Sunny and 50F in the Midwest today and I have Buick fever. In October I replaced the kickdown solenoid (and filter and gasket) in my TH400 transmission. The gas pedal switch was sending a signal to the transmission, but it wouldn't drop into 2nd gear with the pedal to the floor. The new kickdown solenoid did the trick and restored that bit of fun to driving. My next project was to play with the governor and the shift points. At WOT, it was shifting at 4,275 (1-2) and 4,725 (2-3). I purchased a Governor Recalibration Kit from Jegs (Shift Technology Poducts) and started with their two lightest springs (red and purple). I did not change the weights. New shift points are 5,275 (1-2) and 5,075 (2-3) at WOT or as near as I can get for the 2-3 shift. My problem is when I put the pedal to the floor and the transmission is in D, the car gets stuck in 2nd gear and won't shift if the kickdown is activated. If I let off the pedal just a bit, the car shifts. The car drives fine when cruising or being pretty aggressive. Any thoughts on why the governor and kickdown seem to be at odds for the 2-3 shift at WOT?
The springs move the 1-2 shift and the 2-3 shift closer together or farther apart. They are the last things you change. Put the stock springs back in and change one weight at a time until you get the shift points to where you want them. Then, fine tune with the springs.
The governor can only be calibrated at WOT with the switch activated. Start again but find your shift points at WOT. chances are you calibrated the thing to shft at 7k plus with those springs
Thanks for the advice. I'll start over with a spare governor (based on Larry's advice in another thread) and begin with adjusting the weights.
I found a SONNAX governor on RockAuto for $82.79 and swapped out an unused gauge for a wired tachometer. I think some of my trouble stems from the use of an induction clamp tachometer, which was as much as 700 rpm different in the 3000RPM range compared to an AutoMeter wired tach. At least I'm getting constant acceleration and the issue with getting "stuck" in 2nd is gone. On a side note.....God bless my wife for helping me record shift points when she can't keep her feet on the floor mats when I stomp on the pedal.
That's what happens with a Buick. In the early 90's I had a stumble on taking off so I worked on the distributor springs and I was taking the car out to find out if the stumble went away.My friend Leo asked me if he could take a ride with me.I told him that there's no seat for him,so he stated that he would hang on to the roll bar.I get to the area to try.I step on the gas for about one second, up went the car and Leo was nowhere in sight .I look back and the he was against the back window. So he tells me he would never do that again. By the way the car was street legal and the stumble went away. It did run then 10.22 with the 308 solid cam and steel SI heads.Bruno.
Success. New SONNAX governor with one stock inner weight (11g) and the "E" inner weight from the Shift kit (7g) and 44g each on the outer weights with the stock springs and the trans is shifting at 5,200 and 5,200 rpm. I've also noticed that shifts during casual driving are also much smoother, so added bonus.
