edzdallas79

so i checked the vacuum hose at the modulator. it's got a good amount of vacuum. i noticed that the TV cable had quite a bit of slack, enough that it didn't start to pull on the cable until the throttle was almost completely open. tightened that, but don't know how tight or how slacked it should be. i also checked the radiator by pulling of the bottom line and starting the engine. it's pumping a good flow of tranny fluid out of the radiator.

i also checked all of the vacuum lines and the only one that didn't have vacuum was the one coming out of the egr vacuum solenoid. could this be the problem? i just can't imagine that the 2 are related.

took it for a drive and if i have it in D or OD, it just won't shift out of 1st. If I start in 1st and manually shift to 2nd, it will shift, but as soon as I shift into D or OD, it feels like it downshift back into 1st. any ideas?

also, read something about a speed governor in the tailshaft of the tranny. anyone know anything about this?

sleeper_inc

The EGR shouldn't get vacuum till it needs to open.

The transmission shifting back into 1st could mean a internal issue or a solenoid problem.

Try pulling codes, if you get thing I really think you should have a shop take a peek at it

edzdallas79

i'm not getting any codes other than 2 related to the EGR valve.

you said something about a solenoid issue. where is this solenoid?

edzdallas79

i'm seriously thinking about swapping it out for a t5 if i can't find one at a decent price. any suggestions on doing this?

sleeper_inc

Solenoid is to the right of the vacuum modulator.

T5 swap
http://www.stinger-performance.com/howto.html

edzdallas79

should i try swapping out the solenoid next? what's the next step you guys would recommend?

sleeper_inc

Take it to a shop is what I would do because your next step is taking it out and ripping it apart

WyldeSoul

Your next step I would say is going to a ford dealer to get a new modulator. If you got that from Autozone, Advance or even NAPA, there is a good chance they boxed the wrong one.

The C4 transmission modulator looks identicle, and NAPA has been known more than once to put a C4 modulator in an A4LD box. After my transmission and drivetrain teacher looked at my trannie (Which has the exact same problem you do) and found that it happened after I put a new modulator on from NAPA, he said that that's 99% likely to cause the problem.

So spend the fifty bucks, and make sure you have the right part. And make sure that the pin is in, too. I didn't see whether or not you mentioned that before.

edzdallas79

i keep reading about a governor. where is this at?

edzdallas79

well, so many people are telling me to check the vacuum modulator. since i already swapped it out, i did as you said and ordered one from the ford dealer. i'm going to get a vacuum gauge so i can measure how much vacuum is going to the modulator. anyone know how much it should be getting? also, does anyone have specs about how tight (or better yet a picture) the tv cable should be?