I am wondering if anyone else has seen this problem and/or knows how it was fixed. The car is a 1989 Ford Taurus, V6 with the AXOD 4 speed automatic transmission.
The transmission shifts fine when driven from cold. Shifts are firm, at the right speeds, and respond the the throttle position. After 5 or so miles, the transmission starts jerking in and out of gears. It acts like it is hunting for the right gear. It never stops transmitting torque but it feels like it is shifting up and down between 4th,3rd, and 2nd. The fluid level is at the hot dip stick line when warm; the fluid is not overly hot; and the fluid looks nicely red and does not smell acrid.
The ECM for this power plant only controls the torque converter lockup. It does have a mechanical governor and throttle valve cable to the valve body. In looking at the layout of the governor I notice that there is one seal ring on the lower end of the driven shaft and the governor weights control the bleed of the restricted line pressure to set the governor fluid pressure.
I suspect that something is wrong with governor that does not appear until things warm up. Has anyone seen this problem before? If you did, what was the cause?
TNX Researcher
I have seen the plastic (nylon) teeth of the governor wear down to where it starts jumping off the drive gear…its easy enough to pull of and take a look/