This is driving me insane...

I have an 89 RS with a rebuilt 350/5.7 engine with the original 305 heads and intake. TBI. 700R4.

I've had this problem for a little awhile, but just recently started driving the car more frequently and it's just shifting crazy. It won't go into 4th half the time unless you get up over 60, but if you turn on the cruise, it will sometimes kick in at about 47-50mph, but always DOES kick into 4th.

Tried showing a Mustang what it could do and the dang thing wouldn't shift out of second gear (until I let up) and I was only able to get up to about 85 and of course the Mustang passed me like I was standing still because of the fact that it stayed in second gear until I let up on the gas. The engine seems like it has pretty good power, but the transmission is nuts!

Thought the engine was going to blow up with the RPMs that high.

Once it's in 4th/OD, the TC will lock, but just getting it there is a chore and it doesn't usually stay. It also shutters from 1st-2nd sometimes after it's warmed up and shifts are always very smooth.

Seems to me that it used to shift into 4th/OD at around 45-50mph. Just today I was driving along on a 55mph road and had to keep it at 45 because I didn't like how high the RPMs were going, so I decided to put the cruise on and it kicked into 4th and locked.

Any ideas what the heck could be going on?

Thanks!

 

Throttle valve cable hooked up at the TB bellcrank?

How was it adjusted after the engine install?

 

It has never been adjusted. At least not since I've had the car.

 

I was wrong about the shifting and the cruise thing. I have tried to duplicate it and can not. It still shifts incorrectly and getting it into 4th is a chore.

I can worry about that later because it's been like that for awhile and now I'm having another problem for which I'm going to post in the correct forum.

Thanks!

 

If you do not adjust the TV cable correctly very soon, you can lose the transmission.

 

I have a boatload of instructions on how to adjust it, so I will try that soon. I was assuming it was something with the transmission itself because it only does it after it's hot. When you start out in the morning or if it sits for a few hours and you leave, it's fine until it warms up again.

Either way it's driving me insane. I have such a hard time with 4th and getting the TC to lock.

 

Well today was interesting.

I tried to adjust the TV cable and had a very hard time at it. It was very difficult to push the release button, although WD-40 helped a little and when it clicked, I wasn't sure how many because it moved so fast.

Took it down the road and couldn't get it to shift into second, even at 5,000 RPMs so I put it in 1st and crawled back at about 2MPH to the driveway. I was getting sick and couldn't mess with it anymore, so I fought with the release button, pushed it back and had my daughter floor it while the engine was turned off and it clicked back to where it was originally.

So I guess if I do one click next time, it could be just correct? As soon as I felt it not shift, I just creeped along. Good thing was that I was only about 500 feet from the driveway.

The cable doesn't slide like I thought. It simply clicks in each notch/grove. The transmission had a shift kit put in it about 13 years ago when my mother had trouble with it, so I don't know if that is significant. It's been like this for over 10 years that I know of and I just assumed it was normal until reading about how it's suppose to shift. It has always shifted very smoothly, but when warmed up, it has problems going in 4th unless you are going up a hill or up to 60 MPH and Sometimes 55 when it's being generous. It is in 3rd gear by the time it hits 20, but it's done this for at least 11 years that I know of.

When it's still cold, it shifts to 4th when it's suppose to.

Oh and one more thing, the EGR valve is not hooked up right now because it opens as soon as you just barely touch the gas. I have to figure out what that's all about.

 

Yes, it is okay to adjust the TV cable one click at a time. Because you are holding gears to higher RPM, you will be lengthening the amount of the slider block that slides out of the cable housing.

Where ---] is the end of the housing and = is the block that slides out of it,
You now have ---]=
You probably need ---]==


On most all of the third gen V8 powertrains, the EGR valve is regulated by engine vaccuum that is controlled by an ECM-triggered EGR valve. If the valve is allowing vacuum to pass through it all the time, then the valve is bad and should be replaced. I am not sure if the EGR valve sets a service engine code on the TBI system. (it does on the computer carb cars.)

 

I am going to try the one click Thur. At least I was able to get it back to where it was before by doing to "pedal to the floor" method. I think it was at least three accidental clicks that kept it from kicking into 2nd. That scared me, which is why I crawled back.

I've had a lot of trouble getting the car back to good running condition. I am very close right now, but still need to find out why the EGR valve opens as soon as it senses the pedal being pushed. It is not open all the time, but I did discover the vacuum lines were in the wrong places after downloading a diagram, so perhaps it will work correctly when I hook it back up. The way it was, it would stumble when you started out from a dead stop, like a traffic light. It only does it momentarily though.

I have to get another hose going from the switch to the EGR. The part that goes over the metal connector is a little stretched out from the bolt plugging it, but I can easily take care of that.

 

Something else I just noticed. All the info on the net I've found about the TV adjustment shows the button facing the driver's side, but the one on mine is to the passenger side, which is one reason I had a very hard time pushing it in.

Is that factory?

Also, I have been reading up on shift kits and noted that they always say it will give you hard shifts, but I was told this one has a shift kit and it gives extremely smooth shifts, so perhaps that one click will make the difference.

I won't be able to adjust it until Thursday and I hope one click makes the difference!

 

The Q-jet application TV adjustment button faces the passenger side and up. I'm not sure on the TBI but it might be the same. Different applications vary the mounting position of the TV cable.

A shift improver kit usually is put together to increase the pressure to a particular shift valve or otherwise vary the speed at which the valve is applied. Minimizing the amount of clutch/steel or band slippage during a shift (so "hard" or harder shifts) is the goal, generally speaking. Do not at this time analyze what your trans. is doing until you've adjusted the TV cable to be correct.