CarrieS

I have a 1993 5.0 LX convertible with an automatic transmission (which I assume is an AOD) and 136,000 miles on the odometer. It's my daily driver for about 5,000 miles a year. I just started having transmission problems with two symptoms. (1) It slips when in overdrive. I can cruise along at 65 mph on the flat, but a hill or quick acceleration just winds up the RPMs. (2) First and second gears seem to work fine except "depress the accelerator to downshift" doesn't seem to work at all.

My mechanic rebuilt this transmission about 10 years ago for something like $1500. A tech at the Ford dealership later told me that I could have gotten a T5 swap done for about the same amount of money. I feel my mechanic dropped the ball by not letting me know about that option. So now I'm totally gun-shy about having transmission work done.

The biggest projects I've done myself on the car are replace starter, replace brake booster, and replace timing chain cover, with you guys being a big help to me on that last project. I do get much satisfaction having completed the jobs myself, but I completely do not enjoy the work itself at all.

I figure my options are (1) have the current transmission repaired, (2) have someone do a T5 swap, or (3) do a T5 swap myself.

My questions are (1) Am I overlooking any options? (2) Is it wise to consider doing a T5 swap myself? (3) Will a manual transmission be more durable than an automatic? (4) Any off-the-cuff thoughts about what's causing my AOD to slip? Thanks!

Urambo Tauro

OD band may be shot.

Do you yourself have any preference for manual or auto, besides price?

What are your goals for the car? Stock daily driver, or performance? A manual can be built to suit your needs, as can an automatic.

dawson1112

I bet the TV cable is broken or not adjusted correctly and by driving it around like that it burned up the trans. It needs rebuilt. You should be able to have it rebuilt for far less than 1500 bucks. That's about what it would cost to swap to a t5, but Id think its closer to 700 bucks to rebuild it.

CarrieS

Thanks for the quick replies.

My personal preference is for a manual transmission, by far. I feel much more connected to the driving experience when I get to shift. I also have the sense that automatics are much more complex and prone to failure than manuals.

I'm looking to have a stock daily driver.

I average 10 miles a day driving around town to the store, etc. and take occasional 100-mile round trips to the city at highway speeds. The only unusual thing I do with the car is occasionally tow a 500-pound utility trailer for hardware store errands. I'm generally a slow, mileage-conscious driver, and whenever I'm hauling the trailer, I double up on the kid gloves treatment.

dawson1112

Do the t5 swap, you wont be disappointed. The aod in stock form is a huge hp parasite.

88 orangepeel notch

+1 ^^^

When I swapped to the T5, I was replacing a good performing built AOD with a 3000 stall that I was pretty happy with. But the swap to the T5 was the best mod I've done to the car. Much happier shifting gears myself. Night and day difference in the way the car feels/drives now.

I was a little worried about throwing the T5 behind my mildly built motor knowing I'd be racing it once in a while at the track with slicks. But it's been great for the last 5 yrs and never showed any signs of letting go. I launch pretty hard but never speed shift and am pretty easy on it in daily driving.

CarrieS

There's a horizontal see-saw thing under the throttle body. One side of the see-saw connects to the gas pedal, and the other side of the see-saw connects to the throttle valve cable that runs down to the transmission. When you push the gas pedal, the see-saw pushes the throttle valve cable towards the back of the car, and when you let up on the gas pedal, the see-saw pushes the throttle valve cable towards the front of the car.

The grommet that connects the throttle valve cable to this see-saw thing was made of plastic and is apparently notorious for disintegrating. A local mechanic had the problem diagnosed over the phone within about 30 seconds of hearing my description of the problem. He confirmed after I texted him a photo, and today he gave me a metal replacement grommet and pin. It seems to have fixed the problem.

Nice call, dawson1112! After your post, I did look at the throttle valve cable where it runs into the transmission and saw nothing that looked wrong. I didn't know where to look for the other end of the cable. Even if I had, I probably wouldn't have known to see what was wrong.

Hopefully the transmission will last, so the T5 swap idea will be put on the back burner again.

Thanks for all your help, Mustang Forum peeps. See you next problem!