I have an 88 Thunderbird with an AOD Trans, before tear down it was shifting hard, to be more specific it kicks like a mule. It revs up to about 35mph before slamming into gear and was curious as to any ideas as to the cause.
Someone had said it could be a vacuum leak but I was curious as to where I should start as far as fixing it goes, or if it sounds like something that warrants a rebuild.
there is no vacuum to a aod, it has a t.v. cable from the throttle body to thr transmission , you need to ajdust it so its not pulling on the cable so much, becareful because it you go too far you will burn up the trans.are all the shifts late and hard?better a little late than early soft shifts, if so adjust it. bigG
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93 LX, 5.0, aod 3.73,bbk shortie headers, x pipe, pypes 2 1/2" all mandrell bent , carbon fiber driveshaft,70mm throttle body,73mm c&l meter, 24lb hr injectors,b303 cam, crane cobra 1.7 r rockers, electric fan, 6g alt,underdrive pullies,00 gt wheels 17x8 1/4 mile time 12.85. @ 108.96 mph .100% italian
sounds like it shifting very extreme, what changed? dose it engauge hard? maybe theres a stuck pressure regulator or t.v. valve? i would try to get to shift a little softer. bigG
It really just seemed to happen overnight, so I'm not sure what happened, I thought about dropping the pan and installing a new shift kit, allowing me to check out the valve body. I mean is this something that could mean the trans is shot or is it possible to fix?
It still seems to run through all 4 gears but the shift points seem like there way out of whack, not shifting 1-2 until like 35 mph and kicking hard
The normal shift point for 2nd is 15mph, 3rd is 25mph, and OD around 42-45mph. If the throttle valve cable isn't adjusted right, it can cause it to shift like that. Anyone fiddle with it before? That's a change that can be made to make it better but not when it's taken too far.
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It's common for the bushing holding the cable to have a problem, and also for the cable to develop problems too. Either can affect how the transmission shifts.
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Ask me why I ran "only" a 13.54.
Member: NMRA Member: White Mustang Registry #362 Member: Fuzzy Dicer
Thanks for the video, helped in more than one way. Ended up realizing that this trans is missing two of the levers that hook up to the trans, looks like its off to the bone yard to pick some off.
After studying this video and the technical drawing for it, I'm really confused at this point, I have the AOD TV cable, but also the shifter is a column shifter, so I have the linkage for that that runs to the trans as well, so I'm a bit confused on how to hook it all up. Perhaps I'm missing something simple but I've never hooked one of these back up so i'm lost as to how to go about it.
You can see the shift link that goes up twods the steering column and bolts in place, but i'm confused as to where the tv cable should be attaching at this point
1988 Thunderbird AOD Trans Questions 
