2G Kickdown servo issues - AWD Talon

[JimmyT 2g]

Alright... I'm having auto trans issues. a while ago i was driving at around 45mph, but when i went to gently accelerate the car very roughly shifted from overdrive to 3rd and started to act like it was in limp mode. after getting it back to my house and having it parked for a few days i tried to limp it to a shop where i could start to check things out and see what was going on, but while driving it suddenly slammed from 3rd to 1st, so i shut the car off then tried to get going again and it kept doing that, until i was able to get it to the shop, and now when i try to put the car into drive it just kills the car. after getting it to the shop and looking at the transmission codes we determined it was either a TCU issue or a Kickdown servo issue, and after plugging in a replacement TCU it didnt fix the issue... i was able to check the wire going from the TCU to the kickdown servo and theres no issue with that so at this point i think i need to either replace the servo or, if possible, just fix it.

my questions are: what other tests can i do to further narrow down what might be causing this?
if i do need to remove the kickdown servo, can i do it without removing the transmission from the car? it looks like i can but i dont have any experience with this so i dont know for sure

 

[1990TSIAWDTALON]

Are you running a shift box or factory TCU?
Check your speedometer cable, VSS and anything to do with your SPEED. It sounds like what happened when I broke a speedo cable and my shift box thought I was doing ZERO.....NOT GOOD.
Keep us updated please.

 

[JimmyT 2g]

Factory TCU, would checking those things still apply even though i dont have a shift box on the car? aslo, i do have access to a shift box if thats something that'll help solve the issue

 

[motomattx]

Unplug the tcu and try driving it, it should default to third gear.

 

[JimmyT 2g]

If the car still dies when I try to put it in gear, would that further indicate a Kickdown servo problem?

 

[1990TSIAWDTALON]

I don't know if this will have any result or not but since you have a 2g, it should have a lockup converter. If you can find the lockup converter fuse, pull it and then see if the car dies when you pull it into gear. (We are just keeping the converter from locking up when you pull the fuse)
I had a Chevy Suburban that had that issue and the converter was staying locked up and making the truck die. I pulled the lockup fuse and sold the truck.

 

[JimmyT 2g]

Thanks! I'll check that out when i get the chance

 

[motomattx]

If the car still dies when I try to put it in gear, would that further indicate a Kickdown servo problem?

No it wouldn't.