Merc o matic shift problem

[meric42]

Hi, I have low mileage '61 Mercury Meteor 800 2D/HT with a 3-sp 'Merc o matic' transmission that has a couple of issues I would like some help with.

#1: When starting from cold (after the car has sat for 1 - 2 weeks unused) a rattling noise comes from the transmission when it is in park or neutral. This noise goes away when drive or reverse are engaged and seems not to happen so much when the car used more regularly.

#2: When the transmission is hot and I am driving at 40 - 50 mph then depress the accelerator slightly to pick up speed the transmission then prematurely drops into second gear. Could this be caused by a faulty or badly adjusted vacuum modulator?

Thanks in advance for any help offered.

Meric42.

 

[craig]

I'm guessing the rattle is from the torque convertor, draining down after sitting, takes a few seconds to fill up. The downshifting could be the modulator or improperly adjusted kickdown linkage.

 

[meric42]

Thanks for the reply. If it was the kick-down adjustment would that be temperature dependent though? It only happens when the transmission is hot.

Cheers.

 

[craig]

No, probably not in the kickdown. I missed the part about when it's hot. Still could have a modulator problem though