Same here. Mine popped and I'm rebuilding it right now. My advice is to get the best quality rebuild kit you can, order the "A" overdrive servo kit from your local thieves (aka the dealership), and get a B&M shift improver kit. The best thing you can do right now is replace the most-likely broken TV cable grommet on the throttle lever.
I'll give you the low-down on why mine went POW, and when I mean went POW it was all of a sudden with NO warning. Just a POP and no go. The TV cable grommet was trash when I first bought the car, so it'd slide into every gear and only shift into OD if you were totally off the gas. This created tremendous amounts of heat inside the transmission due to slippage. Too bad for me, since the kid I bought it from prolly had no idea about that little technical service bulletin Ford is so generous about telling its customers.
Needless to say, all the miles he put on it were cooking the AOD to death. The thing that really killed it was the one-way intermediate clutch blowing apart (literally). Pieces of spring fell out of the assembly when I tore it down. Every single clutch pack and band was BURNED TO A CRISP without exception. The steels were BLUE from heat, and chunks of friction material were missing from everything. Moral of the story: be sure the TV cable is adjusted properly, get a new grommet (dealer item, only $2), and install a tranny cooler NOW.
With the shift kit you will absolutely see a difference. No more sliding into gear. I chirped 2nd easily, and I have the 3.73's as you do.
Go to
Baumann Engineering for LOADS of useful information about the AOD, the overdrive servo part numbers, and possible upgrades. Hope this helps.
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Capri306, Moderator, The Mustang Works Online
1979 Mercury Capri, 5.0L -- C4 -- 2.73
1987 Mustang LX Notch