I got on the highway yesterday and felt the transmission downshift to 3rd and drove in third to get home. Never shifted back into fourth. I drove around a little today and it seemed like it was in 4th once but hasn't done it again so no fourth gear.


The fluid level is good and the smell and color of the fluid is normal as far as I can tell.

Did I mention I hate automatics never have any luck with them

So is this a warning that the other gears are going to out too soon? Do I need a whole new transmission rebuild repair etc. Will it need a new tc or not (no sign of any grit on the dipstick or on my fingers from the fluid.

Shift into second and third is completely normal so Im not thinking its the tv cable but what do I know.

 

Are we talking about 4th or lockup? Because it would be very unusual (but not impossible) for the 700 to lose 4th gear and not also lose third.

A 4 speed transmission shifts three times because it starts out in first. So you feel the 1-2 about 18-20 mph. You feel the 2-3 about 30 to 35, then you feel 4th up around 45-50.

BUT THEN you may feel another engagement that seems like a shift in the older cars, and that is TCC apply.

Easy test: When you run down the road with the shifter in OD, and you pull it back into third, you should see the tach jump. If you return it to the OD position and the tach drops, you have 4th gear.

 

|My lock up hasn't worked since I bought the car a few years ago because its not connected (bad vss)

Definitely stuck in third on the highway by the feel of the engine braking so now where to look. I had read its more common to lose 3 and 4.

 

Unfortunately, I don't think there is much more to check. You can look at the shift linkage and make sure the TV cable springs back and doesn't seem stuck.. Aside from there's nothing outside the trans to check.

Inside the transmission you can pull the pan and look for debris. If you see it, it is probably in the governor and has jammed it or jammed up the controls in your VB. (Although the problem there would be what is generating the debris, rather than the debris itself.)

It may be time for a transmission.

 

it does seem as if theres something not right with the shifter as it will go from n to d to 3, hard to get in 2 and no go into 1. But its not an issue of being sure it in d and not in 3.


Why would it drop right back to 3 after going into 4 on the highway (just after the entrance ramp).

 

That definitely sounds like something to check. Because if the linkage on the trans thinks you want 3rd? You'll get third, regardless of what the shifter position is.

 

When something like this happens to me I replace the fluid and filter.

If you do replace the filter, I suggest prying off the crimped edge and opening it up to see what the inside looks like.

I don't understand what you mean when you say D vs. 3. D is 1 - 2 - 3, so 3 and D are basically the same. You can test for OD engagement by driving in OD at over 50 MPH and then shifting to D.

 

It shifts twice now, so I know its going into 3rd gear in drive. The shift plate says p r n d 3 2 and 1 at the very end. It wont go into 1, 2 it goes into but feels stiff, 3 it goes into easily. I drive it in D of course.

Maybe something happened to the linkage but I don't think that's it.

No way it has been locking up the convertor with no vss input and with the connector broken for the tcc at the trans. Drove it home from Mich to St Louis and drove ok for nearly 3 years without it locking though.

Could it be in d3 or 3, if it says d and its in gear but in n its not in gear still? If it was in d3 or 3, wouldn't it still be in gear at the next position forward iow it would be in d instead of n at that point? But at n its definitely in neutral. So if its in 3 at d, and n when its in n, where did d go to?

I maintain the car is in 3rd gear on the highway whereas before it would be 4th, and I have noticeably greater engine braking. I had the car for over 3 years and Im not doing anything differently.

 

Read Dogs post again. He is right. Something is wrong with your shifter or linkage. You have mentioned twice now about engine braking in 3rd. If your transmission is in the D overdrive range, which is the only range you can get 4th, there is no engine braking when the transmission downshifts to 3rd. It's not possible because the over run clutches are not applied in this range and the input sprag overruns, meaning 3rd. would be in coast. Engine braking in 3rd. is only possible if the D123 range is selected. That means that if, as you say, it shifts from 4th to 3rd, something is causing it to move ranges if you say there is engine braking.

 

Im trying to get this all, to be clear the car does no longer drop from 4th as all I can get is 3rd.

Would it make sense to say if it dropped to third from fourth there would be no more noticeable braking, whereas maybe if it never went to fourth or was stuck from going to fourth at all, there would be noticeable braking from 3rd?

But then again Im fairly sure I noticed it downshift the first time on the highway, but it didn't give the acceleration jump from downshifting so maybe it never went into 4th that day at all then. Im starting to favor the notion it wasn't even in fourth that day at all.

So still the question, can it be not in D if its in the correct position next to N, and its in neutral when its at N? Why wont it go all the way to one, maybe a clue?

 

Something bent or binding?

 

This is a schematic for the newer 4L60E but if you ignore shift solenoids the rest is the same.

With stick in [D] the overrun clutch in not applied for gears 1,2,3 and you will only have engine braking in 4th.

With stick in any lower position you will have engine braking in all gears, but transmision will not shift to 4th.

 

I will get the linkage and shifter checked thank you all for info and for your patience.

 

Its been determined previously to be 3.07 or 3.08. Normally I get 60 mph around 1800 rpm or 2000 rpm, and 80 around 2600 or 2800.

The tires are stock sized bridgestones.

Now driving on the highway at 2400 Im probably at around 50 maybe.

Speedometer still is a work in progress.

Wouldn't the tv cable affect all the shifts? Nothing else seems different. Shifter not going to one is something I never noticed because I never tried. So it seems odd the shifter or linkage could be out somehow since its still in the first position from N and feels the same amount of movement as r n d

 

Now Im wondering if this is what I felt after entering the highway after I let off the gas the rpms went that far down and I thought it was a downshift.

Right now Im driving a 15 ft uhual that one side mirror just fell off of so hoping they come fix it or exchange my truck .

 

What they are trying to tell you, from your description the trans is not actually in 4th, even though the shifter is in the 4th selection.

Take a good look at the shift cable bracket, make sure the trans is going to foth when selected.

Like put it in 4th, then get under the car and push on the linkage to see if it needed a little nudge.

​​​​​​​And 4th gear and converter lockup are two totally separate things.

 

And 4th gear and converter lockup are two totally separate things

this is my understanding as well although I have seen it suggested as otherwise

The question still remaining, is can I rule out the tv cable if the 1 2 and 2 3 shifts are the same as always?

 

Yeah, probably...

The pro argument is the engine braking. This generally only occurs when the coast clutch is applied/3rd or lower, and that is the reason to check the linkages.

The flip side of that is, transmissions fail in all sorts of strange ways. Controls get jammed with debris. Things break and bind together. The failures tend to be "cascading" like that. Bad automatic transmissions can just behave crazy and sometimes no amount of flow chart diagnostics can explain all the symptoms.

So, if it were me, I would check the obvious stuff and just make a ruling on it based on that.

 

...Writing this a bit rushed, I hope it makes sense...

Another thing to add; part of what is being suggested related to the car free coasting vs slowing down due to engine/drive train.

What happens is when the trans is in 4th gear, different clutches are engaged.

So third selected coasts differently then 4th gear selection.

It's part of the giveaway on what gear your transmission actually has selected vs what your shifter shows.

 

To update this situation, without resolution still unfortunately, I took the car in to be checked yesterday. He said he didn't see anything wrong with the linkage, and found the tcc connector dangling. I knew one wire was off of it, so I had a new pigtail already.

He found the connector a little mangled and the wire was actually off the connector at the car side of the wiring. He wanted to cut the connector off that had the wire out and attach it to the tcc pigtail directly.

I told him already I didn't think that was going to make a difference since the lockup doesn't work anyway, and that transmission isn't electronic. I was nearly ready to let him splice those wires until I thought better.

He showed me the wire after he removed both ends and theres a TO 220 transistor in the wiring he would have removed. I had to cut the shrink wrap he put on it off.

So he changed the pigtail, and Im ordering another exact same one for the car side connection. I think I would prefer to have just the pin with broken wire removed and replaced back with a pin/wire from the new pigtail. Am I being too picky?

I could do this if I had a way to get the car up safely but not possible now.

He keeps insisting its a 3 speed auto and lockup is 4th gear.