mspiegle

Alright. The tranny in question started acting up about 1-2 months ago. It seemed to shift a little different, then got worse and wouldn't go into 3rd at WOT. Now its exhibiting all kinds of strange behavior which i'll list here:

The car always starts in first gear. If you start driving, it will not shift into 2nd gear until 4K rpm. If you're in 2nd gear, it seems the only way to get into 3rd gear (or 4th gear from 3rd gear) is to quickly go into neutral, then back to drive. Sometimes it will shift into 3rd/4th if you peg the revlimiter and let off, but that isn't practical on the street.

So... I drained out the fluid in the tranny and refilled it. I drove the car around a bit to make sure it was hot again and checked the resevoir. It is exactly between the min and max marks right now.

My next plan is to pull out the governer. Can this be done without draining the fluid? Or do I need to drain the fluid? (basically, i just want to know if ATF is going to drown me when I pull that thing out).

thanks!

N.Masco

My guess would be that the bowden cable needs to be lengthened. Does the problem seem to improve as the car warms up?

mspiegle

Condition is the same regardless if the car is warm or cold.

Thanks for mentioning that, i forgot that important piece of info.

N.Masco

I suppose the kickdown could be stuck too...but I don't think that is too likely.

mspiegle

I thought that at first... but the car shifts out of first gear on its own at 4K rpms. The rest of the gears just need the D,N,D trick. Just to check, I got down there and the button seems to press and come back normally.

N.Masco

I actually meant the solenoid that the gas pedal switch activates on the transmission. I still think the key is to lengthen the cable. It should only take a couple of minutes and minimal work to try it out. The cable controls the shift points and the modulator controls the shift quality. You did not mention if there was any change in shift quality.

Tails

To allow us to assist you with the diagnosis could you please supply the year model of your car?
Tails 1990 928 S4 Auto

mspiegle

Does anyone know about this?

borland

The tranny in car governer removal procedure is in the WSM (vol 3, p. 38-143). You don't need to drain the fluids.

A better test is to monitor the governer pressure under different road speeds. This is also in the WSM. Buy a transmission pressure tester that comes with a M8x1.0 adapter:

http://search.ebay.com/transmission-...fkrZ1QQfromZR8

borland
90' S4, Slate Metallic

mspiegle

Hey Borland,
Thanks for the reply. I did read through the whole tranny book in the WSM before posting here, but it made more sense that there was some kind of fluid in there because it seems the governer can be made dirty in some way. How can the governer get dirty if there is no fluid around it and it is in a relatively sealed area?

Thanks!

borland

The governer is in it's own cavity behind the bands and rotating drums, but it does get lubricated by the same fluids.

Just check the external reservoir level to see how high the fluids are below the governer cover. You'll see that it won't overflow.

borland

Another point....

Don't forget to notice that the oil pan is much deeper on one side than the other. That makes the governer removal cover look much lower than it is.

mspiegle

Excellent. I'll be pulling it out tomorrow.

Thanks

mspiegle

Ok, i've got the governer out. It was surprisingly easy once I removed the intermediate mufflers. It looked VERY clean and functional. I can spin it with my hand and feel the "wings" expanding to change the flow of fluid via the piston. I am currently disassembling it to some extent and ensuring that it is 100% clean.

I guess my next steps are to check pressures and the valve body. Where can I get such a measuring kit that will allow me to test the automatic transmission pressures?

Darien

Pic's