Archived Transmission slipping again!!!

[AndrewKing]

HI all,



I have seemingly had all kinds of problems (slippage)with my transmission that I am almost ready to give up but figured I'd try one more time to see if I can get it figured out... .



My truck is a 1993 W259 with automatic trans with OD... The truck has about 175000 miles and the trans has been rebuilt twice in the last 20000 miles... . and into the shop at least 4 times for them to "look at it"...





I don't tow heavy or drive hard (matter of fact I drive easy for mileage)..... The only mods to the truck are Dtt 89 converter, B&M finned aluminum pan, Shift Kit, Aux trans cooler, smaller tubo housing, BHAF, and gauges... .



The problem I am having has to do with slippage... . When I give a little gas the truck shudders sometimes or shudders into/in second gear (towing approx 3500 lbs)... . this just recently started again... .



The trans has never gotten hot since the rebuilds (per gauges) and the fluid is pink... . although I must admit the last two times I wiped the dipstick for whatever reason there was a little black residue above the fluid ... . not sure what that was about though...



Anyways, I suspect the problem may be an adjustment of the TV (I think that is what it is called) cable... . reason I think this is is because lately the truck seems to upshift and stay in higher gears longer than before... . when I first got it back from the shop the first time it use to rev pretty good before uoshifting... . NOW upshifts happen way earlier, some second gear starts (occasionally) but mostly early upshifts and slippage..... I think it was better winding out a tad then upshifting... (NOTE: the OD is on a toggle switch that I have to manually operate to turn on and off..... I do mostly in town slow speed so I typically leave it off... . the factory switch is bypassed to strictly my manual)...



How would I adjust the cable?... I did some reading before but would need more detailed info to help me out (I've never messed with that cable before... . I really need to use the truck BUT I don't wanna kill he transmission.



Thanks!



Andrew

 

[AndrewKing]

Oh... . it seems to me when you push the throttle, the TV cable goes IN to the cable housing... . so does that mean I should push the cable FORWARD in its mount to get later shifts and more pressure?

I may experiment by running a nut and bolt in the track of the slider
to simulate more throttle?

Thanks

Andrew

 

[AndrewKing]

HI,

OK I put a nut and bolt in the "slider" so that it pushed some of the cable into the housing..... It made a BIG difference BUT now upshifts happen so late I am sometimes up to 2000 RPM before it thinks about shifting (if I let off it'll sometimes upshift or sometimes a prolonged wind out until it shifts... . feels a little "spongy off the line too... . I hope that's not a bad thing... . Anyways seeming small adjustments make a big difference... . I don't think I pushed in the cable more than a 1/4 inch or so... . just whatever size the nut and bolt were that fit into the slot is however far it pushed the cable in... .

I am thinking it is trial and error time?

I didn't not slip per se but it did feel funny off the line... . hope THAT isn't slip... . Hmmmm what to do?... . again I don't want to mess up the transmission... . The shop I went to always blames the people who worked inside the transmission before they did BUT I thik if THEY rebuilt it is should be MADE OK DESPITE what others did beforehand... ... That same shop later blamed the shifting problem on a valve body and said I needed a new one... . I told them I was going to get a performance rebuild with DTT BUT then the shop here... . got it to work... . up until today when it started acting up again... . Hmmmm..... any ideas?... or run it til it blows then claim it's defective... . Of course the inconvience of it all stinks... . I envy the guys that say they pull heavy and have no problems... . I would DTT the whole thing BUT it is sooo expensive and I am already into this shop for sooo much too... . aarg

Andrew

 

[MMeier]

Sounds like it is time to find a shop that knows what they are doing... . I know, easier said then done.

 

[chipster]

Take that nut and bolt out! have some one step on the throttle all the way and you get your self under the hood and see if you can push the slotted end of the TV cable back towards the transmission. if you cannot the cable is adjusted correctly, and the FUNNY shifting is inside the trans/ valve body. If you CAN push the cable back towards the trans,(with the throttle on the floor) loosten the little plastic lever on the front of the cable housing and slide the housing up tight and lock the lever down. again, this adjustment is done with the throttle on the floor. If the trans still shifts FUNNY drive the crap out of it, because the problem is in the valve body/internal trans and aint goint to be cheap to fix. If the last shop you had rebuild it adjusted the TV cable correctly, they know what the problem is and blame the prior shop so they wont have to warranty their work. FIND another shop!!!!!

 

[AndrewKing]

HI Guys,

I did take the nut and bolt out of the slot... . I did do the test as suggested... that is open the throttle all the way up and note the position of the slot on the TV cable... . it appears that the cable still still had the full slot available if that makes sense... . should the spring on the cable be disconnected on the TV cable when doing this test?..... what does this result mean?... The nut and bolt mentioned above seemed to make a big difference and that was just about a 1/4"... . I can't even imagine what would happen moving things that much... could something else be wrong to require that much movement or am I looking/doing things incorrectly..... I am using a gas truck now and getting 7 MPG's rather than the 13 for the Diesel so I definitely like to get it fixed.

Thanks!

Andrew

PS - If need be I can try to post pics... .