- Jul 22, 2009
- 8,386
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I'm working on a '99 Dodge Dakota V6 with a gunked up transmission kickdown cable. It was so gunked up that, instead of backing down, it disconnected itself from the throttle linkage (which is how I found it).
My issue is that I'm not sure if fixing this will cause another problem. The truck has been running ok with it disconnected and stuck in the halfway position -- upshifts were delayed for the throttle position and it had god awful acceleration, but shifts were solid. It's also solid when the cable is pulled out -- it's just shifts are WAY delayed. But when I pushed the cable all the way in, it shifts to 2nd at the proper RPM, but then it "reshifts" into 2nd a second later. I can't have it slipping out of gear like that! Is it only doing that because it's all the way in? With the amount of slack in the cable I'm just not sure it would get pulled at all between where it would be at idle and the 1/4 throttle position when connected, so I'm afraid that if I get the cable working smoothly it will be pulled back in that "let's hunt for 2nd when we're already there" position during gentle acceleration. The cable only needs to be pulled out a little for that to stop, but that little does have it hanging in gear, so it seems like that cable position is calibrated for a higher throttle position than just "gentle acceleration." Is this true, or would it work right if the cable was clean and adjusted properly?
I'm doing this as a favor for a widow, and I really don't want to fix her livable acceleration problem only to put her transmission in a state that could take $2000 to get right. If the darned thing just doesn't like 2000RPM shifts, I might as well leave it stuck where it's shifting at 3k.
So, how does this transmission kickdown work?
My issue is that I'm not sure if fixing this will cause another problem. The truck has been running ok with it disconnected and stuck in the halfway position -- upshifts were delayed for the throttle position and it had god awful acceleration, but shifts were solid. It's also solid when the cable is pulled out -- it's just shifts are WAY delayed. But when I pushed the cable all the way in, it shifts to 2nd at the proper RPM, but then it "reshifts" into 2nd a second later. I can't have it slipping out of gear like that! Is it only doing that because it's all the way in? With the amount of slack in the cable I'm just not sure it would get pulled at all between where it would be at idle and the 1/4 throttle position when connected, so I'm afraid that if I get the cable working smoothly it will be pulled back in that "let's hunt for 2nd when we're already there" position during gentle acceleration. The cable only needs to be pulled out a little for that to stop, but that little does have it hanging in gear, so it seems like that cable position is calibrated for a higher throttle position than just "gentle acceleration." Is this true, or would it work right if the cable was clean and adjusted properly?
I'm doing this as a favor for a widow, and I really don't want to fix her livable acceleration problem only to put her transmission in a state that could take $2000 to get right. If the darned thing just doesn't like 2000RPM shifts, I might as well leave it stuck where it's shifting at 3k.
So, how does this transmission kickdown work?
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