2G F4A33 has no engagement or little engagement in 2nd and 4th gear

[PurpDSM]

I have a 96 Eclipse Spyder GS-T with the F4A33-1 Automatic transaxle. When cold, it operates in what seems to be Limp-In mode. Once warmed I have 1st gear, then a long pause until it finally finds 3rd.

If I manually select second gear it will free rev until about 5500 and then see slight engagement.

If I leave overdrive on, it will shift to 4th and free rev. With overdrive off it will hold in 3rd as it should.

I have tested to make sure it is indeed 2nd and 4th by bypassing the TCU and manually operating the solenoids with a shift box.

The fluid level is proper and didn't seem burnt, checked while warm on level ground with the vehicle in neutral.

Just Looking to see if anyone has any input, as per the service manual for the F4A33-1 it seems fairly odd to have lost 2nd and 4th. I'm planning on pulling the trans for a rebuild, installing a Translab shift kit, Quaife LSD, and an IPT stall.

Any input is greatly appreciated.
PurpDSM

 

[1990TSIAWDTALON]

OD is probably the end clutches going out. Does it ever hold? Its possible that you may have a plugged or partially plugged filter, limiting pressure to them, when was the last time the trans filter was changed? Hoping to point out the easiest things to start with.

 

[PurpDSM]

It does not hold in overdrive, regardless of scenario.

I also forgot to mention (serious brainfart) I did pull the TCU codes and the only code I got was as follows.

52 - 2nd Gear Wrong Ratio

As for the filter, I don't have enough history with this car to know the last time it was changed, though I would find it hard to be able to hold enough pressure to engage 1st and 3rd but not 2nd due to a clogged filter.

Nonetheless I have a new filter and fluid, just haven't been home this week to change it.

 

[1990TSIAWDTALON]

My sons spyder is a 97 and we did an IPT end clutch kit on it and that fixed OD but he didn't have the second gear problem like you do. I hope some other auto guys will chime in and help out on this issue.

 

[PurpDSM]

Thanks for the insight, I suspected the overdrive to be the end clutches based on the service manual and multiple other posts I found online. I'm most likely going to do the full IPT rebuild unless someone chimes in with any other ideas as to why I may have no 2nd gear.

 

[1990TSIAWDTALON]

I'd take a stab and say that 2nd may be toast too but you say the fluid looks and smells ok, not burnt smelling. The end clutch kit was really fairly simple but my son had never seen any automatic stuff so I did it for him as he watched. Not hard at all. His had a split sealing ring on the outside of what I would call the accumulator piston, very small and hard to notice until I took the old one off. It would OCCASIONALLY go into OD so I knew the front pump was working. Chime in you auto guys and make sure this isn't something else before he pulls his trans.

I did the Translab 175 shift kit for him also and it was straight forward too. Easy for me. He watched. The only thing I must tell you and its important, that if you have a new filter, make sure that the mounting bolts for the filter are the correct length! He put his new filter on and thought the original bolts should work just fine but in fact there was a change in filter design and it needed shorter bolts to hold it on. He reused his old ones and broke the valve body because they were too long. I don't want that to happen to you so just be aware of that. We found another old valve body and I swapped everything over into it and we had to junk the original one because the long bolts went right into the body and broke some of the veins.