87 s4 auto. Curious??? From a dead stop I shift to 2 then back to D. I get first gear start and shifts normally through the gears. If from a dead stop I put the selector in 2 I get first gear start all the way to redline but never shifts to second. If during accel I shift to 3, trans shifts to 2 then to three. Pressure cable is set to specs.
What gives?

 

Low of ATF? May be.

 

I mean " ON"

 

Nope level fine.

 

Are you sure the tach shows redline correctly? So, if you let her go does she hit the rev limiter?

 

Yep!

 

Ed

I've noticed the same thing with my 88 auto?? I'm curious to see the responses - I recently replaces the rear tranny fluid with new synthetic.

 

Doug, Well at least I'm not alone. Hope one of the tranny experts can shed some light on the issue.

 

Same thing here, and I thought it was supposed to be that way. If you want to go into second, you move the shifter to 3 and back to 2 quickly. Then you're in second and can take it from there.

 

That is how the transmission was design to work. 2nd is the engine braking feature the Trans will start in first and hole it till red line. In 3rd the Trans will not shift into 4th.

 

Mine does the exact same thing. I love it. It's perfect. Fantastic automatic if you ask me. Funny how the only other automatic trans that even came close to this for me was my mother's 280 SL.

I put it in 2nd, from a stop and it will stay in first. And as soon as I move the handle to 3rd it will shift to 2nd hard and then to 3rd if I don't increae the throttle opening.

If I have the handle in D, from a dead start it will start in 1st and then quickly shift into 2nd seamlessly if I give light throttle. Fantastic. But if I give 1/3rd or more throttle (vacuum?) it will stay in first and then shift smartly into 2nd. And if I hold the throttle more than halfway from rest, it will stay in 1st and shift hard into 2nd when it runs out of revs. More fantastic, 'cause the car jumps. I would be hard pressed to shift a stick so briskly and not worry about harming any part of the driveline.

I got an automatic because I had knee surgery, but this automatic is so far out (oops, there goes my age again) that I love it more every day. And in the mountains it is also great. I can even eat bananas while driving down my friendly neighborhood freeway. (I'm a vegetarian)

I think this transmission is one of the strong points of the car. I almost want to go drive it now, though I have already put 100 miles on the car today.

 

The design of the shfiting of the 87 automatic is the reason I have think the auto is nearly comparable to a 5 speed.

1. Floor it with the shfiter in 2, but trans is actually in first gear
2. As it red lines in first, shift to 3 then quickly back to 2, trans is now in 2nd gear.
3. As it red lines in 2nd, shift to 3, etc.

Reason many of the automatics have gone away from the old T-handle and to the newer shift handle - just so much fun shifting the auto.

 

Thanks for the input everyone. Seems like the longer I own one the more I learn about her including the fact that I still have a lot to learn.

 

My auto, early '87 with flip wing (1385) does not work that way.

In first gear (indicates 2) at stop, floor it, and she shifts automatically at redline, to 2nd.

At this point, I shift to 3 and at redline she auto-shifts to 3.

I have to manually shift to 4.

Very very cool and smooth. Rev limiter is never hit, and redline is reached in all gears.

 

My Euro 86 is exactly the same as heinrich describes. The one thing I would want to change is to get it to kick down to first from 2nd at reasonable road speeds/rpm - anything up to 40mph, getting near the redline.

Is the restriction in the hydraulics, or the kick down relay system ?

Does a kickdown bypass switch overcome this "problem" ?