I have an 86 2.8l gt Automatic. And the car wont shift out of first. The transmission was just rebuilt. It was shifting for a while. I was told that the problem could be the governor. I was wondering what the function of the governor is and how to diagnose if it is bad.

One thing to mention. I was replacing one of the springs on the governer with one from a shift kit and bent it in half, but still put the spring on. It still springs it's just a little more stretched out than normal. Would this cause any problem with the governor?

Any input would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you,
Kevin

i dont think our cars have gov chips on them......... mine dosnt

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Currently outa Commision:
Red 86 Se

In the process of the 3.4l swap...

This gets expensive...
$100.00 For balancing and blue printing my injectors
$75.00 for the "jig"
$700.00 for the motor
over $300 in misc engine componets (ie water pump, gasket set, timing chain, ect...)
www.angelfire.com/games2/gamesrme/index.html

The governor has a very important function, It tells the transmission how fast the wheels are spinning, If the governor spring is streached, it might cause the transmission to shift early, However, lets say the spring fell out, the transmission may shift late or not shift at all.

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Matt D
1984 Indy Fiero 4sp.
1985 2m4 now equipt with a 1996 3.4 DOHC.

The automatic transaxle does have a governor in it.

The purpose of the governor is to control the up shift point.

Basic operation of the governor is that when it spins to a certain RPM, it opens a valve to allow the next gear to be shifted.

It is possible that this is your problem.

I would check to make sure you have the TV cable adjusted properly first.

The governor can also collect dirt causing the valve to stick.

In a last ditch effort before you pull it apart, you can put the car in drive, hold the brake pedal firmly and mash the throttle to the floor a couple of times.

This is not recommended as it is easy to burn the clutch disc's that way, but sometimes it is enough to build enough line pressure to dislodge dirt from the governor.

Do this at your own risk.

If the valve body was assembled correctly, or has dirt in it, then that can cause a non-shift issue too.

When assembling a automatic, cleaness is very important.

If you had some else rebuild it, I'd say it's their problem, but by your post I think you have rebuilt it yourself.

Hope this helps / makes sense.

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1988GT T-Tops, 5spd, Loaded

quote you can put the car in drive, hold the brake pedal firmly and mash the throttle to the floor a couple of times. This is not recommended as it is easy to burn the clutch disc's that way

There's nothing wrong with doing that. That is the method GM suggests for checking torque converter stall speed. They do say to limit it to a few seconds.

In very short... The governor is used with the TV cable to control shifting.

If you screwed up the governor or the TV cable then the car won't shift correctly if at all. Have someone that knows what they are doing clean and repair the governor. You don't have to pull the tranny apart to work on it.

If you've been messing with a shift kit in the valve body then it could be anything from dirt to something installed wrong.

The large spring is bent out a little which would cause an early shift point, correct? It sounds to me like I installed something incorrectly in the valve body, I think I may have a clue as to what. Good thing I have extra gaskets with my kit.

What it does is it tries to shift into second if I don't put any gas into it, but the minute I put gas into it, it slips out of second and down to first.

Thanks for the advice,
Kevin

i thought he meant Gov, as in speed limiter sorry

------------------
Currently outa Commision:
Red 86 Se

In the process of the 3.4l swap...

This gets expensive...
$100.00 For balancing and blue printing my injectors
$75.00 for the "jig"
$700.00 for the motor
over $300 in misc engine componets (ie water pump, gasket set, timing chain, ect...)
www.angelfire.com/games2/gamesrme/index.html

I helped a guy with a Fiero that would absolutely NOT shift under 3500 RPM and also would freewheel in first gear. His problem was the TV cable incorrectly adjusted. Once it was set correctly all his problems were gone (well, the shift probs anyway).