replacement Gov and still issues

[smallclone]

so for all who remembered i had a cracked flex plate. while in there i saw the Gov harness was badly melted. the wires were repaired but the gov blew shortly after.

replaced the gov and took it for a test drive and it still is messed up. i double checked the fluid (is good) i checked the kick-down cable (its good)

i took a multi meter to pins 1-2 and 2-3 on the top of the harness and read 30ohms for what ever that means.

is there a way to test the gov while its still in the car to pin point that its not working properly?

[Jonathan]

Could you describe your symptoms of what "messed up" means when you take it for a drive?

Some auto trans problem descriptions I can think of might be:

- feels like it is starting out in 3rd whereby there is no power at low speeds.
- seems like it is starting out in 1st, but when pressing the gas, the RPMs go way up but with no forward acceleration.
- car starts off in 1st ok, but as you speed up, it revs very high before finally thundering into 2nd. Similarly, if letting off the gas in 2nd, it thunders back into 1st and stays at an unusually high RPM.
- or other gear changing inconsistencies like it feels as though it wants to go up or down gears at times when it really shouldn't, i.e. you haven't changed speeds or touched the gas.

Once you describe what your car is currently doing, other things to do as part of some testing would be to see what it does if you manually put the gear shifter into 1st or 2nd and not Drive.

This shouldn't be too difficult for the group to help you figure out once we know a little more about the situation.

[David T]

The way you "test" the shift computer in the car is to drive the car and see what speeds it shifts at. Very helpful to build a "light box" so you can actually see the shift computer powering on and off the shift solenoids. It is also possible to bench test the shift computer. If the harness got melted it is very likely you blew out the switching transistors. Easy fix and while you are in there you typically replace the capacitors. A "dead" shift computer usually means you are always in third gear.

[smallclone]

Some auto trans problem descriptions I can think of might be:

- feels like it is starting out in 3rd whereby there is no power at low speeds. (not so much starting in 3rd but it does at times have no power in low speeds.)

- seems like it is starting out in 1st, but when pressing the gas, the RPMs go way up but with no forward acceleration. (yes, even a lot of this too)

- car starts off in 1st ok, but as you speed up, it revs very high before finally thundering into 2nd. Similarly, if letting off the gas in 2nd, it thunders back into 1st and stays at an unusually high RPM. yes to this so much, mostly this. but haven't seen much in the way of thundering back down, but certainly into 2nd if and when it gets there.

- or other gear changing inconsistencies like it feels as though it wants to go up or down gears at times when it really shouldn't, i.e. you haven't changed speeds or touched the gas. (it does seem to buckle if and when it does get into 2nd as if its confused and not sure what gear it wants to be in.)

[smallclone]

The way you "test" the shift computer in the car is to drive the car and see what speeds it shifts at. Very helpful to build a "light box" so you can actually see the shift computer powering on and off the shift solenoids. It is also possible to bench test the shift computer. If the harness got melted it is very likely you blew out the switching transistors. Easy fix and while you are in there you typically replace the capacitors. A "dead" shift computer usually means you are always in third gear.

the original was melted yes. and I still have it. it was repaired but failed ultimately. id love to bench test this if I knew how.

[Jonathan]

Some auto trans problem descriptions I can think of might be:

- feels like it is starting out in 3rd whereby there is no power at low speeds. (no so much)

- seems like it is starting out in 1st, but when pressing the gas, the RPMs go way up but with no forward acceleration. (yes, even a lot of this too)

- car starts off in 1st ok, but as you speed up, it revs very high before finally thundering into 2nd. Similarly, if letting off the gas in 2nd, it thunders back into 1st and stays at an unusually high RPM. yes to this so much, mostly this.

- or other gear changing inconsistencies like it feels as though it wants to go up or down gears at times when it really shouldn't, i.e. you haven't changed speeds or touched the gas. (it does seem to buckle if and when it does get into 2nd as if its confused and not sure what gear it wants to be in.)

Ok, this is helpful.

The no forward acceleration one may indicate the filter is plugged and is starving the transmission from the fluid it needs. It could be other things too, but when I wrote this, it was to sound exactly like a scenario I had with my own car a few years ago. Turns out my original filter was not in good shape. I bought one of Michael's remade filters and everything was good again.

Do you know the condition or history of your filter? And if it is new, it could still mean it got pinched or bent slightly upon install and that is cutting off fluid flow.

The second scenario you said happens a lot was again from my own experience and was when my governor had the melted wires problem from laying on the exhaust pipe. This was also many years before the filter got plugged up. I had a rebuilt governor put in from Midwest and it was good to go after that.

You said you have a new governor computer in there now? Any chance the rebuild wasn't done correctly or the install missed something or a connection of some kind? What kind of new shift computer did you get? There are some varieties out there including a spliced one that I'm not very familiar with.

David's suggestion for a simplified light box is a good one. This will at least tell you what the electronics are "trying" to do. I emphasize trying because if the lights say the shift computer is trying to keep it in the right gear, but it isn't, it's telling you it's something else like a fluid problem. Conversely, if the lights tell you the computer is doing dumb stuff and trying to put it into a gear it shouldn't be going into, then you can focus on the electronics and not be as concerned for the time being with the fluids.

[smallclone]

the computer I got from the previous owner and he said it was rebuilt, not sure from where.

the filter was not swapped when the new computer was plugged in, so maybe that's a good place to start.

IMG_9573.jpgIMG_9572.jpg

here are pictures of the ORIGINAL Gov that had the melted wires.

[David T]

When you have problems with the automatic trans the best place to start is to check the fluid. Don't even start the car. Pull the dipstick and make sure it is wet, the fluid is not burnt and it doesn't feel gritty between your fingers. Once you can confirm you have enough good fluid start the car, warm it up and check the level. The procedure is in the Workshop Manual G:04:02. Too much is almost as bad as not enough. You should do all of the on car external checks too like making sure you have oil in the final drive. Get or build a light box and hook it up to the diagnostic plug. Take the car out for a ride and you should see the lights go on and off according to the logic table fig 5 bottom of G:04:01. If the lights don't work according to the table you have a problem with the shift computer. If the lights DO work right and you are not shifting right or slipping you have a mechanical problem inside the transmission. If the fluid is dark and/or gritty, drain the fluid out and replace or clean the filter. There is a procedure to open, clean, and close the filter.

[smallclone]

When you have problems with the automatic trans the best place to start is to check the fluid. Don't even start the car. Pull the dipstick and make sure it is wet, the fluid is not burnt and it doesn't feel gritty between your fingers. Once you can confirm you have enough good fluid start the car, warm it up and check the level. The procedure is in the Workshop Manual G:04:02. Too much is almost as bad as not enough. You should do all of the on car external checks too like making sure you have oil in the final drive. Get or build a light box and hook it up to the diagnostic plug. Take the car out for a ride and you should see the lights go on and off according to the logic table fig 5 bottom of G:04:01. If the lights don't work according to the table you have a problem with the shift computer. If the lights DO work right and you are not shifting right or slipping you have a mechanical problem inside the transmission. If the fluid is dark and/or gritty, drain the fluid out and replace or clean the filter. There is a procedure to open, clean, and close the filter.

thanks for the info.

is there any how to guides on how to build this box?

[Jonathan]

thanks for the info.

is there any how to guides on how to build this box?

I had this one saved on my computer. I have not follow these exact instructions nor do I recall who wrote them. I don't think you'd need to permanently mount the lights to the dash like the instructions say, but could instead just use the rest of it to make one you can hook-up temporarily.

Auto tranny status LEDs.pdf