Ok, Ever since I bought this car, it seems to hang in first gear for quite a while before going into second. I tried replacing the tranny modulator under tha car and it still hangs too long. What else is going on here? I don't feel any slippage. It goes into forward immediately from park, and it shifts solid into 2 and 3rd once it gets out of 1st. Reverse feels great and it goes in and out of neutral perfect. At 25mph(with regular pedal, no lead foot or granny pump) I can back off the throttle and then it goes into 2nd and 3rd. Ideas?
Guess you have a TH400 trans. First make sure there is no leak in the vacuum hose to the vac modulator, and that it is connected directly to manifold vacuum. An adjustable modulator could make a difference, but could throw other things off. Adding heavier weights and/or springs to the governor can certainly change it. Bruce Roe
Check to see if the electric kick down modual above the gas peddle is set correctly. Maybe back it off a little so it dont engage as soon as you step on the gas.
I see the kickdown module ...its not even close to touching the pedal. Based on its location its location...i would really have to stomp on the pedal to make conctact. Maybe i need to get it closer to the pedal?
We just had the very same problem with the 70 electra after we swapped out carbs on it. It was almost as if she stayed stuck in 1st gear a few seconds too long. It turned out that we had disconnected the vacuum hose from the manifold and hooked it back up on the back of the new carb. Don't ask me how we screwed that up but we did. Anyways, the vacuum hose coming from the transmission modulator hooks up on our 70 electra on the left side of the manifold when you are facing the engine standing in front of the car. Its a bigger connection than the other connections on the manifold I guess to get more vacuum. You could possibly have this vacuum hose hooked up in the wrong spot and its not getting any vacuum or not getting enough. Just something else for you to check. Here is the 70 electra. I will see if I have a picture of what I am talking about.
Thats not happening here...the line is a rubber hose from the modulator to a metal line that goes up to intake manifold where another little hose connects it to the nipple on the manifold. Ive replaced both of those hoses with same size and they are snug. Although the metal line does flop around a little and now i wonder if the vibration may have worn a hole. There are also other vacumm leaks that are presenting themselves as i go on with repairs. I've only had this car for a month, i continue to find little quirks.
Btw....how are you posting pics? I see you in the red electra...how did you get that one there? Everytime i try it asks me what webpage to go to.
Just hit the "manage attachments" button below the section where you've written a new post or a reply. Then you can choose a file from your PC to attach. Devon
Hey Electra-fied, here is a pic of the back part of the manifold on the 70 electra. Its not the original engine, long story on what happened to that one. You can see where we had the vac line from the transmission hooked up to the line coming out of the back part of the carb, we got it plugged now (does anyone know what is suppose to be hooked up there?). Now we have it hooked up in the right place on the back of the manifold so it gets proper vacuum right next to the vacuum line going to the brake booster. This pic might not help you but I thought I would post it so we have a visual troubleshooting your issue because it sounds identical to the problem we had with our 70 electra. It definitely sounds like you are not getting enough vacuum and hence the reason for the delayed shifting from first to second. My guess is if you think the line is definitely hooked up in the right place than you have a leak somewhere on that line or possibly a loose connection drawing in air. We were at a loss for a couple weeks until somebody came along that knew these old engines really good and he noticed it right away that we had the line hooked up in the wrong place. We were thinking that there might have been something wrong with the transmission but it was something simple and a lot of times it works out that way with these oldies. My brother took the pic for me since I am away working right now but he takes pics with his blackberry and sends it to my email address and I than save it on my computer at work. I than use the manage attachments just below where you type in the messages on v8buick.com but you have to reply to a message with quote to get access to the manage attachment features offered on v8buick.com Anyways, I hope this makes sense. I am learning all of this computer crap as I go along. But this is an excellent site for learning stuff about our buicks and it helps being able to have a pic so you know what guys are talking about.
Wow, seems like we have the exact same problem! (saw your post in my own thread) If you search for "modulator" in the boards, result #13 has pictures with wiring for the manifold hoses. Unfortunately I'm not allowed to post links yet. I know for sure now that mine is hooked to the PCV. If my logic is correct, there can't be any suction on the manifold PCV nipple itself. Because if the hose leading from this is connected to yet another vacuum source, wouldnt that counteract the whole thing? If you disconnect the modulator hose with the engine running, is there suction from this nipple? With that being said, I haven't studied this closely. Just discovered it today and got shivers down my spine..
My car has a dedicated nipple(Dah! I said neeple!) from intake to the modulator. There is vacuum when car is running although today wasn't too bad after fooling with the timing. I finally got a hold of a timing gun and timed it to spec, it seems to be happier in the way it runs. I'm thinking that was part of the problem and the drive to work will tell the tale. to be continued... gotta go see the Raiders beat Broncos now.
The nipple on the back of the carb was used to provide a vacuum source to a vacuum distribution tank attached to the firewall. This tank provided vacuum for operation of door actuators in the heating/cooling system on cars equipped with air conditioning. On non-AC cars the doors were cable operated thus the carb nipple was capped, unless needed to provide a vacuum signal for the cruise control transducer on cars so optioned.
Ok, here's something interesting. Today in Minneapolis, we woke up to 32 degrees(still warm enough for the northern folk to drive with the top down) and the car shifted better in the cooler weather. On the highway though, the HOT light came on at 70mph so I backed off to 60mph and let her cool down. I could tell though that it was still warm when I came to a stop light. I sat there for about a minute and then proceeded to go on the green light. I would say it takes about 5 seconds to shift normal...but it took 10 seconds to shift at the light and about the same time at each light/sign. Am I running too hot? Its my intention to put a temp gauge into the vehicle, but what temp does the sensor require to set off the light? The coolant was low as I jsut replaced Timing cover and water pump last weekend. We'll see what happens again tommorrow. Supposed to be 28 degrees on the way to work. Hmmmmm....thats still warm enough to drive with top down., uzzled:
How does 248 F grab you? Something is definitely wrong, you're not doing your engine OR your transmission any favors at those high temps. You should stop driving it until you dig in deeper. Devon
What's the timing look like? If you're vac advance is screwy it could cause bad timing and also a vac leak which could effect other things such as the trans modulator.
248 degrees???? Really???? If thats the case, there's not really a huge buffer to get that thing off the road and cool it down quickly. Mercy. Ok, well.....it has been behaving up until this afternoon. Although I was pushing it pretty hard to make an appointment, maybe I was doing 85mph? As long as I am at about 60-65mph, I should be alright. I'll get a temp gauge into it before I run it hard again so I can better monitor the temps. Although I shudder at the thought of burning up the tranny, it is 40 years old and I wouldn't be that sad if I blew it or the motor. That would give me excuse to convert it to an OD unit and rebuild the motor with some "minor" performance components. :3gears:
Problem finally solved! It took the winter to get it, but its done! I found at the end of last season a severly worn distributor with tremendous play in the shaft. I also found a bad thermostat that wasn't replaced when I did the water pump and radiator. This thing is now a remarkably improved vehicle in the performance department. I'm having some fun now!
