Sorry to be a bother on this, but I'm a bit worried about the tranny in my 2K L. It seems to be shifting too hard (did so before the superchip); it really hits hard with a major clunk, but only sometimes. Could this be a linkage issue; i.e. is there an adjustment procedure I could go through? TIA!

-tvw

 

Um,,,it's not a linkage problem, the TSR switch is electronic and it either works or doesn't, if you're under WOT it will shift pretty hard, becuase the converoer is locked at WOT in all gears, and when the converter is locked it'll shift like a dropped rock. The "specially modified" part of the 4R100 that Ford advertises on Lightnings (look in your owners manual) is a factory installed shift kit. Every part of a Lightning tranny is an off the shelf part that somewhere goes into another model of 4R100, EXCEPT the accumulator, which is a valve body that controls your main control assembly (what most people call the valve body). The Accumulator is purpose built for the Lightning, and it shifts hard compared to almost any other automatic I can think of, esspecially at WOT. If you're worried about it, take it to the dealer and have him flash the chip to see if you get a read on an error code. Also, get under it and grab around to see if anything is loose, chech the cross member, the extension housing and the driveshaft. I only bring this up because someone asked me about a loud clunk, and after about a week of asking me "is it this?" I suggested about 6 things each time telling him to go to the dealer to be sure, he finally took it to the dealer and it turned out his extension housing came loose, the output shaft was spinning eccentrically and to make a long painful story short, he toasted the transmission.
A good way to tell if something is "normal", BTW is to test drive another one. Take another Lightning out and see if it shifts as hard as yours, if it does, then I would bet you're just getting used to the harder shifts.
Jeesh, sorry I rambled a lot on this one, hope it helps...

G