AOD Problems... PROBLEM FIXED
Reply #3 –
If you filled it to the point that it leaked out of the tube o-ring, and that didn't help, you definitely have enough fluid. Too much, obviously, but the pump isn't getting starved. I know I've had my pan off with the dipstick not removed and it doesn't just-barely reach the end of the tube, it definitely sits in the middle of the fluid in the pan. If it ever grabs any gear good then the clutches can't all be spent.
I can't visualize the linkage for the TV right now, so complicated LOL. But I do know that the lever on the trans itself, is spring loaded. The spring inside the valvebody fights to return the valve to the almost closed position, letting through the least amount of pressure. So when the throttle is opened all the way, that lever should be at the other end of the travel from where it sits with nothing connected to it at all. I don't know if that rotating linkage could make the opposite happen, but I feel like it might be possible, which would be funny but also terrible. Giving you hard shifts with a light pedal and almost no pressure under severe load, which would quickly destroy all of the clutch material. Definitely sounds like a global loss of pressure, whether it's the tailshaft governor, the Throttle Valve, or the pump is shot and not producing enough pressure. Doesn't sound like a shift accumulator is stuck or something like that, which would affect one or two gears.