Questions about Transmission Downshifting

[GarageMahal]

I have often been frustrated with the MM's desire to upshift ASAP under moderate throttle, even after tuning. My general issue is when I want to stomp on it after taking a corner from a stop light, the car is always into 2nd (or 3rd) gear before I get straight enough to stomp on it without breaking the tries loose.

Old memories of working on older Ford AOD cars got me thinking about the downshift linkage that attached to the throttle cable. Does the MM also have such a linkage? Could a solinoid be used to activate without going WOT? Would the car actually stay in the lower gear it was activated manually?

I have not even looked under the hood yet but hope to take a peek sometime soon. I would love to have a little switch that would basically lock the tranny into the lowest gear before redline.

jta

[Vortech347]

I might be wrong about this so slap me if I am.

The Tranny's in these cars are electricly controled and the shifting for downshifting reads off the TPS....(I think)

[JMan]

I have often been frustrated with the MM's desire to upshift ASAP under moderate throttle, even after tuning. My general issue is when I want to stomp on it after taking a corner from a stop light, the car is always into 2nd (or 3rd) gear before I get straight enough to stomp on it without breaking the tries loose.

Old memories of working on older Ford AOD cars got me thinking about the downshift linkage that attached to the throttle cable. Does the MM also have such a linkage? Could a solinoid be used to activate without going WOT? Would the car actually stay in the lower gear it was activated manually?

I have not even looked under the hood yet but hope to take a peek sometime soon. I would love to have a little switch that would basically lock the tranny into the lowest gear before redline.

jta

jta,
Your tranny does not have a throttle valve cable like an AOD. It is controlled by the Powertrain module (PCM). You do have a little switch in your console though. It's called a shifter. When put it in first gear it will stay in first up to nearly the redline and then the PCM will force an upshift to second whether you like it or not. The PCM will probably not allow it to go to the rev limiter. Keep in mind, if you manually shift it to second gear, it will go to second and stay there. In other words you do have some manual control of the tranny if you choose to use it. Be careful downshifting manually in slick conditions. I've never driven in ice or snow, but we average 90 days with thunderstorms from June 1st to September 30th in West Central Florida and it does get slick. If done too abruptly needless to say, with a closed throttle on slick roads, you may end up facing the car behind you or worse due to engine braking from the rear wheels! Your owners manual probably summarizes this pretty well. Read it and try it out under safe conditions first.

Merry Christmas,

J

[Zack]

It is controlled in the software.
I think the factory 1-2 shift occurs at 8 mph under moderate throttle.
The fix is easy and I did it to mine.
Change the 8 to a 15 and problem solved.