Eric - I did and its dry however i havent cranked the
engine for about a week.

 

If you put a length of vacuum hose on the end of the steel line that comes up from the transmission, and suck on the hose, you should be able to pull a strong vacuum and have it hold.
If it leaks down, that means there's a hole somewhere - probably the modulator diaphragm, though a pinhole in the steel line, or a floppy 3" length of hose between the line and the modulator are also possible.

- Eric

 

And, if you get a mouthful of ATF, you got a bad modulator.

 

Yup.

 

what's worse ATF or radiator fluid ingestion?

 

It is highly doubtful that you would actually ingest any, but if you did, then it's probably a toss-up, mostly because neither one is particularly toxic through a gastrointestinal route in small quantities.

The LD50 of antifreeze is about 4.7g/kg, which is to say that a 220lb man would have to drink 470g, or about a glass or two, of 50:50 antifreeze to have a 50% chance of dying from it.

I don't know the toxicity level of ATF, but it would be on par with that, probably a bit less toxic, actually.
The problem with ATF is that if you actually drank it, its surface tension is significantly less than that of water, which might allow droplets of it to bounce into your windpipe, causing an aspiration pneumonia which could later be fatal.

However, if you just sucked a drop onto your tongue (or even caught a mouthful), it shouldn't be a problem.
Has a mouthful of gasoline ever bothered you for more than a few hours?

- Eric

 

good reply, definitely sounds CSI

 

Yes, alot. So much so that it effected the ability of the transmission to go into reverse. The smoking would happen after sitting at idle for a while, such as at a stop light, then upon accelaration, tons of smoke for a few seconds. Then it was ok.

 

This JUST happened to me....

Sad Tony.. all i wanted was a new modulator..

I seem to have no room under there, do i need to remove the crossmember?

I think the bolts are seized on my crossmember too..

 

Tell me what you Mc Gyver'd!

I'm having this same issue and it's freaking me out. I broke the bolt at the transmission.

 

Holy f___ing s__t. I just answered your post on the other thread, and essentially retyped the response that you quoted above, without even realizing it.
I had to re-read the one here to be sure it wasn't the one I had just written.

Consistency...

- Eric

 

Wait, i just saw this, that's quite impressive.

 

I'll take a picture of the bracket I made to hold the modulator in place .
I wasn't about to pull the transmission so the next best thing was to try and hold the modulator in place .I believe there's some vacuum that holds it in place too , and also I fixed this last year and it's still holding

 

That would be SUPER helpful, i'm hoping to make something that will hold it in the meantime that i can drop the transmission and fix it properly...

 

hey Tony here's a couple of pics I just shot tonite ,hopefully you can make one like this to work for you ,it's kind of MacGyver style but it works ,like I said I didn't want to pull the trannie and I was able to move my trans X member so i could have a bit more room .Good luck...Brian

 

So i almost made EXACTLY the same thing as you, i just ripped an old idle stop solenoid bracket off an old carb i had. THanks for the advice.

SO now that the modulator is in...

The car won't shift out of first gear unless i slam the pedal to the floor.

 

Two things I can think of , make sure you have manifold vacuum to the modulator and the trannie fluid is full when hot ,maybe Eric has some other ideas too but that's all I got Tony

 

+1. Check the vacuum waaaaay down at the modulator - there could always be some crud in the tube.

Also, if you want to really check it, run a vacuum hose into the cabin and suck on it while you drive (or use one of those fancy newfangled vacuum pumps). If it's got good vacuum on it, it should shift lower.

- Eric

 

Wow, really? You think that'll do it. I dont have a vaccum pump but i can kill a rootbeer float in 30 seconds flat.

I was thinking of putting a small hose clamp around the connection at the modulator.

Or just buying 4 feet of vaccum tubing and running it to manifold vaccum and be done with it...

 

Or plug the lower end and suck on the upper end, then hold your finger over it to see if ti leaks down, then unplug the lower end (leave it open) and suck on it to be sure you have a free flow of air.
Only takes a minute.

- Eric

 

Sure enough, I unplugged the manifold vacuum from the engine and I blew into the end, air rushes through so there must be a leak...

I just bought 5 feet of vaccum line and I'll replace the whole thing and see if it helps..

 

Excellent ..let us know how it works out Tony.

 

Gentleman,

The old steel modulator line was broken!

I replaced it temporarily with a full 5' length of tubing...

AND MY CAR SHIFTS LIKE A DREAM NOW.

At part throttle, you can't even tell it's shifting.

At Full throttle,the tires chirp. It's the perfect beautiful delicate balance between power and finesse.

Thanks all for your help and encouragement!

 

There, ya go, Tony: a nice, simple problem.

Glad you figured it out.

You're welcome!

- Eric

 

I've got a 1966 88 Convertible with a smoking 425. Will the AT module issue/possibility apply to this engine also? Thanks.

 

how is your oil level, any loss?

 

Yes, it will.

Pull the vacuum line to the modulator and see if there is any ATF in it, then suck on it and see if the modulator will hold vacuum.

Takes all of about one minute.

- Eric