Hi all I am posting this question on behalf of a friend who is overseas. He has a Ford Transit van with a z32 TT engine and auto gearbox transplanted into it. (yes that is one fast van, and similar in concept to the one in an old Top Gear episode where they raced the van against the Australian team with a Holden Ute). Anyway, it was working fine but now he's finding problems with the gear box. He says that it shifts into the 1st and 2nd gear normally, but will not shift into the 3rd gear until it reaches 6500rpm. He's wondering if anyone had a similar experience with their auto gearboxes and know what the problem is. He is guessing if a hydraulic actuator for the 3rd gear has failed and requires higher fluid pressure to operate (when RPM is high). Thoughts anyone? And thanks in advance for the assistance.
When your mate did the transplant, did he keep the OBD1 diagnostic connector as part of the engine management wiring? If he did, then East Coast Z's idea is best if you can get access to Conzult tuner edition. You can't read line pressure with it but you can eliminate other possibilities such as failed shift solenoids etc. Next option would be the Self-diagnostic routine from our Tech section, here's a link - http://www.pexcom.com.au/z32cms/e107_plugins/content/content.php?content.214 But there's a couple of things to watch out for, based on my experience of using that tech article; when they say push the throttle to the floor I think that's meant to to activate the WOT microswitch which he might not have transplanted. When they say turn the ignition off, that means all the way off. Not just to accessory. Final option is to put a multimeter on the connectors for the internal electric components and check values against the fault finding tables in the service manual. Also, keep in mind that the transmission from some Nissan Patrol 4WD's and apparently the Ford Maverick is the same as our TT Zeds tranny. We used to get some good advice from the Patrol forums because my oh my those boys were hard on their autos
Did he mention anything about shifting with the stick? Shift at will using a SAW, that might be an upgrade that his VAN would like, it supposed to control line pressure
