Ok, I'm sure some of you know I installed a shift kit a few weeks back. The car has been driving great. I was driving the car the other day, and it was fine one second and then all of a sudden I have no 2nd gear. You have to back off the throttle to get it to shift and it goes straight to third. It wont manually go into third either.

Fluid level is still good, and all other gears work fine. I'm leaning towards a bad shift solenoid, but want a second opinion. It seems to be electronic because of the way it stopped working all of the sudden but I'm not 100% sure. Is there a way to test the solenoid? Could the shift kit have messed something up just on second gear?

When its in second gear (manually) it just revs up as if its in neutral. fyi

 

ECU caps time?

 

here is a good test of whether you have an internal transmission issue:

disconnect the huge connector going into the transmission from the ECU (make sure you press the release tab, don't force it) and it is a little hard to get to

now you have basically a manual transmission, and you should be able to drive the car around and shift gears to each gear manually to your hearts content, this will tell you that most everything inside the tranny is fine and your issue is electronic!

 

I got a dollar on it being the transmission. I think your are on the right track.

 

sounds like a solenoid.
minor chance it could be a sprag/synchro. need to check fluid.

 

Scope - the caps are done already.

If I have time this weekend I'm going to drop the pan again and take a look at things. The fluid on the dip stick looks good, but who knows if there is anything in the pan or not....

I really feel like its something electronic like a solenoid, but we will see soon enough. I'm picking up an SC400 this sat, so I might not have time.

Cowboy, isn't the trans all electronically controlled (solenoids and such)?

 

So I noticed tonight that if I manually put it in second at a cruising speed, I can feel it downshift into second gear. If I feather the throttle I can feel it acclerating, but if you give it any more gas than just a hair it just revs up as if its in neutral.

So,,,,?

 

repeating:

 

the fact you can't load 2nd gear without it slipping makes me think you broke something inside.

 

Any progress on the condition?? I have been following your shift kit progress and its killing me not knowing what went bad on you.

 

Honestly nothing new. I've been driving the car, but haven't had time to take the pan off again. I just picked up a SC400 last night, so I have no idea when I get to the LS. Just for the heck of it, I threw in some Lucas Stop slip, but no change. When I have the time, I'll pull the pan and the valve body and take a look at everything. It might be something very simple.

 

and change the tranny fluid and get that Lucas crap that you added back out, Aisin doesn't approve that junk!

 

Ok, so an update on this...... I dropped the pan again this morning to find metal shaving around the magnets in the pan. So I'm pretty sure that's my second gear laying in the pan.

It's all good though. I'm going to go ahead and do the 5spd swap on the car. The car is still drivable, but I'll be driving my truck for the most part so I'm not really worried about it.

Now to find a good deal on a R154!