Got an 86 Max wagon with 136K on the clock...

Here through the winter, the tranny was taking a while
(approx 1 min) to actually go into gear after being shifted
in drive.

Going into reverse was always okay.

I just figured it was due to the cold weather and that the
fluid was was "gelling" up a bit.

This only happened for the first drive in the morning, after
that, no problem the rest of the day.

On colder days, the time took longer and got to the point
that if the car sat for a few hours, the problem would come
back some but not near as bad.

Now that the weather is warming up, the problem is not near
as bad but does still hesitate before actually going into gear.

I'm thinking of getting the fluid changed to see if that helps
at all or not.

I've read on here that it's not a good idea to have the auto
trannys flushed on our cars but to only have them drained
and filled.

Is this true? Does the auto tranny have a filter to change
as well?

Thanks!
Scott

 

Yeah, it's true just the drain and refill. The auto trannies of our gen were pretty weak. A flush may do more damage than good. So a simple drain and refill should help.

S

 

Do you know if the auto tranny has a filter that needs to be changed?

Scott

 

I don't think there is that's accessible on this tranny. IIRC, you have to take the whole valve body apart to get to it, but take that with a grain of salt. I'm not 100% sure on that.

S

 

yes, the filter is NOT servicable...it is changed during a rebuild...
requires an almost complete teardown to get to...

 

[The Maxi automatics are interesting. Although I have not experienced any problems in getting my 1986 into gear, I noticed that the transmission will not shift into overdrive until the temperature guage on the car moves above the cold mark. Is this normal? Car has 194K on it.

 

Yes, that's normal for the car to no engage o/d without being warm first.

S

 

Yeah that feature sucks. I had to drive with a cardboard inside the radiator where the condesnser goes so that thew car could warm up fast. It would drop over drive once it would get cool on the highway. Kinda sucked.

 

There was a TSB back in '86 for the 2nd gen AT for O/D lockout when engine was cold. Was it just a feature or does anyone know if there was a cure? I drive I-70 in the CO mountains a lot and when the exterior temp goes below 55 the engine temp goes to 1/3rd on the gauge and I lose O/D which sucks for gas mileage.

 

As far as I know, it was suppose to be a feature for some strange reason.

S

 

I think it was to prevent tranny damage when the fluid is cold or something. I know it sucks, mine drops out of o/d too when it's cold out. It's a little nervewracking when it does it at 130kph and goes back to 3rd, revving like a raped ape!

 

Well ..place that cardboard where the condencer is?? Give it a try it works nice I see alot of trucks use those plastic covers on their raidadors in the winter. Worked wonders for mine. I have a few friends that do that. Just remember to remove it when the outside temp gets warm.


-Hec

 

OK, for everyone tired of the warm up thing to get the engine RPM's lower than 3K at 55MPH while waiting for the engine to get to the boiling point of ethylene glycol, there is a cute little green or beige wire that you can clip going to the computer to circumvent. I live in WI and did over a year ago and posted the solution and was immediately attacked in that my transmision was going to be trash in a year. The car is still happy and I can go out and see which wire I clipped if anyone is interested.

 

OK, for everyone tired of the warm up thing to get the engine RPM's lower than 3K at 55MPH while waiting for the engine to get to the boiling point of ethylene glycol, there is a cute little green or beige wire that you can clip going to the computer to circumvent. I live in WI and did over a year ago and posted the solution and was immediately attacked in that my transmision was going to be trash in a year. The car is still happy and I can go out and see which wire I clipped if anyone is interested.