2004R acting up, coasting downshifts too early, etc.

[350Rocket]

I have a 2004R in my 87 Caprice winter beater that's starting to act up a bit. It still upshifts normally and at the correct timing if not slightly early, no slipping or anything, but it seems to downshift too early at times (3-2 and 2-1 shift). When in O/D and lockup everything works fine. When I'm coasting to a stop or braking slightly it downshifts early enough that the RPM's come up some and you can feel the engine braking, it's feels like I manually downshifted it. It's not really bad yet, but enough that I notice it. It does seems to be getting a bit worse though. Lately it has also started to shift erratically, I'll be coasting and then have to accelerate again and when it goes to downshift its seems to get confused and shift twice and jerk the car a bit. I'm suspecting a valve body problem and wondering if having a shift kit installed may help the problem. I have a local trans shop that is pretty confident in 2004R's and I may have him look at it. Thanks for any ideas.

 

[350Rocket]

Before somebody jumps the gun and says tv cable adjustment, my thinking is that is not the problem, because on acceleration it upshifts early, on deceleration it downshifts early. Either way I go with the cable is going to aggravate one or the other condition. I don't want it shifting earlier on acceleration.

 

[77 cruiser]

Possibly the TV is sticking a bit.

 

[350Rocket]

Thank you so much for that reply, I don't know why I'd never thought of that but it really makes sense when I think about it now. In theory that could be allowing proper line pressure while under medium or heavy throttle, but isn't closing off enough while coasting so the line pressure stays too high causing it to downshift early. If it's sticking more now than it was, that could also be causing the erratic shift I was getting.

Now for fixing it, is it fairly easy to get at with the pan off?

A 2nd question also, my trans has made a slight whining noise in park ever since I got it, most noticeable when cold. It had the original 20 year old fluid in it with 218,000km's on it so I had it completely flushed and new filter and it hasn't gotten any better or worse now with 241,000km's on it. Fluid was dirty looking before the flush but still looks decent now. Just wondering whether it's worth putting a shift kit in, to try and make it hold up longer. I put a lot of miles on this car in the winter. Thanks for your help guys.

Mike

 

[chris718]

Mismatched Valve Body And/or Governer For Given Final Drive /engine Combo Or Mismatched Tv Plunger Spring For Given Throttle Plate Linkage Type.

 

[350Rocket]

Well the car is 100% bone stock, never had the pan off the trans before I got it so I doubt it would have any mismatched parts. Also, now that you mention mismatching causing problems I have another question:I'm putting my 2004R from my old 87 Cutlass into my new 84 with a 350 Olds and 3.73 gears. You think this might cause a problem? Stock it was calibrated for a 305 and 2.73 gears, I changed the gears to 3.73's and still had the stock engine and it worked great.

 

[chris718]

www.CKPerformance.com

 

[350Rocket]

Well after the suggestion on the throttle valve, I did a search and turned up tons of good information including your website. Thanks again.

www.CKPerformance.com