aw4 down shifting at the wrong time

ok for about a month or two my xj has had the problem of down shifting when you come off the gas slitely, but if you come off the gas completely its fine. now i have already done a fluid and filter change about 4 days ago but there was absolutly no change at all from that. so today i tried something else i disconnected the kick-down cable from the throtle body. this accualy made a differance the trans seems to be fine now, there is no more down-shifting where the shouln't be. which brings me to my next question, the cable doesn't seem to be a kick down cable???, the trans still downshifts when you mash the gas, the only i did notice after the cable was disconnected is that the trans shifts a little bit fermer. so my questions are what does this cable accualy do??? and will it hurt my trans by being disconnected????

o'well can that last idea it is still down shifting when i slitely come off the gas but its not as bad with the cable disconnected. i re connected the cable seeing as it was not the cause of my problem (it does however smooth out the shifting).so does anyone have any ideas????

Not sure about your year, and I'm not sure what the cable does but anytime I've got shifting issues the first place I look is the TPS. Try searching Bad TPS or something like that.

Hey dishmann, are you shure it's not you torque converter unlocking, and it seems like a downshift. Because if you lift your foot off the gas a little then reapply it will unlock for a second then lock back up.

dishman5000 said:

o'well can that last idea it is still down shifting when i slitely come off the gas but its not as bad with the cable disconnected. i re connected the cable seeing as it was not the cause of my problem (it does however smooth out the shifting).so does anyone have any ideas????

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I see you have a 90 which means you have a adjustable TPS. Make sure its adjusted right. They control when your auto downshifts or not. I went through about three years of mine not shifting right and that ended up being the prob.

i think i have the same problem, and i also have a 1990. I was looking for the TPS today on the throttle body and i found two sensor looking things on the front of the TB. Which one is it,the one on the right or the left? And also, anybody know where i could get another one to replace it if its defective?

atfrith said:

i think i have the same problem, and i also have a 1990. I was looking for the TPS today on the throttle body and i found two sensor looking things on the front of the TB. Which one is it,the one on the right or the left? And also, anybody know where i could get another one to replace it if its defective?

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Dealer and there is a way to adjust them...Need a test light and the book to get the readings.

thanx everyone the tps was the next place i was going to look
i'll post again after it is adjusted

p.s. tc only locks in 3rd & 4th my problem is in all gears (i've been doing my home work the passed couple of months) sorry i should have been alittle more detailed in my original post

i miss my old jeep ('82 cherokee cheif; 4.2 liter the most electronic thing on it was the radio, things were so much simpler then)frame railes rotted out very sad R.I.P

thanx everyone for all of your help
the tps was 0.20 out of ajustment
the trans shifts much better now
but it thinck the tps will ultimatly need to be change
there is a spot in the low throtle range where the voltage drops
so its not 100% but i can live with 90%