ok trans on my 71 maverick wont change out of first gear until after i hit 30mph n i release the accelerator and press it again then it changes but in third gear. its skipping second. i put a new modulator and adjusted it 1 turn counterclockwise for softer shifts and its still not working. i have no clue what can be wrong. it was working fine and out of no where this happened. i tried changing the gears manually and even that doesnt work. it stays in first gear even if i manually put 2nd or put it back in drive it stays in first. shouldnt it change if i change the gear manually? what can be wroong
So it totally skips second, or does it go into neutral? How new is the tranny? I would probably clean/rebuild the valve body and check the shift linkage.
Here is a pic. I think it is odd that you can't manually shift into second. PaulS is the expert, so we will see what he says. I haven't worked on a C4 in a long time, but if I remember correctly this sounds like a valve body issue or a intermediate band issue. How old is the tranny. when was it serviced last? First thing I would try is adjusting the intermediate band and seeing if that helps.
i bought this car 6 months ago so im not sure. but yeah i think its weird to that manually i cant go 2 second gear. i just replaced the modulator but i dont know if i adjust it when its off or on the trans? to adjust do i take off?
It should have a flathead screw inside the vacuum line nipple that you can access with the modulator on the transmission. I don't think the modulator would affect you manually shifting into second.
If you have no second in manual "2" then you have a broken band or it is not applying. It is time to pull the pan and see if there are any parts in it. It may have been loose enough to drop a strut or it may have broken or it may have a bad apply piston seal(servo seal). If you don't find any parts in the pan you may have to remove the valve body to find the problem (make air checks).