdrive, and there has always been engine braking in Overdrive, but none in Drive.

I dropped the pan to be adventurous so I can pull the valve body, hopefully to find something in it that should not be there that might explain the original inconsistant shifting and the new problem. Where the dipstick enters the transmission there was a silicone like rubbery substance hanging there.

Is it possible that I will get lucky and find some in the valvebody and be able to clean it up, without tearing any deeper into the trans, and without any damage? The fluid is still red, but has a slight burnt smell to it.
 
I'd be giving Art Carr a call instead of taking stuff apart. It does sound like a VB issue, and the easiest way to fix it is to have them send you another one to swap out. Since it only lasted 500 miles, I would expect it to be covered under warranty.

David
 
Yes. Contact Art carr. The AOD is self contained. Other than hooking up the TV and shifter cables, there is nothing you could do to it to cause a problem in 500 miles. I know from experience that if its improperly assembled, it can stop shifting from 1-2. Make sure you don't have coolant from the radiator leaking into the fluid. It would be cloudy pink if that were the case.
 
Yes TV was set properly, and no coolant in fluid. I started tearing into it before I read any replies. According to supercoupeperformance.com there is only a 90 day warranty compared to the 1 year warranty on the more expensive Art Carr transmission. I am beyond 90 days, but not 1 year. I looked on artcarr.com and the warranty section says 1 year.

I went thru the valve body and did find some small foreign material, but not much. I was not impressed with the work that was done. After they surface ground the valve body, they left behind some slivers and burrs which could have done some damage. The pan was not very clean where the gasket seals to it. Test drove it tonight with the exact same problems as before. I guess I will call Art Carr tomorrow and see what they say about warranty. If they do say it is covered for 1 year, I still may have a problem. Their website states that the customer is not to disassemble the transmission. They will be able to tell because the separator plate gaskets that they used were not Ford gaskets. I guess I could tear it down and put the old gaskets back in, hoping they will not notice, or I tell the truth???

I know, I SHOULD HAVE BOUGHT A LENTECH!!!
 
Doesnt take very long to swap the gaskets. As long as they aren't torn, it should be fine. IMO... Art Carr owes you a working tranny, so I wouldn't mention the inspection that you did. I know its tempting, but don't clean anything.
 
I read the Art Carr warranty again. 90 days for any Street Max trans. My 90 days was up in February. Anyone have any solid legal advice?
 
I read the Art Carr warranty again. 90 days for any Street Max trans. My 90 days was up in February. Anyone have any solid legal advice?
Unfortunately, 90 days is 90 days. If you are polite with them and explain the situation, you "might" get somewhere with them. However, if you are confrontational, I'm pretty sure they'll write you off before you know it.
 
I tried being nice on the phone today, that did not work. Oh well, another lesson learned...Buy Lentech, if you can't afford it then save until you can.
 
I tried being nice on the phone today, that did not work. Oh well, another lesson learned...Buy Lentech, if you can't afford it then save until you can.

Using a local tranny shop and getting a warranty always works best for me. Working with a tranny vendor thousands of miles away sucks big brown cheese.:eek:
 
OK.. so if its yours totally, I'd pull it and check the condition of the forward clutch. I've blown 3 hub bearings (long story) and each and every time, it wouldn't shift out of 1st until warmed up. Also made a horrible sounding groan sometimes when starting out. :eek:
 
My Thunderbird SC was bought from a guy who put 2 or 3 performance rebuilds from either Art Carr or Lentech in it - I can't remember which - and they all burned up within a few thousand miles. He eventually gave up and sold the car with no transmission because they wouldn't give him any more help. I talked to his local transmission shop and the owner said that the rebuilding company told him after many phone calls that he should not be using synthetic fluid in their transmission. (But they hadn't told him that until after the failures.)

Now, I don't know if that is really a plausible explanation for the problems that he had, but you might want to double-check the fluid recommendation before you go any further.
 
I brought the car over to my co-worker who helped me install it and hooked up gauges to do control pressure checks. We road tested it with gauges on it. I was able to get it to shift into 2nd gear by shifting from 1 to D, but it would not downshift back into 1st without putting it back in 1. Anyhow, we recorded pressures in all gear selections at idle and at full stall. Does anyone have the TSB Special Specifications Issue with these numbers in it? During one of the pressure checks at "full stall" in OD I was able to bring it up to 3000 rpm, even though my TC is a 2200-2400 stall???

On the way home I was able to get 1, 2, 3, and OD at operating temperature. But when it is cold it will not shift at all.
 
Can you describe the problem completely again.

I.e. When in OD, what gears will it do. When in D, what gears will it do. When in 1 what gears will it do?

Are you sure the Art Car valve body isn't supposed to be full manual?

Did this come delivered complete or did you have to install the valve body. If you installed the valve body did you make sure to use a very well calibrated torque wrench?
 
On the way home I was able to get 1, 2, 3, and OD at operating temperature. But when it is cold it will not shift at all.
Same symptoms as when my forward drum/hub bearing got ground into pieces. Eventually, the spring retainer came off with a WHAM!.. head scratch.. "Hmmm. I wonder what that was. :confused: ". It still shifted when warm.
 
Mike8675309-

When trans is cold I get 1st gear in 1 (with engine breaking), 1st gear only in D (with NO engine breaking, normal according to Art Carr), and 1st gear only in OD (with NO engine breaking, not normal, had engine breaking before).

When at operating temp I could only get it to upshift by going from 1 to D, it then shifted to 2nd, I then shifted to OD and got 3rd gear and overdrive. I would like to road test it more to see about downshifting but I had back surgery on Monday and can't drive for a week.

The Art Carr valve body is not supposed to be full manual. They have modified it for firmer shifts.

The trans was delivered complete. I removed the valve body after it stopped shifting. I disassembled it, cleaned it, used crocus cloth on some surfaces that were a little rough, reassembled it with new gaskets that I had to open a few holes and add a few holes to match the gaskets they had in it. I torqued all bolts to the mid point of the torque specs in my Ford shop manual with a Craftsman Digitorque wrench that is only a few years old.
 
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