ChrisWhewell Posted September 2, 2017 Share Posted September 2, 2017 On my 90, I'll be tooling around about 40 mph, and suddenly have a desire to go a little faster, so I make a torque request (press the gas pedal) and instead of going faster, the transmission shifts to the next higher gear, which gives me a bog, instead of more speed. arrgh I saw the youtube video of the fellow teaching how to adjust the transmission cable and haven't tried messing with that yet, and am wondering if perhaps it isn't something else. This sometimes happens at highway speed, I'll hit the gas to pass someone, but it bogs, the torque convertor locks and the rpms drop, giving me less torque than I want. I've been manually downshifting which works fine but I sense something somewhere is out of adjustment. I checked vacuum line to the modulator and by visual inspection all is well. So, I'm a bit befuddled !! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
89RedDarkGrey Posted September 2, 2017 Share Posted September 2, 2017 If there is any slack in the TV cable- that could be it. How old is the modulator? Rubber vacuum lines? (1 leak weakens the entire system) It could also be a failing transmission pressure switch. 3 switches, easy to check- either on jack stands (preferred safer method) or while driving- enter diagnostics, ECM and watch for indicated gear change and TC lockup. A symptom of TV cable maladjustment is early and/or unwanted TC engagement. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisWhewell Posted September 4, 2017 Author Share Posted September 4, 2017 Thank you. Maybe I will try a new modulator, b/c the cable looked good and tight. By the way, I took your suggestion from a while back and used wd40 to get the dealer sticker adhesive off the rear of the car, I used a .58 mm nylon guitar pick as a "scraper", it worked great. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveT Posted April 8, 2018 Share Posted April 8, 2018 ok , along these lines. I retired as a master mechanic , but my experience is in HD trucks , leaving me not as fluent in auto , especially auto transmissions as i would like to be. I just gave my oldest son my 1989 burgandy/red Reatta to drive/restore and we have found that the transmission is shifting slow from 2nd to 3rd. Fluid is clean , TC seems to operate correctly and there is no slippage or hesitation in any other gear. Is there any logical tests we should do before we pull transmission , or is that our only option. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronnie Posted April 8, 2018 Share Posted April 8, 2018 10 minutes ago, SteveT said: transmission is shifting slow from 2nd to 3rd. Please define shifting slow. Does it hesitate to shift or is it slipping between gears? Does the fluid have a burnt smell? You could try some Seafoam Trans Tune. Some people have had good luck with using it to fix minor problems that are related to seals and sticking valves in the valve body, ect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveT Posted April 8, 2018 Share Posted April 8, 2018 it will slip if you do not lift off the throttle. If you lift , it drops into 3rd and is locked in. Trans fluid is clean and not burnt. We will try the seafoam , thank you. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DAVES89 Posted April 8, 2018 Share Posted April 8, 2018 (edited) On my Red it would slip on 1-2 gears on days with the temperature below 40-50 degrees. Just on the first shift and never a problem after that. Also would not come out of first gear when accelerating at WOT. I believe you are on "borrowed time" and will experience a failure. The Black shifted great until I started getting a "shudder" between 2-3 gears. Didn't last long after that started and have since swapped in a used tranny. Back to the Red, when I had the engine rebuilt I did a tranny swap at the same time. Everything works great on both cars [and the 'vert so far everything is great, just came off a 2000 mile vacation] now... Edited April 8, 2018 by DAVES89 (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveT Posted April 8, 2018 Share Posted April 8, 2018 At least my donor car is sitting with a great running engine and good transmission. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jglawnyc Posted April 9, 2018 Share Posted April 9, 2018 I thought I had a tranny problem too. My 91 "shuddered" around 40-50 mph, and especially going uphill....turned out that when I cleaned the connections between the plug wires and the ICM coil leads (one was quite rusty) the problem vanished. 6 months later, same issue but very minor....again cleaned as before (this time only slight rust) and again problem vanished. I need to replace plugs/wires/coils-ICM at some point, but for now its fine. By the way, do any of you experience that if you drive at least a little every day (or close to that) the car seems happier and better performing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DS_Porter 89 Burgandy Posted April 9, 2018 Share Posted April 9, 2018 Yes I believe daily driving does help to keep everything "happy". Probably it is more accurate to say that the driver is much more familiar with the slightest problems as they develop. Easier to troubleshoot if only one thing is wrong and you stay on top of things. I take pride in being able to say EVERYTHING (except the cassette deck) still works after 29 years and 102K miles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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