For all the life of me, I can't seem to wrap my mind around the problems(or lack thereof) my car seems to have. Here's the lowdown: (on a 700-r4, by the way)

Going to work the other day, I was merging off a cloverleaf onto a freeway (sort of) and did a fairly full throttle blast to get past some slowass old guy. Anyhow, withing a half mile of that, I THOUGHT that the car was a little off in the RPM's or something, so I assumed it was only in D. So I shift up, hoping to go into OD, but apparently it was already there, so I was then in neutral. While coasting down at a stop light, I shifted back into OD and conitnued on, This time, though, First gear had to be revved much higher than usual before it went into second, and then from there no third or fourth. "Okay, I thought", "the 3-4 clutch pack is roasted"

I limped it to work, parked on level ground and popped the hood. Tranny fluid was a the good level (motor was running). Now here's the weird part. The fluid is perfect pink-red, smells as fresh as the day it was put in, and tastes perfect. No hint of burning, metal or clutch filings, or any heat stress whatsoever.

After work, with the engine running, I shifted throught the gears a few times while just sitting in the parking lot. I drive off, 1st gear, a nice firm shift into 2nd at normal RPM's, into 3rd, and finally 4th, with the torque convertor locking up at the appropriate time afterward. This was about 4 days ago. Since then, I have gradually increased my driving aggressiveness up from my granny's granny level to average white man driving. I wouldn't mind taking it for a bit of a romp, but I don't want problems to show up again. Has anyone ever heard of this? I was thinking the shifter cable might be loose or something??

I know the bracket that holds it is only connected by one bolt, as opposed to 2, so it COULD possibly be moving around a bit, but??? I've been really over-paranoid about it, and I really can't be sure if the shifts are as rapid as they used to be, but at low throttle, they do seem to be fine. Thanks for reading, and more thanks if you can suggest anything.

 

It could be a sticky Throttle Valve, or a governor valve. One way to find out if it is a Throttle Valve is to have the engine at a high idle (1,200 rpm) disconnect and pull the TV cable out all the way several times, reconnect (do not change settings when doing this) and go for a drive (do not turn off engine). If the problem comes back then the Throttle Valve is hanging up. Now turn engine off, and restart, if it "fixes" itself, then you know that the Throttle Valve is doing this. The Trans-Go shift kits (any of them) will solve this.

 

By disconnect, do you mean disconnect it at the throttle body or at the transmission? And the throttle valve is a hydraulically modulated part, correct? Therefore, by turning off the car, pressure in the system is lost, and the valve resets itself. Interesting...any long term side effects if the problem isn't fixed?

Thanks again,

 

Disconnect it at the throttle body. Yes, it can destroy the transmission.