Trouble with TV cable adjustment.

Hi,

I've done the TV cable adjustment millions of times. I did it on TBI cars, and I guess you can say I am new to TPI. From reading the directions everything is the same.
Still, I'd push the button in, hold it, push the cable in all the way (all the way I can) and then I'd pull the throttle to WOT. I don't get any clicks and the cable does not extend itself at all. WTF??? So, I put it back to where it was, but it just seems like its off. What to do????
I did go in the car, and rapidly floored the pedal, but to no avail.

I tried helping my friend with this before, and we had the same problem, so I just put the cable where it was before we messed with it.

Am I just not pushing it far enough?? It seems to me that the cable shouldn't be that far back and not spring back what so ever!!!

WTF.

 

I ran into the same problem, pushed in the release, pushed the slider all the way back, released the button and rotated the throttle wide open...and nothing happened...

Then I tried it after the engine was wrmed up and it worked just like the service manual said it would...it ratcheted forward when the throttle was rotated wide open.

Strange, but it seems to adjust when everything was warm.

 

I'll try that.

Thanks.

 

Tried it and it didn't work.

 

I had the same problem on the '92 and an '87 caprice - try holding the release tab in while you rotate the throttle. Probably not the most accurate way but it worked for both cars.

 

i thought i had the same problem so i just tried really hard, and it came out like a bang, lol. and it came out right to where it had been before. i tried a million times without getting anything, and finally i just decided to push with all my strength and realized i wasnt using enough force before to get it to come out. also, try just flooring the pedal...itll do the same thing.

 

just smash the pedal

 

Believe me, I've smashed the pedal numerous times. I've mashed it Hard. It just seems like it doesn't wanna ratchet at all. I'll see what I can do, maybe lightly press the release button (lightly) and then try to ratchet it back. We'll see. Throw me some more ideas if you got 'em.

 

OK, so I dicked around with it today and got mixed results
The first time I pulled the throttle open all the way. Then I lightly/barely pushed in the tab button. Trrrrrr it sprung up. I was amazed how off it really was. So, I drive it around, and it feels great. Then I go to do it again (just to make sure that I didn't f' it up) and I repeated the process. This time it sprung a bit further. So i was like " Hey this is weird" I drove it, and the car felt like crap. So, I tried to repeat the process untill I got it close to where it was the first time and thats where I have it now. Its almost quarter inch further out then it was when I bought it. This spells doom for the tranny since I feel it slipping already.
So, I am gonna drive it like this, and toss some anti-slip fluid in there for the time being.

The funny thing is, the fluid looks great, and it doesn't burn or bubble up! Hmmm. but the tranny still slips.

 

Oh no...now you've got me thinking I effed mine up....does this adjustment make the transmission wear out faster?

When I got mine adjusted it just moved about an 1/8" further than it was before and now the car just has a more firm 1-2 shift and it seems to hang on a little more before the shift into 2nd.

Am I asking for trouble??

 

thats what mine is like...w72. but i figured out that after swapping from tpi to carb you not only need the holley throttle bracket for the 700r4s, but theres also a geometry fixing arm/bracket thing. it connects to the linkage (throttle lever, w/e you wanna call it) and brings the connection closer to the bracket. that way, it will be the same distance from the bracket to the linkage as it was with the tpi (it was much closer with the tpi). should have it tomorrow, and will put it in a few minutes later. ill post my results.

 

Allright, the only way to get this straight is to see some pictures of TPI brackets and see how far they are!?!?
We need somebody whos linkeage works right to take a pic and we can kinda judge.
When I had it spring after I genlty pushed the release button the car did drive good, it was quite off, but I had to push it back to where it was since it was slipping 2-3 shift. I say if you gently push the release tab, just enough to where you hear it spring you're probably fine!
I put the throttle all the way open, and then I gently press that button. It might not be the best way to do it, but it worked for me. Try it!

NOW, ANYONE WHO HAS THIS WORKING RIGHT< CAN YOU POSSIBLY POST SOME PICS OF THE LITTLE TAB ITSELF FROM PROFILE VIEW SO THAT WE CAN SEE HOW FAR OFF WE ARE???

 

im just saying that they make something especially for tpi to carb swap with a 700r4 to correct the geometry. might wanna check it out...just some advice, and its only like 15 bucks so might as well.

 

I had the same problem and couldn't fix it.I brought it to the tranny shop and In 5 minutes that had it perfect.They didn't even charge me.That was the best part.When in doubt take it to someone who knows what their doing.I have heard horror stories about trannys going bad after only 50-100 miles from the TV adjustment.

 

The 'automatic' adjustment procedure never worked for me. I would find a stretch of road and adjust the tv cable one click at a time until I found the right pressure that the tranny liked the best.

I stopped when the trans kicked down correctly and shifted around 5500 rpm at wot. You want it adjusted so that you get max line pressure. My trans isn't stock, so the stock 4500-4800 rpm wot is probably what you should shoot for.

 

Ok, This problem was bugging me so I took it to AAMCO (I Know). So the guy looks at the cable and show me how it works. I am all playing dumb just so that he can tell me every single detail about it, and to see how dumb he really is. So he's telling me that you have to drive and adjust your transmission, so he pulls the cable all the way "this is all the way out", the he pulls it in half way "this is half way out" (at this time I am trying not to chuckle). So he tells me basically that the cable does not ratchet itself it needs to be adjusted while driving. So, I ask him if a wrong setting would mess up the tranny. He tells me "only if the cable is all the way in" I guess, per what he said, if the cable is too far out your tranny will be fine since there is no low pressure when shifting. It might shift like ****, but there is no low pressure. He told me the only way you can f'up the tranny is by having your cable too far into the housing. I was a little skeptical about this, but I belived him (somewhat). His adjustment that he made was crappy, so I just returned it to where I thought it was good.

I am taking my car to a place that can adjust that cable by reading the pressure, and then I am draining the whole thing, putting in new fluid and using that lucas anti slip conditioner crap. Man, i am just sooo down from this simple yet frustrating TV cable crap.

Anyone wanna take a snap of thier tv cable (just where it sits) cuz I wanna judge mine to it! PLEASE

 

Where mine sits will be different than yours. It depends how much the cable has streched... and some other internal factors as well. So you wouldn't want to look at a pic. It needs to be adjusted properly.

I have also been stuggling with this. Mine doesn't slide out when I push the gas. I just put it where it feels right.

 

Well, today I plan on changing the tranny filter, and fluid. From there I will try looking for a good set up on the TV cable.
I understand the whole picture thing, but it would be good to have just for comparison purposes.

 

I GOT IT, I GOT IT, I GOT IT>

Finally I got the dang thig right. ALl you got to do is f' with it, untill it feels right. I have had a third gen, and a second gen before my TA, so once it felt like the other two I finally let out a big sigh..

 

Did you just keep adjusting it until it felt better when driving? When I tried to adjust mine, I couldn't get the pedal to go all the way down. I just kept adjusting it out until I could reach WOT.

 

I went to a tranny shop and had a talk with the guy. He told me pretty much the same thing the other shop did (that I explained towards the beggining of this thread). He told me that you just need to adjust the cable untill the shifts are good and the WOT kicks in when you WOT the pedal (. ) I just went with the WOT adjustment. I had it out some and the car would not go to WOT kick down all the time. So I kept on adjusting little by little untill I can get to the WOT, from there I pushed in the cable just a hair bit more in, and I got perfect throttle response. My car picked up gobs of power since my previous settings had the cable too loose. So, I'd suggest you take a trip to few stores. Get to store number 1 adjust your cable a little bit (push it in, or out depending if you are hitting WOT kick down or not. If the car is not kicking down when you floor it, push the cable in a bit towards the transmission, if you hit it too soon, push the cable out a bit towards the throttle body). Then go to store 2, store 3 untill you feel you got the best setting. One thing the shop told me is that its better if the cable is out a bit then in, since less pressure is better than too much pressure. Find it, and you will know when you find it. Mark it, and enjoy your car.

 

I'm glad you got it figured out, how did the tranny fair during this? was it damaged or was the slipping just a symptom of a improperly adjusted cable?

I'm going to re-adjust mine the way you have laid out here and get it shifting at 4500 at WOT. The firm 1-2 shift is getting to be annoying.

 

The tranny did OK. 90+ % of the slip was improper adjustment. Now, barely even does it. Most of the time it doesnt, but once in a while it will hang for a moment and than shift (nothing like sliping anymore). I also have one of those "anti-performance" servos that are known to be associated with the "2-3 flare". I got the vetter servo, still havent installed it due to it looking waaay scarry to me (on the diagram). For some reason the diagram in the manual shows the servo upside down. I know its just me, but if I have this kind of problem I will not try to change it, untill I do more research. For right now, I have no problems with those shifts, so I am in no hurry.

Good luck.

 

hi, so i read through this thread and have a question about this. my problem is that under WOT the trannsmission sifts way too late, it will easily redline and go over 6000 rpm unless i let off the throttle. tranny is a 700R4 in an 86 iroc 305, and it very slowly leaks tranny fluid but the fluid is always kept full. i tried adjusting the TV cable both while cold and hot after driving, but i still have the late shifting problem.

so, is the problem going to be the TV cable adjustment, or is there something else i can look into that would cause this?

thanks

 

I don't know if I'd trust the accuracy of a factory tach. You may not be shifting that high up in the RPMs

 

thats true, i dont totally trust it either, but still, that motors spinning quite fast. id like to see it shift sooner because ill bet it would get to 6500-7000 rpm if i let it, but i always let off first. i know that some cars wont shift to the final gear at WOT, but this is the happening to every shift. i dont understand the operation of the auto transmissions yet, so all i know of is the TV cable to control shift points, what else is there?

thanks

 

im havin a really bad issue with my transmission its shifting into 2nd really hard and at 3500 rpm. my tv cable if ur looking at it is all the way in going toward the firewall. is any of the black cable supposed to be sticking out in front of the locking tabs or what i dunno how to do it please help... thanks

 

i followed the directions in hanes book... i pushed the cable into slider till it stops, let go of the depresser, and moved the throttle all the way open and all i got was slack coming out where the ball type connects at front of carb.... it didnt ratchet back in or anything what do i do???

 

Ok, that is probably waaay to far in.

What you want to do is figure out about a half way out on your cable. Press the release tab in and pull the cable out as far as you can. From there figure out where the middle would be and put it there. From there drive your car. It should feel like it shifts too early. So, adjust your cable a little bit in, and drive the car. From there keep adjusting IN a little bit at a time and drive it. Once you feel like the car is acting right (and you should know). I figured that at about 45-50 x100 RPM at WOT is optimal for shifts. All in all, if you cable wont ratchet back like it should you just need to keep on adjusting untill the car feels like it shifts right. Once you hit it you will know. The car would feel much better than it ever felt before.
If you drove any other third gen before it would help.

Good luck and let me know if you need to know how to properly adjust the TPI TV cable.
laters.

 

i adjustd it now the tranny shifts excellent but now i have no throttle response.... keep adjusting it??

 

anybody?

 

somebody please tell me what i did wrong.... i have good shiftas but no tyhrottle response for ****... what do i do now?

 

pleas help me