I am having trouble figuring out what this is. About a month ago my transmission would not shift back into first gear from second when coming to a complete stop. We checked the shift cables and tightened everything but problems still there. I was told to use Lucas transmission additive to loosen the valves in the trans. This stuff was thick and made the car worse as the temp outside dropped. It stopped shifting into 1st at all until the transmission warmed up. I went back to the Auto Value and they told me I should do a half transmission flush using Sea Foam. I followed the instructions before draining and the car was shifting all kinds of weird. I aasumed the filter was at this point plugged and I had to much fluid inside. I cracked the pan and drained the oil and change the filter and gaskets. I also cleaned the magnet. I put everything back together and used the ATF+4 oil inside. I crossed my fingers and drove the car. It worked beautifully. Shifting was right where it was before this all happened. I drove my wife to work the next morning and I notice the car sometimes does not shift 2-1 when coming to a stop. Then Starting back up again it would be in 2nd and then slow move. If you depress the gas the car down shifts and up shifts and down shifts all messed up and then it acts normal. As soon as my wife is out of the car it runs fine. If I have more than myself in the car, it does this crap. Extra weight extra strain. Then I read about the Kick Down Band adjustment process. I'm not a mechanical savvy guy, but I'm assuming this is the kickdown for 3-2 2-1. Could this be the culprit. Everything was running great before. The oil level was right on the money and a reddish brown color. No shifting problems and then all at once. I just need to know if anyone else has had this happen, and if this is the correct remedy. We adjusted the cable on the bracket right next to the kick down band. Also a couple of days before I got wise and changed the oil, the car would not move. Shift through P D N R 1 2 nothing happened. I thought the transmission was gone. We messed around with the bracket and then the car moved. We checked the Haynes and adjusted the shifter cable. I changed the oil and the car works just not with more than 1 person in it. Any help would be appreciated. I hope this was a thorough explanation. This is my only car and would be a great Holiday gift if I did not have to spend $1000+ to fix it. Cheers
Alen

 

Adjust the forward band, its right next to the dip stick entry into the transmission. You'd be supprised how many slipping/shifting/power problems this can fix.

My new transmission after me and my brother rebuilt it skipped 2nd gear all together because we forgot/didn't know how many turns to go on the nut and we figured we'd test drive it till it worked properly, well I forgot about the adjusting band after throwing the tranny in so I drove it around for a few days with it skipping 2nd gear and later triggered in my head I forgot to adjust that band and once I did first-2nd-3rd gear worked great!


What you do is look for a bolt with a nut over it right next to the dip stick entry on the transmission, take the bolt out put it back in andtighten it down then mark off a spot on the head of the adjusting bolt and back it off 3 turns and put the lock nut on. Now depending on how good your transmission internals are it should be 3 turns, if not do a little tweaking a quarter turn at a timebut this should help and if it doesn't I'd look at the vavle body and then the condition of the bands or possibly even your servo's.

I'd try this. Then kick the guy at the shop in the *****.

 

here's the instructions on how to do it: http://www.myneonspeed.com/howto/how...atxbandadj.htm


Don't worry about the part where it saysusing a torque wrench, just tighten it up with a ratchet then back it off 3 turns.

Keep in mind you are only adjusting it from the top of the transmission, you are not doing the reverse band from under the tranny as it shows on the bottum half of the article.

They say 2 and 1/4th turns but go between 2 and 1/2 to 3 full turns, I did 2-1/4 turns and my kick down speed sucked, it shifted into second around 45mphwhich is 4,500 rpmwhich means I never getto usethe SOHC's fullpowerband. If done correctly it should shift into second while floored at around 55-58mph, or if u have a tach at 5,800 Rpm. As you can tell gearing isnt the Neon's strong point. 1st gear is pretty much 1-1. I can tell how fast I'm going just by using my tach cuz its consistant 10mph-1,000 Rpm 45mph -4500 Rpm ect...

 

Thanks alot. I will be doing the adjustment this morning. I will let you know what happens.

 

if that band adjustment doesnt work for you, consider that your governor may be getting stuck. bad part is that, this is usually i big sign that something is coming apart inside the trans. usually governors dont fail. however when craps coming apart in the tranny it throws all sorts of fine metal around, which plugs the governor and results in eratic shift behavior. when you dropped the pan was there a lot of metal in there? how much did you have to clean up?

 

I tightened the kick down band according to the specs and took it out for a drive. Still does the same thing though a little better. I did not as of yet try to add a passenger. But it still is kind of messed up.

As for that the magnet had a fair amount of shavings on it. There was nothing in the pan other than what was on the magnet. I was told about the governor before but was trying to avoid replacing it.

The bracket on the transmission that has the shifter cable and throttle cable attachet to it Im a little confused about. When I pull on the throttle you can see the bracket move counter clockwise and then back to original position. When it is about at the end clockwise it seems to slowdown before coming to a complete stop. If I move the bracket by hand it does the same thing, slow to come to original position. I applied some wd-40 to the movement and it seemed to help but it appears to be in one of the cables holding it back. I can't explain it better than this. let me know.