if you put a switch on it you can see exactly what it does then,
my old na calais would shudder when engaging at speeds below eighty. I put a switch on it so could turn it off when i wanted to. I would only turn it back on if cruising at around 100, it would engage perfectly at higher speeds.
th switch doesnt actually turn it on and off but controls if the the auto ecu will turn it on and off.
I disagree,I think this shudder is something to worry about.
I remember on my last VL,when it was an auto we had just spent $1100 on getting it rebuilt.
From then on we had nothing but trouble with shuddering,it started up as just a vibration which came when the solenoid kicked in and went away,the specialist just said don't worry about it as he said it was a sticking valve,it totally went away for a while when came back as a bad vibration under load in overdrive.
The torque converter was changed under warranty but their apprentice filled the whole box up to dry refill specs (10 litres) when they never even took the pan off (had 14 litres in total in the box) and it vibrated and slipped as the fluid was being aerated.
We took it back then a tradesman fixed the problem,it went fine for 3 weeks but the vibration came back with the new converter.
In the end I was that fed up with it that I put a 5 speed manual conversion in it as I was fed up with ploughing money into the auto which was making the car return a fuel mileage of 23 MPG as it was never really in overdrive (it slipped in o/d).
The fuel economy increased by 25 % with the manual to around 32 MPG along with more bottom end grunt the auto never had.
2 things I am told cause the auto to stuff up like that is 1 - the oil pump or 2 - the converter.
few notes on adjusting the bands - the band you can get to without removing the pan (the one with the triangular cover) will effect the 1-2 and 2-3 shifts. the rear band only effects 3-4. i think thats right anyway, been a while since i played around with them.
also if the auto hasnt been serviced and the bands havent been adjusted in quite some time (usually if the fluid is a dark brown its too late) then adjusting the bands *may* result in the death of your box!! just ask goldenboy about his! the fluid was nearly black - so we drained it, adjusted the bands, and re-filled it. it was fine for 2 weeks then it just lost 2nd gear. turns out since the bands dont wear properly when not adjusted, when you do adjust them, the friction material all breaks off.. which would explain the 1cm thick layer of sludge in the pan and brown fluid only 2 weeks after the service.
oh, and if you're going to the trouble of adjusting bands, you should change your fluid, unless its still a nice bright red.
front band with triangle cover is the over drive brake band.
Rear one next to the VB is the 2nd brake band.
My gearbox was serviced last year, gearbox fluid is very red and no frictional material in it. I have drained it the fluid recently just to check (2-3x of at least 500ml /time)
hehe also there would have been a chance that ur overtightened em, u shouldn't torque it to original specs coz wat u have is an old band not a new one.
