AOD Trans conversion

[ROKuberski]

DIY instructions for AOD installation.  This is meant to go with a video that is in progress.  I should have it done in the next week or so.

Rich

[ROKuberski]

It's been a while since I last posted.  I have continued to have trouble with the way the transmission shifts.  This morning I went in for diagnostics.  It was determined that I would have remove the transmission and take it back for the builder to see what is going on, or not going on.  I had it out of the car in 90 minutes, pretty good for an old phart.  I took it to the builder and they immediately did a complete tear down.  I stayed for the surgery.  They found a minor issue that caused a major problem.  No new parts required, just a stuck governor.  With luck they will have it back together tomorrow and I'll pick it up in the afternoon.  Then, I'll have to reinstall it.  That takes more time than removal, but I can get it done.  Hopefully this solves the problems.

They did ask that I flush the core of the cooler.  I got a can of Cooler Clean and blasted that through the core.  I collected all of the fluid and it all looked pretty clean, but I suppose that there is a chance that something in the system caused the problem.  However, the old transmission leaked so much that I was always adding fluid.  It should have been pretty clean.

Rich

[RICH MUISE]

...............well, how did it go?

[ROKuberski]

Rich,

Well, I did get it back in and have done several test drives.  I would say I have a 90% improvement.  I have scheduled a visit back to the shop for 8:00am Thursday morning so they can either fine tune the adjustments or tell me that they want it back on their bench.  I'm hoping for a fine tuning will make it perfect.  I don't want to wear out my bolts taking it out again.

Since I had it out, I got a better picture of my home made shift linkage. 

Does anyone know of a site that translates the numbers on the transmission to what it came out of?

Rich

[RICH MUISE]

Neutral safety switch? Good luck tomorrow!

[ROKuberski]

Yes, I got the switch and a pigtail for it.  Still have to wire it into the system.  Right now, you can start the car in any gear you want, but I start it in Park.

Rich

[ROKuberski]

Diagnostics today (Thursday.)  Car shifts normally when cold.  As it warms up, failure to downshift into 1st when coming to a stop.  Measured pressure on the front pump.  Too high.  Valve body replacement tomorrow.  On the original rebuild of the transmission a brand new original Ford valve body was removed from original packaging and installed.  It should be a quick fix and I don't have to remove the transmission.

I hope tomorrow is the end of the story.

Rich

[ROKuberski]

The saga continues.  Measurement of pressures are good.  Adjustment of the TV cable is good.  We replaced the valve body and there is still a failure to downshift to first gear.

They want to try fine tuning the TV cable adjustment one more time and if that does not work, they will furnish another rebuilt transmission.

I am not looking forward to the removal and replacement again, but I think that is what will be happening.  The good news is that it is not costing me anything, but blood, toil, tears and sweat.

Rich

[gasman826]

valve body and governor control the shift points and are both serviceable with the transmission  in the car.  If you can manually shift to first gear and it works correctly, there is nothing wrong with the transmission.  The governor is suspect especially since the governor get the first oil back from the cooler.  If there was any dirt/foreign material shook loose in the cooler and/or cooler lines during installation, the dirt goes directly into the governor.  You mentioned a new valve body, wash the old one without taking it apart and install.  Does it shift differently?

[ROKuberski]

I don't have the old valve body.  I did flush the cooling system prior to installation.  I also collected the fluid from the flush and it was clean.

When cold, the transmission seemed to function correctly.  In just a couple  of miles of driving at 30 - 40 mph, it would no longer down shift into first gear at a stop.  All the upshifts seemed normal.  I cannot force it into first gear when it will not down shift at a stop.  When accelerating away from a stop, it will downshift into first gear. 

One thing I had thought of was that modern vehicles idle at a higher rpm than the Y-Block.  I think factory settings were about 450 rpm, I've had it set at 550 rpm.  But, for this testing I jacked it up to about 825 rpm.  That did not seem to make any difference.

Thanks for the comments.

Rich

[ROKuberski]

Well, we installed a new governor on the transmission yesterday.  I had found a video from Monster Transmissions on how to clean and evaluate the governor.  When the existing unit was removed, I examined it and I felt sure that it was not defective, but we installed the new one anyway.  This morning I went our for a test drive and right off, it was working perfectly, but within a couple of miles it was doing exactly the same thing.  I tried adjusting the TV pressure and tested it at 35, 38, 42 and 46 psi.  It did not affect the downshifting into first gear, but it did make the shifts harder.

Something is happening inside of the transmission when it warm up.  A friend who teaches Automotive Tech at the local community college feels that the case may be warped.  Possibly had rough handling at some point.

The good news is that they are preparing another unit for me.  The bad news is that I have to remove the transmission again.  Practice makes perfect.

Rich

[fdlrc]

Man, you got me on the edge of my seat waiting to your issue to get resolved. Very interesting.

[ROKuberski]

Will I guess with people at home with limited entertainment, this will have to suffice for some.  I hope you find something better soon because I hope this saga ends this coming week.

I've got the transmission out of the car and will take it back to them Saturday morning.  I haven't seen the new candidate, but I do want to make sure it has a long tailshaft and the same shift arm.  In my research, I learned that Ford had 16 different styles of shift arms.  If the other transmission is different, they can harvest the one from the original transmission.  My DIY shift linkage is not likely to work with other variants.

Stay tuned for chapter 372.

Rich

[ROKuberski]

And the Good News is:  They were building me another transmission when they discovered a crack in the case.  They are getting another replacement and I did not have to find out about the cracked case after installing it in the car.

Rich

[RICH MUISE]

Any news on the replacement?