Valve body? Torque Converter? Band?

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Jun 3, 2012
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I have a 44re that is acting up.

I have adjusted both bands to factory spec, fully flushed with ATF+4 and put in a new filter.

Symptoms:
Delayed shift into reverse from park when cold. Slips on 2-3 shift under throttle, very delayed shift from 2-3 of I hard accelerate and then coast (shifts while coasting).

While warming up the shifts from 2-3 will be delayed and hard, like I have a shift kit or something.

When warm, the transmission will operate absolutely perfect. Butter smooth.
 
Let it idle for a minute before driving on a cold start. Is the transmission oil pressure adjustable? Some transmission have a spring that determines low rpm oil pressure.
 
You know, I've ridden in a lot of 2000's Dodge truck and Jeep products with that transmission or one of its relatives, and that all seems pretty common when they get years on them. Which is odd, because that tranny is literally an old-school A-727 with an overdrive stuck into the tailshaft housing, and the governor converted from a direct-acting mechanical governor to a tonewheel pickup that feeds the computer and lets the computer drive a variable-duty-cycle solenoid to create "governor pressure" that's used by the analog valve body. That last feature is what gives it an "E" suffix instead of an "H," but its a bit of a joke because its a far cry from being a true electronic transmission like, say, a 545RFE.

My hunch is that its the VDC solenoid that gets lazy or sticky as the tranny ages and thus generates an erroneous governor pressure signal when cold. Because everything else in that darn slushbox is 200k-mile worthy- the bands, clutches, convertor, pump, analog parts of the valve body, etc. are hardly different from what's in the two 60s cars in my .sig (except they don't have lockup convertors).

I honestly don't know where in the unit the VDC solenoid is located (never had one open), but its probably in the valvebody and that's why the Jeep Forum poster cured his problems with a new VB. But he probably spent more than he needed to.

Also- see if it still has the check valve in a coolant line to the radiator cooler, and remove that if it does. It may make it lazy to go into gear after sitting overnight, but those check valves restrict flow and reduce cooling.
 
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