It was a dark and stormy night... ok, not really, but it was at night when i scored my AOD out of a '82 Ford LTD Crown Vic. ($70) I went to my local Ford Racing parts store sometime after and bought a master racing rebuild kit for it ($300) with the two inch overdrive band. I ordered a B&M shiftkit for it ($70), the lokar linkage for the transvalve kickdown ($125) and then paid my local Mr. Transmission to rebuild the tranny with my parts ($300). Just when I felt the financial strain really kick in (being 19 years old and in between college and the academy) I find out that my near $900 trans package, that I had so masterfully assembled into my little maverick, has no reverse or first gear. After I went through the trouble of shortening a driveshaft, and grinding down a 50oz flexplate to a 28.2oz - with no vibration problems from either, I get haulted by this. Mr. Trans gets the entire car back and a very upset guy with it. They keep it for 3 days and call me "I think its an internal problem." Really? You mean, inside of the transmission? Wow. So tonight I more or less stole my own car back out of their yard with them thinking that I was going to bring it back here, pull the trans back out, and take it to them to have them tell me whats wrong with it, so they can take my other arm and leg this time. If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself.. I'm assuming that the low/reverse band or servo is all goofed up or the check ball is just gone.. any other suggestions? I have 2nd, 3rd, and 4th, but no reverse.. so its just like i kept my old C6 and put a lot more gear behind it.. I have this weekend and next week to remedy the problem and I have just a little left in my savings account for school (enough that i'm starting to think i'll just buy a new aod out of Summit - but wheres the challenge?) so I thought i'd post and see if anyone was interested in knowing any specifics of the swap or if anyone can tell me about the magic button that fixes it. Either way..
You could have shift linkage problems - check to make sure that D (3) is where the shift lever and the transmission manual lever are in the same place when in that position. If that is OK then because you have the other forward gears I will assume that the forward clutches are holding. In drive the one-way clutch holds it in low gear so that has to be slipping (barring a problem in the valve body). In reverse and manual low the low/reverse band is applied. If it is working you should have manual low - we already know the forward clutches work - if the band is applying then you have to have low gear in Low position when starting. The only other part that works in reverse is the reverse clutch and it doesn't work with any other gear. If you don't have manual low then the low/reverse band is not holding. If you don't have low when in Drive or O-Drive then the one way clutch is not holding. If the low/reverse band isn't holding then you won't have reverse even if the reverse clutches are holding. With the valve body modified by someone else it could be that they missed a part or it could be a stuck valve. You can pull it out and look for stuck valves but without the kit directions and not knowing if they put it all together right you have no way to check it out. You could get a stock valve body and a new kit and do it yourself and try that without removing the tranny. I would take the tranny back to the shop that did the work and ask them to fix it. They might fix it even if its not their fault at no charge to you. The shop used your parts - you are responsible for that part of the build. If you could prove - or they admit that something was not done properly then you can expect them to fix the tranny. If you can't prove it, and they don't admit it then you are out a working tranny.
The shop is being very uncooperative and even nearing the point of saying that they didnt build that transmission, taking it back isn't an option, but atleast you've given a very good rundown on some places to start. Big thank you to PaulS. And to Mavaholic - Police Academy at CSCC.
