Hey..

I have an 84 GL wagon that was my Grandfathers, then my Dad's, and now it's mine.

It has the automatic tranny with pushbutton 4wd.

I was driving down I-5 at about 60 mph, and it suddenly downshifted into first.

I pulled over, and found that when it is drive, it stays in first. When I shift it into second, it goes into second gear. If I go back to drive, it downshifts to first again.

I've tried to press the button and cheat the lever a little forwards towards neutral, in hopes that maybe the linkage was tweaked a little, but I can never get it to go into third.

I'm hoping that it is something external to the tranny, maybe linkage or something, as I'd like to avoid the time and expense of pulling the whole transmission.

I come here hoping for some advice and direction from folks that are familiar with these rigs.

Thanks in advance for any insight or direction!!!

Jarrod

this is a 3AT and has quite a few vacuum related parts and a governor i think it's called. all of which give you quite a few easy fixes for trans related issues, but you'll have to wait for those more experienced with them for that.

 

did you check fluid?

 

sounds like the shifter mechanism might be twitchy, might want to check linkages underneath to see if everything is moving correctly.

If it shifts into 2 with the gear selector, it is almost certainly the governor giving you troubles. The governor is what provides "road speed" (really just output shaft speed) to the automatic's valve body whle in Drive (and only in Drive).

 

The governor is externally accessible, and from within the engine compartment. It lives under the aluminum dome on the US passenger side of the transmission almost above and slightly forward of the right axle. 3 small bolts gets you access to it.

 

The 2 usual problems are gummed-up/stuck valving and a damaged ("apple cored") driven gear.

 

Check out this article:

http://www.indysworld.com/80s/general/USRM/Transmission/Governor/ATgovenorclean.htm

 

If the driven gear is damaged, the drive gear might also be damaged. Most of my experience is with vehicles that have the steel driven gear (as opposed to plastic on other/most? models), and a damaged steel gear usually means that the drive gear in the tranny will damage replacement driven gears.

It all went out and together like butter. Thankie so much for the step by steps and good photos!!! Have a parted out Subaru and just traded the governors. Didn't have to replace transmission. Absolutely awesome response and help guys. Gonna take some photos of my 84 and post em. Thanks again:)

Was yours apple cored or just gummed up? I did this fix, and highly recommend the vac modulator fix, both of which I have done at least 4 times over the past few years.