Below is a post/reply from Z06guy to another thread. This info is pertinent to a thread I started called "Sick AW4". I thought the info was so sweet, cheap and effective, it deserved its own thread so it would have a better chance of helping others.
A general thought: bad grounds are typically associated with the Renix years. Clearly that problem should be considered on all years. My grounding issue was an intermitent one and not easy to test for. Doing what Z06guy did completely solved my low speed shift confusion problem and has improved the lockup problem. I'll update the latter when more info is available.
http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=1002681&highlight=lockup&page=2
Well, it seems to be fixed. It's been shifting flawlessly for a couple days now. I thought I'd post what I did to fix it as it might help somebody else searching in the future.
First, I cut the black ground wire that runs to the D7 pin on the transmission side of the connector by the firewall in the engine bay. Then I butt spliced it to a wire running to a grounding point on the block. After doing that, all three solenoids read 12 ohms when measured at the connector using the D7 pin for ground just as they should. So I drove it. It would not shift out of first gear. It was behaving as though it had no VSS sensor. So I then butt spliced the other end of the wire I cut and grounded it to the black as well. This is the end of the wire running towards the transmission. Bingo. Now it works perfectly.
In short, my ground wire had way too much resistance for some reason. So I basically jumpered the middle of the wire to a good ground. Why does it work? I don't know. I never opened up the transmission so I have no idea where that black wire goes inside the transmission. I have a suspecion it goes to the VSS because it goes through a little 2 wire connector with the C3 VSS wire and because when cut, my trans acting like it had no VSS input. Bottom line is I don't care how it works as long as it keeps on working.
A general thought: bad grounds are typically associated with the Renix years. Clearly that problem should be considered on all years. My grounding issue was an intermitent one and not easy to test for. Doing what Z06guy did completely solved my low speed shift confusion problem and has improved the lockup problem. I'll update the latter when more info is available.
http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=1002681&highlight=lockup&page=2
Well, it seems to be fixed. It's been shifting flawlessly for a couple days now. I thought I'd post what I did to fix it as it might help somebody else searching in the future.
First, I cut the black ground wire that runs to the D7 pin on the transmission side of the connector by the firewall in the engine bay. Then I butt spliced it to a wire running to a grounding point on the block. After doing that, all three solenoids read 12 ohms when measured at the connector using the D7 pin for ground just as they should. So I drove it. It would not shift out of first gear. It was behaving as though it had no VSS sensor. So I then butt spliced the other end of the wire I cut and grounded it to the black as well. This is the end of the wire running towards the transmission. Bingo. Now it works perfectly.
In short, my ground wire had way too much resistance for some reason. So I basically jumpered the middle of the wire to a good ground. Why does it work? I don't know. I never opened up the transmission so I have no idea where that black wire goes inside the transmission. I have a suspecion it goes to the VSS because it goes through a little 2 wire connector with the C3 VSS wire and because when cut, my trans acting like it had no VSS input. Bottom line is I don't care how it works as long as it keeps on working.
