A/T - AOD Harsh 4-3 Kickdown/Valve Body Repair
TECHNICAL BULLETIN # 277TRANSMISSION: AOD
SUBJECT:
Harsh 4-3 Kickdown -- Valve Body Repair
APPLICATION: Ford, Mercury, Lincoln
DATE: 1995
Harsh 4-3 Kickdown -- Valve Body Repair
The 1989 and later AODs have been known to damage the large (5/16") orange checkball in the valve body (figure one). In many cases, this damage results in the checkball blowing through the separator plate. The checkball will either lodge in a passage or be digested by the transmission altogether. This results in a very harsh 4-3 kickdown.
Since this is a soft checkball, it leaves no mark on the separator plate. An assumption can be made that the ball was left out by design. All AODs were designed to include this checkball.
Since this checkball is prone to wear, install a new one during any type of valve body service or repair. An effective measure against repeat failure is to use the slightly harder AXOD dark brown checkball in this location.
The Ford part number for the AXOD checkball is E7DZ-7E195-A.