Need Help! – About a month ago I had to go see a client 20 miles away & I was running late, so I got on the Freeway (Expressway) & ran it about 80 – 90 mph to get there on time – When I got off the freeway & started driving surface streets, tranny would not shift out of 1st. gear & was revving high, tried to shift manually but it would work some times & had to drive very slowly when I couldn’t get it to shift - so by the time I got to my destination & took care of business an hour had pasted, then got back into the car & started off very gingerly & found that it was shifting OK, but I did not get back on the freeway & took surface streets all the way back instead (took an hour) with no problems shifting – after that my LR airspring started slamming down intermittingly, so I didn’t drive it until that was fixed – after the airspring fix, I drove it to the office about 5 miles away & 20 min. later took off & it wouldn’t shift again – noticed everything was hot under the hood, but nothing on the message screen, so I babied it back home where I put the Scanner on it & run a KOEO & KOER with the following Codes;
· KOEO = no error codes, but Yellow Light on indicating something was wrong
· KOER =
o Cyl:8 EEC-IV cyl ?
o 40?
o 412 = cannot control RPM during KOER high RPM check
o 636 = Transmission oil temp higher than expected
o 538 = insufficient RPM change during KOER Dynamic Response Test

I hope I haven’t ruined the tranny at this point right when I was ready to do the JMOD -
I checked the fluid & it’s still nice & red & doesn’t have a burnt smell -
The Service Manual addresses a Hot Tranny & says it might be due to an obstruction in the tubes or cooler (radiator) – if so, then the tubes, radiator, tranny & torque converter should be flushed out using a special cleaner.
Q. – Is this an indication that my 1-2 Accumulator/Spring might have finally gone out & some debris has gone through the system or what?
I was going to do the JMOD, but I don’t want to do it on this trans if it maybe damaged.
Could use input on this situation

The temperature problem could be the temperature sensor. Is it really hot? It can boil the water in the radiator. You can unscrew the lines from the radiator, without the engine running, and blow air into one fitting on the radiator. They are on the driver side of the rad. It should blow oil out the other fitting. You can clean it with carb cleaner and blow it out dry.
I just went through a shifting problem that had similar symptoms as yours and it was a connector that got soaked in oil. The shifting is done electronically. The temperature sensor signal is in the same harness. I could only get gear 2&3.

It seems to be running hot, I didn't actually get down & touch the trans or pan - (This tranny depends on a lot of different sensors to make it work right) - The book says the Trans Fluid Temp (TFT) Sensor is located on the main control valve body in the trans sump, is that what you're talking about? and is that connector/harness inside the trans as well?

The sensor is built into a flat harness that you can see by removing the pan and filter. More likely that you have a connector problem. The connector is on the passenger side. The harness goes over the trans to the cross member, then inside, under the dash by the e-brake, then to the PCM up above the brake pedal. PM sent.

IIRC, the tranny temp sensor is there to either prevent torque converter lock-up, or change the shift scheduling, while the tranny fluid is still cold...don't know if a faulty sensor would cause your problems, but I doubt it.

This is the electronic shift pattern from the manual.

1st gear sol1 on, sol2 off, TqCnvCltch off
2nd gear sol1 off, sol2 off, TCC on
3rd off, on, on
4th on, on, on

After looking at the chart and reading up a bit, if sol1 is always on you would get 1-1-4-4 in drive and 1-1-2-2 in 1 or 2 position instead of 1-2-3-4. you may not have been going fast enough to see the upper shifts. The fluid may have gotten hot from driving too long in first gear. One of the things listed in the manual for overheating is the TCC not applying. The solenoids operate hydraulic shift valves which can get stuck. There may not be enough fluid pressure. This is seeming to be more than a simple problem.

The manual lists a lot of things to check for a 1-2 shift problem:
Electrical, harness, PCM.
Shift cable, digital range sensor.
Main control, 1-2 hyd shift valve, 1-2 accumulator valve (something you suspected), bolts loose.
Shift solenoid failed or loose.
Pump or gasket.
Intermediate clutch, something physically wrong/worn.
Intermediate one-way clutch.
Planetary one-way clutch.

What year is the car?

Ouch! -that's alot of testing to go through - maybe I should just get a replacement Trans from a '98 for this '95 base
http://s1234.photobucket.com/albums/ff407/HBbill/
- everything seems to be falling apart on this car all at once, I'll get it resolved - I've never worked on an Auto Trans before, but there's always the first time for everything - Thanks for this info!