Hey guys, I was going to get rid of a car and thought it had a serious transmission problem. This weekend I drove the car some 300kn to use up some of the LPG before removing the tank etc and the actual transmission worked fine using its gears but under the conditions listed below. these things have confused me.

1) Small flare on shift from 2nd to 3rd and only changes up when you reach 57km/h, consistently at that speed,
2) The shifts into overdrive seems to mostly occur at 95km/h, plus or minus a couple of kn/h,
3) Driving normally,no cruise active, no kick down occurs but if I use cruise control, I have kick down and all the normal operation, if I brake and then accelerate, it is stuck in the gear that it was in unless I manually shift it or I press the resume on the cruise provided I have a speed set previously, and
4) If you come to a stop, it starts of as normal in first and changes up normally again, but if you slowdown and then accelerate, no kick back occurs.

The car is a fuel injected TP Elite wagon, has the power / economy selector on the console. Although when you select power, you do not get your park brake light on the dash. Switch to Econ mode and park brake light comes on. I mention this in case there is any significance. A mate who collects Ford Capris, told me he had issues with a later model and they replaced his TPS. That fixed his trans problem.

Also, what actually operates the kick down in the TP Magna??

I have a spare TP throttle body with all the electric bits on it, cleaned and ready if I need it, so please can any of the first gen specialist tell me anything here.

Jeff

my best guess kickdown soleniod on the box is faulty
its the round bit on the auto with the single wire running out of it
http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh59/magnabuff/view_497.jpg
depending on how many ks is on the box
the kickdown band or internal drum might be worn

kickdown switch at the top of the accelerator pedal might need adjusting
http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh59/magnabuff/2_116.jpg

I am having similar problems with the cruz.... so cant help you there

the overdrive should be noticable after 80 km /h so maybe the TCU is at fault or you have a problem in the end clutch

Thanks for the info, can I change the kick down switch myself?

The cruise works fine as far as that goes, no issues with it. The strange thing is that with a cruise setting of say 95km/h, I can slow down to 50 and the press the resume button, the trans down shifts and car accelerates, changing through its gear range normally, but athe the speeds I mentioned. Also, in cruise mode, if I approach a hill and some seep washes off, it kicks back and accelerates back to set speed.
With out cruise, driving it normally only works from a standing start. If I slow down, and then accelerate, it just stays in top gear unless I manually shift it or there is a preset cruise to active.

Any idea why the hand brake light would be affected with the power / economy button?

I shall persevere though and let you know what I find.

get parts from a wrecker to replace

first check the wire and connection
it often cracks up due to heat
DIY solenoid on gearbox
you need circlip pliers that compress the circlip
the circlip is in front of the cover
I think there is a spring behind the metal cover

cruz
dont know ....still working on it

brake light coming on is a mystery :wtf:

take off the battery terminals for a few minutes

see if the modules go back to default settings

when was the auto last serviced ?

if you drove 300 kms.... the box is still ok

a guess only

you may have a broken thrust washer in the end clutch

Replaced the kick-down switch on accelerator pedal, no change.

From standing start, driving as an automatic, all gears shift up smoothly to overdrive at 84km/h on decelerate, I noted a change to a lower gear at around 40km/h otherwise no different. While driving at 100km/h, I let speed wash of to 55km/h, then I put accelerator flat to the floor, but car stayed in overdrive, no kickdown at all.

I accelerated to 100km/h again, smooth up shifts, set cruise control at 100km/h, then allowed car to slow by braking and thus canceling the cruise out, at 55/km/h I pressed resume, car automatically kicks down smoothly and accelerates back up to 100km/h up-shifting as required and changing as speed and gear selection as you would expect on cruise in an auto as speed was lost on hills etc.

I turned off cruise, then drove car as a manual, shifting up the gears smoothly and engaged overdrive OK. I then allowed car to slow and at 80km/h I dis engaged the overdrive, at 60 I selected 2nd gear and at 20, I selected 1st gear, all instantly and successfully. Might also get the switch on the trans too, although apart from oily dust etc, it does seem intact. Where would I find the TCU on a TP Elite?

One thing I have also noticed now, first (15min) thing when driving, I seem to get a response from the kick-down, but it stops working then unless in in cruise control mode.

I disconnected the battery, but nothing significant changed.

I am more certain now it is something electrical, as the trans is really working fine through all its gears. It is only when I wish to drive the car as an automatic without cruise control active that I cannot get kick-down.

Manual shifts OK, cruise shifts OK, so I reckon I might try a TCU and see what happens.

Thank you for your help so far Magna Buff, it is good to know I can bounce ideas and get support with this.

Jeff

EDITED to add,
Drove car again and tried t see what effect power / econ switch would have. If I select power, the car will change back to second gear at 50km/h and will not shift back into third unless I switch back to econ mode. This coupled with the strange park brake light behavior makes me think TCU. Mind you I could be way off track :) Is there a difference from the TN TCU to the TP TCU? I have a spare TN one here and wreckers want $160 for one.

the TN TCU is different to the TP TCU
because of the power economy function

your TCU seems to be working within the specs most of the time
apart from the cruz problem


location is below the radio on the floor has 4 screws and an earth wire

I think it is electrical fault so maybe not the TCU

will consult the auto gearbox repair manual and the factory manual
for faults
and read up on the power economy function again
cant think what else it could be

check the TPS and the timing

also check the wires to the pulse generators A and B are intact
one controls kickdown drum

simplified
The Power pattern,
and the Economy pattern
are controlled by the TCU

the kickdown solenoid and one pulse generator
controls kickdown through the pedal switch and TCU

repair manual not helpful with understanding the functions
of cruz control to TCU

check the TPS and the timing - I will replace the complete set with a spare I have.

also check the wires to the pulse generators A and B are intact, one controls kickdown drum - Where do I find these?

I think it is electrical fault so maybe not the TCU - As a last resort, if I can get a TCU, that might go some way to possibly correcting a couple of issues, such as kick-down, shift pattern differences in econ/pow mode and maybe even the park brake light :)

Does you book give any numbers that might be helpful in identifying the correct TCU?

Thanks, Jeff

you need to find a TP automatic sedan or wagon with efi
(executive,se or elite)
and get the TCU out of that to be sure

What I do is have the problem cars TCU unit and plug ins exposed so I can
swap the wreckers unit to the car
and go for a drive while still near the wreckers
just in case the one I am given is faulty

Pulse generators A and B are two black things
with (guessing) green and black wires running out of the top of them
and a 10 mm bolt holds them in
sposed to get a Meter reading of 245 ohms +-30 approx out of both
you get to them by removing the air filter canister
http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh59/magnabuff/pulse.jpg

Hey Magna Buff, I fixed it. I got a couple of replacement TCU's to try and basically did what you indicated, trying each one in turn. Made no difference. Initially, it would work for a few minutes, then no kick-down at all. I then returned all the TCU's to the wrecker and asked about the kick-down switch but as it was after five pm, he was reluctant to work without more money than it was worth. I was up against the fact that the car rego expired at midnight on Friday. I decided to have one last go at something that was niggling in the back of my head, the electrics on the throttle body. As I had a spare here for some reason I could not remember, I decided to fit it. All went well till I dropped a bolt, and then a nut. Frustratingly, I could not find them, nor could I find any the same for at least two hours. Eventually, I got lucky and got it all connected. First bit of luck, the car started, then I went for a drive. All gears shifted up smoothly, not even a flare on the 2-3 change and it shifted into 3rd at 48km/h. I wasn't pushing it hard yet. Out onto the main road, foot down and lo an behold a smooth kick-down. Early moments I thought, but off we went for a 25km drive out, all the time checking. Overdrive engaged smoothly at 76km/h, still not pushing. after travelling 10km out of town at legal speeds, I put my foot down and we shifted from overdrive to 3rd quickly and smoothly, pushed the foot to the floor and got an immediate kick-down to 2nd, accelerating rapidly, I eased off a bit and a smooth shift to 3rd, then engage overdrive with another smooth shift into that range, WooHoo,:woot: looking good! I then drove for another hour and covered 50 odd kilometers, all the time trying kick-down and acceleration etc. All worked well. So, the issue was somewhere in the three electrical connectors on the throttle body. Oh, on another issue, we had difficulties running on petrol, LPG was fine, but engine always stalled on petrol, well that too is now fixed. Not sure how, but it runs and drives on petrol fine now as well.

I am so glad I did not take this car to the crusher now, it was so close :( It drives and runs so good now.

I must thank you, for your support with this issue, it is good to have another input as I was somewhat out of my league with this one. I did my apprenticeship and left mechanics for the Army when XC fords were being released, so I really only know pre computer day cars, so THANK YOU :thumbsup: