AOD help! Lost overdrive...

[Dtressler40]

Hey guys. New to the group, looking for help!
I have a 1993 Mustang GT with the AOD. I had the transmission rebuilt when I bought the car in 2011. I put less than 5000 miles a year on it though I do take it to the dragstrip a couple of times each summer. I noticed a year or so ago that it would sometimes shift into overdrive at wide open throttle (which they aren't supposed to do) and then eventually I lost overdrive all together. It goes to shift into 4th (driving normally) and it just free revs.
So, I started looking into fixing it. I found that it could either be the overdrive band is shot, or another common problem is the snap rings that hold the servo/spring in breaks causing it to slip and free rev.
I work on my own cars a lot but I'm intimidated about getting into the AOD. I've been doing research and watching videos and I think I could check those 2 things. If it's just a broken snap rings I wouldn't even have to drop the transmission. Just drop the pan and remove the valve body, check, and replace. If it's the band, I think I could do that too, but it requires removing the transmission. It seems to be a cheap fix, but a lot of work dropping the transmission which makes me think I might as well put in the 5 speed manual I've always wanted...
Anyway, sorry about the long post. Any help, info, or suggestions would be much appreciated!

 

[broncojunkie]

You have several options that make sense, depending on what you want to do with the car. If you want to get by cheap and have a spare aod, just find someone doing a t5 swap and buy their old aod. Pull yours and fix it for the next time. If you plan on racing often, I'd (personally) stick with auto over a t5. I have t5's and mild built motors, but I mod my t5's and run bias ply tires for the track. Your aod probably lost o/d because the tv cable wasn't adjusted correctly. That's the most common reason and I don't know enough about them to know what breaks. But they're too cheap and plentiful not to have a spare one lying around, if that's what you're running.

If you want to get more serious about racing and want the o/d, you might look into running a 4r70w OR swapping 4r70w guts into your aod. Just a couple options, in case you haven't considered them already.