My shifting problems are driving me insane!

After my car is warmed up, it does not like 4th gear. (OD)

Winter isn't as bad, but summer is a killer.

When the car is cold, it will generally go in 4th at around 40mph, but after it's warmed up, especially in the summer, I have to be on a pull for it to go into 4th, but with the slightest downgrade or even perfectly flat road, it will pop back out of 4th and into 3rd and my RPM will go way back up to 4500 or higher depending on the speed I'm going until I create a pull with the throttle or go up a slight grade. The grade doesn't even have to be very noticeable, just as long as it's a slight pull.

TV Cable has been adjusted all over the place and it appears to be in the correct position and works right when cold. Fluid, filter, nothing works. Please note that it has been doing this for years, but has recently become worse. (Pull my hair out worse!)

When the car is on a pull, such as going up a slight hill or giving it a little gas to create a pull, it will generally go in 4th and stay until the next very very level or slight downgrade. After I get up to 63-65, it will mostly stay in 4th, but still gives me trouble on the hot days. 40-60 mph is a royal pain.

I would like to try and solve this without changing the transmission because of my limited budget, so I'm wondering if another TV would fix this problem? I've heard about changing to one that will allow full throttle shifting to correct other problems, so I'm just wondering if that one would take care of this problem?

HELP! It's burning way to much gas this way and shortening engine life and I just went through HELL with engine problems.

The main problem is that I've never heard of anyone else having this same problem with any vehicle, so I'm hoping to find any info I can to help solve this problem.

I'm not even sure what all is involved in changing the TV. I can get another transmission at a local yard where you pull it yourself for $100+ core, but you have no idea if it works, although looking for an actual wrecked vehicle does increase your luck.

Thanks!

 

What year are you working on here?

 

It's an 89. I'm not 100% sure if it's the original transmission, but it's the same one I know of since 98.

As I was saying, it's been doing it for years, but just recently started getting a little worse. Fluid seems fine as well.

These 90 degree days have been the worst!

 

The TransGo Shift kit along with the Corvette servo, should resolve this. Yours is a problem that I have not seen before from your description.

 

Just something to check - is the tv cable actually moving the tv valve in the tranny properly? When I got my car, it had all sorts of odd shifting issues that no amount of fiddling the tv cable would seem to fix.

Turned out the inner cable had parted about halfway along its length, and the torn frayed ends had managed to knit roughly randomly back together and also jam into the outer cable. You could adjust it and it felt ok, but once I got the pan off it became obvious the tv valve was not moving in sync with the throttle end of the cable. But it WAS moving and jamming in an erratic fashion.

 

this IS a common problem, it is usually the 4th gear lockup solenoid. the tps can also be a little bit faulty, and yeah, i mean just a little, to cause the same problem.
i chased this thing on my 89 blazer for a while, on that it was only the lockup sol.
my astro and my trans-am both had it and they were the tps.
my jimmy had a bad lockup sol and i ignored it until i burnt up the 3-4 clutch pack, oops.

 

Are these hard to install? Do I have to worry about those little ball bearing things falling out all over the place? Can it be done with the transmission still in the car?

After doing a search, I'm wondering if you are talking about the Jr. or Sr. kit?

I can not verify that at this time. Would this happen only after the car was warmed up and mostly on warmer days? In the winter, it's not as much of a problem.

Can higher temp conditions cause this? It's been doing it for years, but with the heat wave lately, it became worse, although today wasn't too bad and it didn't act up as much, so it is definitely heat related.

I hope to get this fixed soon. It really is playing on my nerves and I would hate to end up swapping transmissions if it's an easy, low cost fix.
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Maybe, maybe not, not, like I said just something to check. Mine did change behaviour between dead cold and hot though, did not want to upshift when cold and really hit hard when it did. No OD till hot, then it all got short shifty and sloppy.

 

yes sometimes, it was heat related on my blazer; pull out of the yard in the morning, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th. and just like it's supposed to do i wouldn't get 4th lockup until i had driven about two miles. (the temp sensor in the trans will not give you 4th lock until trans fluid reaches a pre-determined temp). but after about 5 more miles it would heat up and drop back out of lockup, and i couldn't get it back until it had cooled down for several hours.

 

you do have a transmission cooler, right?

 

when the over drive lockup solenoid starts to go bad it can act up from heat, or general overheating can make it seem bad. confirm the cooler is hooked up, mine wasn't when i got the blazer.

 

Just the one in the radiator and it's new.