Car starts in second gear

[Vanilla Sky]

Ok, some of you know that i just recently bought another 3gee. i'm getting the bugs worked out so i can use it as a daily driver. one of the last things i'm getting to is the transmission. when i bought the car, i bought it knowing it had a problem with it starting in second gear when warmed up.

what i've done so far:

checked the fluid; it's a nice cherry red and has no burnt smell

adjust the throttle cable (very loose); this helped some, but didn't cure the problem

adjust the TV cable (out of adjustment); again, this helped some, but didn't cure the problem

the repair manual points to a stuck governer valve or a sticking 1-2 shift valve.

looking at the repair manual, these aren't user servicable parts, being that they're internal parts and would require disassembly to repair. does anyone offer any suggestions?

i'm not a fan of additives based on the way they're designed. it's just not my idea of a real fix. however, if any of you think that i could perform a flush and rid myself of this problem, then i'm all for that. i'm pretty sure my trans is NOT filled with honda ATF, but with dexron III. this caused a bit of a problem in another auto i had, but switching didn't cure the problem.

the thing i'm not understanding is why the trans will kick down to first when t's cold, and when i floor it from a roll. i would imagine that the sticking valves would prevent the trans from kicking down then as well.

any help would be great. i'm not wanting to do a manual swap in this car because it's carbed. i'll probably put my known good auto trans and TC in and call it a day if it comes to taking a trans out.

thanks in advance

[shepherd79]

well, the only thing you haven't tried yet would be the flushing.
Get yourself good flushing addditive and go from there, or take it somewhere and try to flush it out.

[Vanilla Sky]

should i use the bucket method or should i take it and have it pumped? from what i gather, it works about the same either way.

[shepherd79]

it is up to you.
I would find someone who uses BG products.
they are the best on the market as I can see.

[2oodoor]

make sure the ball on the cable that fits in the lever on transmission is clean, and socket is clean and recheck adjustments. Make sure cable has not been damaged inside housing too, sometimes they get sticky from rust or external damage. clean rust and use a light waterproof grease.
bucket flush wil only change all the fluid, which I would guess is only a small percentage for a cure. Chek the shifter linkage too, including removing console and seeing if there is a lighter or something stuck under there. May find enough change for a quart or two of atf...
any vibrations when cruising ? is it staying in 5th overdrive around 59 mph wiithout going in and out constantley. just asking those commom questions to eliminate certain problems....

[Vanilla Sky]

the only thing i noticed today that i didn't before was it trying to downshift every time i stop. the whole car shakes.

i'm fed up with this trans. i'm just going to toss in a trans that i know is a good working unit. that completely gets rid of my problem.