87 740 auto tranny problem

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Raymond Cruz - 25 May 2005 13:06 GMT

I have an 87 740 non-turbo, 160K miles, and auto trans. The trans is the
better of the two which IIRC is the AW. Over a period of a few days the
trans started shifting at higher revs until it started not going into higher
gears at all. Last night I checked the fluid, which appeared to be low,
added a quart and it was fine after an immediate drive and two hours later.
However in the morning it reverted to the shifting problem. I saw no fluid
in my driveway so I don't know where it's going. Nonetheless, assuming
there's a leak of some sort, what's the expected and worst case scenario I
face?

In a worst case, how practical (how many $) would it take to put in a
rebuilt stick shifter? I have moderate repair talent but fortunately have
never faced such a problem. Can I do it myself and if not how much should I
pay someone else?

Ray

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Mike F - 25 May 2005 13:29 GMT

> I have an 87 740 non-turbo, 160K miles, and auto trans. The trans is the
> better of the two which IIRC is the AW. Over a period of a few days the
[quoted text clipped - 12 lines]
>
> Ray

This symptom is often cause by a sticking kick down cable. From the
throttle pulley, you can see a second cable that heads down behind the
engine to the transmission. When the accelerator pedal is released,
this cable should smoothly retract, and not have any slack.

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Mike F.
Thornhill (near Toronto), Ont.

Replace tt with t (twice!) and remove parentheses to email me directly.
(But I check the newsgroup more often than this email address.)

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Millicent Peterberg - 26 May 2005 03:29 GMT

Yes sometimes the cable frays and the strands jag on the sleeve. Watch your
fingers.

> > I have an 87 740 non-turbo, 160K miles, and auto trans. The trans is the
> > better of the two which IIRC is the AW. Over a period of a few days the
[quoted text clipped - 17 lines]
> engine to the transmission. When the accelerator pedal is released,
> this cable should smoothly retract, and not have any slack.

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Raymond Cruz - 28 May 2005 16:15 GMT

The cable was not sticking but the tension adjuster was floating around
because the nuts that lock it in place had loosened considerably. I
positioned and tightened the nuts to a point that the cable would just
barely relax when the pulley was in the rest position. This corrected the
gross problem but the shift points for 3rd and 4th gear are still quite a
bit higher than normal. For example, the car is not shifting to 4th when on
level ground and cruising at about 45MPH although it will do so if I back
off on the gas a bit. Also it seems to have a tendency to downshift more
readily. It cuises in 4th normally on a highway. The fluid level is fine
and I don't really think there is a significant leak. Is there anything I
can do to get the shift points back to normal or might this be an indication
of some internal wear?

Thanks for the help -- at least the car is back on the road, if not exactly
right.

Ray

> This symptom is often cause by a sticking kick down cable. From the
> throttle pulley, you can see a second cable that heads down behind the
> engine to the transmission. When the accelerator pedal is released,
> this cable should smoothly retract, and not have any slack.
>
> Mike F.

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Michael Cerkowski - 30 May 2005 05:18 GMT

> The cable was not sticking but the tension adjuster was floating around
> because the nuts that lock it in place had loosened considerably. I
[quoted text clipped - 13 lines]
>
> Ray

Try backing off a little more on the tension. That 'relaxed' position
may
go away under actual driving conditions, or it may be binding slightly.

...

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James Sweet - 26 May 2005 06:55 GMT

> I have an 87 740 non-turbo, 160K miles, and auto trans. The trans is the
> better of the two which IIRC is the AW. Over a period of a few days the
[quoted text clipped - 12 lines]
>
> Ray

Check under the car with the engine running, I worked on one once with a
crack in one of the tranny cooler lines, it was only leaking with the engine
running.

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