Possible tranny issues...

It keeps getting better...

I'm now having some issues when shifting into drive and getting it to actually catch. It seems to be at cold starts and is fine later on.

Mechanic that's been helping me believes it could be that the tranny seals have dried up and that when the fluid finally warms up, it passes over the seals and does the job its suppossed to.

When it won't catch, I can give it gas and kind of force/jump it into gear, but that's not good, obviously. Any other things it could be? I mentioned it to another shop foreman that has muscle cars and he said that exact scenario with cold vs. hot start tranny going into gear sounds like a possible issue down the line as well.

Previous owner says it was rebuilt 6 years ago and has less than 1,000 miles on it and that he only drove it once a week to the grocery store.

I'm wondering if the seals dried up from lack of use/lube? My mechanic kinda of hedged at that thought and seemed to feel it was unlikely IF the tranny had been rebuilt.

After replacing valve gasket seals today that had been layed down over pieces of old gasket and causing a pretty good leak, anything is possible, including a shoddy tranny rebuild??

He also says that this shifts through it's gears rather quickly and doesn't really let it wind out like it should. It appears that the mechanism that can be adjusted for that (right side of carb, cable type of thing with a plastic piece) is all the way out, which leads him to believe the governor spring may be hung up or not functioning. Also due to lack of driving?

He feels that if I take off balls to the wall and don't let off the throttle that the gears shift too quickly and it could damage the tranny. Without knowing the state of the tranny, he is afraid to go wide open throttle. Does any of this make sense?

First of all I can't help notice your mechanic has lots of feelings. He must be a sensative guy, LMAO!!

Ya anyways, lets start with what transmision do you have?

M1D

m1dadio wrote:First of all I can't help notice your mechanic has lots of feelings. He must be a sensative guy, LMAO!!

Ya anyways, lets start with what transmision do you have?

M1D

M1D, ya, he is sensitive and my pocket book also has an injured feeling. He is actually bummed that my van keeps beating me up. He wants it to be right as well.

(M1D, also see that I actually discovered a fuel/carb leak relating to my running problem that I updated as well.)

350 engine w/350 tranny w/B&M Quicksilver auto shifter. I believe rear end is ten bolt.

Another VV member sent me this info via PM:

"Does your tranny have the pressure cable, or what ever it's called that hooks up to the carb thottle linkage? If so my transmission guru said it has to be just right or you will cook that transmission.

Was just wondering if it WAS rebuilt that the proper allignment on this cable was not done, do to switching carbs at some point before you bought it. This cable, if i am not mistaken controls the pump pressure as the RPM goes up to make it shift properly.

If it's out of wack all this time, it might need to be put into the proper place and or you need some transmission work as a result of it not. I have a 350/350 in my econoline and it has the cable, as well as the regular shift linkage on the side."

First of all if you have 3:73 or4:11 gears the tranny will shift pretty fast. The tranny only gives you trouble when its cold? Whens the last time the filter/ fluid been changed? Bob

pan58head wrote:First of all if you have 3:73 or4:11 gears the tranny will shift pretty fast. The tranny only gives you trouble when its cold? Whens the last time the filter/ fluid been changed? Bob

Bob, I need to do some more testing, but it seems to be first of the day, trying to leave the house. Yesterday worked perfectly all day after it had been on and driven.

Not sure about the filter or fluid. We both looked at the tranny fluid yesterday and it's perfect color, not dark and not burnt. Passed the sniff test.

Previous owner had just added fluid for some reason before I got it. Only reason I know this is that it came to me leaking tranny fluid and he told me that he thought he had overfilled it prior to a 700 mile round trip he made.

I will tell you that it would not surprise me at all if it had old, filthy fluid prior. We just changed the oil and my mechanic made faces and shook his head to describe how nasty the oil was. I can personally tell you that the air filter was very dirty upon arrival and that was the first thing I changed out. I was surprised anyone would let something that vital and cheap look that bad. I would never have sent anyone a vehicle with that so dirty as it would have sent up red flags about my maintainence of the entire vehicle.

Getting any help/additional info from the p.o. is out the question as I finally pissed him off when I told him this van was not what I expected for the price. It didn't come to me showing pride in ownership with filthy fluids, very dirty filter and multiple leaks, E brake knowingly unattached and not mentioned, speedo cable knowingly not working and not mentioned and completely rusted out exhaust (also not even slightly mentioned) not to mention all the other little things that weren't as one would expect at this price.

It also showed clear signs of an oil leak with oil slung all along the rear barn doors that the p.o. chalked up to road grime. I washed it and had oil right back on the barn doors as soon as I drove down the road.

I'm just trying to paint a picture of possible lack of care/neglect as that's what I'm feeling. Now that I have gotten that in the open...

This is not a new vehicle, in fact its a vintage vehicle. Getting all the bugs out and dialing it to what you want should be expected.
A TH350 trans that is slow to go into drive is usually low and or dirty fluid and filter. It is a given that a van new to anybody should have the trans pan removed to see whats laying in the bottom and at least to replace the filter and fluid.
A TH 350 trans that upshifts fast can be and the first item to look at will be the geometry of the TV cable's conection to the carb (most people get that wrong on a conversion)Somebody has a diagram of it, but you can google for instructions and diagrams on seting up the TV cable.
Other items that could cause fast upshifting is as stated. rear end gearing can cause the "feeling" the trans is upshifting too fast. And also as previousluy stated some times the govenor or its spring has gone bad. Fortunatly the govenor can be repaired or replaced from the outside of the TH350 trans.

Does this trans have a shift kit installed?

Good on you for fixing your other running problem. Keep at it and soon you will have all the issuse fixed up.

M1D

Like the guys say, fluid and filter. Somebody correct me if Im wrong ( it happens alot), the cable on a 350TH only controls the passing gear kick down doesn't it? I thought the shifting was controlled by the vacumn mod on the right rear of the trans ? Being a 10 bolt rear end I have a doubt about it being geared to high. the higher 3:73 and 4:11s were more of a 12 bolt thing. At least in something stock.

Digz you are correct there is a vacuum modulator and a kickdown cable only on the th350.. Mine shift from first to second at about 12 mph, that is due to the reared gearing...

Digs you are mostly corect. however the TH350 uses both throtle position and manifold presure signal to decide when to shift.
I had forgotten to mention the vac modulator. It can have a dramatic influence on when the trans shifts and if its leaking or the wrong one(color coded) shifting will be too fast or too slow. What is also often done wrong is the vac source the modulator is conected to is the wrong vac source at the manifold and also if you have a crazy cam that throws manifold vacuum out the window that can be another issue.
The modulator is to some degree adjustable with a small flat head screw driver through its vac port nipple for fine tunnign, if it is too far out you chamnge to a differnt color coded modulator.
Another vac modulator issue with shade tree mechanics is greesy dirt in the modulator line nipple.
If you pull the vac line off the modulator and there is trans fluid in the line, this means the modulator is cooked, so replace it.

The TV cable is not conected to some item that mechanicaly forces a down shift. It is conected to a valve that dumps governor oil and the trans thinks its really slowing down so it initiates a down shift providing the vacuum modulated signal indicates the engine under load beond acceptable limmits. Other wise when your driving at 120mph the trans would always be trying to down shift because the TV cable is pulled out hard at full throtle.
Think about this, if you push down hard on the gas and your trans downshifts to 2nd and you hold the gas down accelerating all the way , around 70-80mph the trans should upshift to 3rd. What did that??? you have the TV cable streched right out at full throtle! like when it went into pasing gear. It was the influence of the vac modulator that told the trans the engine is winding up and no longer under real load so it upshifted as you would want.]

Hope this helps
M1D

M1D, this engine is straight stock, no cams. I asked about that prior.

As far as the comment about working out the kinks and it being an old van, it's more than that and especially for the price I paid. Again, pride in ownership would be changing out filthy motor oil and filters and not sending someone a filthy van with leaks and undisclosed things like an exhaust full of holes and so loud a novice would know there was a problem. Forgot to mention the 4 dry rotted tires. Or when finding a problem, getting an "oh yea, that's an easy fix" answer about something the seller knew wasn't right before sending. If it was so easy, why wasn't it done prior to selling someone an $8100 van?

I won't argue that point further since the seller has a reputation among those of you here and I know what I know and what I expected. In fact, I resisted as hard as I could to not have to make this publicly known, but as they say, "things aren't what they always appear to be."

I'm just appreciate the help.

Update to this problem:

The governor's plastic gear had broken off teeth. While the wings opened perfectly, it couldn't because of the damage to the gear teeth. The vac modulator was replaced with a new, adjustable one.

First to second now stretches out much better (although I can't determine to the shift speeds since my speedo arrived broken) but third still kicks in way to quickly as second has a lot more room to go. Kickdown is solid and gets the job done. I would love to figure out how to get second to wind out longer. Mechanic said something about the possibility of transmission spring? not being right? Still might try a little more adjustment of modulator. Old modulator was good without any signs of tranny fluid, just not adjustable.

M1D, can you explain more about the color coding?

I haven't driven the van much since getting it back yesterday, so can't say whether the going into gear problem is better.

Photo shows governor w/sludge from tranny pan.





In the process of discovery, including multiple tranny leaks, we replaced the pan and filter. The pan was bent and the filter was imprinted into it (whatever that means and is worth) and was replaced. There was sludge inside as seen and the filter was super dirty. The gasket was also really old and shot and had been leaking from the day it hit my door. Lucky for me, they had a 350 tranny pan on hand as the wrong one had been sent at some point for another vehicle. The "new" vintage one looks much nicer.

The transmission dipstick tube turned out to be totally mangled. It looked like it had been jammed and forced in place more than one time as it had bends all over the place. Each time the tube was replaced, it was tearing the new O ring which was being replaced because it leaked. Came to find out the dipstick was't reading properly as it couldn't even go all the way down to the bottom to get an accurate reading and was reading about a quart low.

Had to go with a chrome tube instead of a more reliable model as that was all they could find locally.

This is a filter from a rebuilt ransmission??? How long ago was it rebuilt?

Big W wrote:This is a filter from a rebuilt ransmission??? How long ago was it rebuilt?

Suppossedly, before Katrina. Everything was done besides paint and then storm hit. Funny thing is, and I could honestly have forgotten, I didn't remember that being mentioned when I purchased it, but it was told to me afterwards with seeming honestly. Perhaps his guy ripped him? I asked my mechanic same thing in reference to the age of the gasket on the pan, and he kind of shook his head. He also still believes the seals in the tranny aren't good (possible reason this doesn't go into gear right away) and seems skeptical they would be bad after 6 years. The leak from my valve covers was partially do to newer seals being slopped on top of older seals that weren't fully removed prior to rebuild. The remnant seals were ancient according to the man who did the most recent work. That makes one wonder who rebuilt this. Billy Bob his neighbor? Who knows?

In seller's defense (which is increasingly hard to do) this went through Katrina and was supposedly taken all apart and drained. You would certainly think something basic like this would be replaced and the pan would have been dropped in process? I don't know if that sludge is normal for neglect or not. Perhaps it's mud?

Seller also told me AFTER purchase it was only driven once a week to the grocery store. We all know not driving a vehicle is one of the worst things not to do.

Hard to really know your vehicle based on that amount of driving. Definitely seeing issues that would relate to not being driven (seals bad all over the place, starting issues that are easy to miss when not driven daily or all around town, etc.) Looks like overall neglect, in my opinion. And, the lastest issue, the new window seals put in by seller leak and water was pooled up in my storage trays near shifter. Some things should just be done by a pro.

Man this seems like a lot of BS to go through after paying $8100?!?! I guess I know what I would expect for that kind of money, and it isnt even close to the issues you are having.

As far as trying to get more RPMs before a shift, a stall converter (spelling?) in your tranny would give you that effect. I have never put one in, I had buddies that had them in their Trans Ams and Monte Carlos back when I used to be into muscle, but I always thought a muscle car with an automatic was like marrying a super model with no Va-j-j. Nice to look at but whats the point. LoL

Sure feel for you with all the issues you are having. Wish I lived closer so I could come give a hand.

Sorry for your problems that have with the van- sad as seems seller pulled the wool over the head there - yet just remember that after all is said & done to fix - u will hayve a nice ride . As far as TH350's go even a used one with a good shift kit in it may be a way out ?- there a dime a dozen & not bad to change out. Ive had used these for years now &never had a bad one - not that cant happen? Yet -? there still is the engine running badly? There has to be someone in the van group that lives close to you id think that might be of help??

I would just replace the transmission. I wouldn't keep dumping money into it. You can get a rebuilt one at some autoparts stores. You just have to order one for a camaro. You can also find one used on craigslist but you dont know what you are getting when they are out of the vehicle. I would also highly recommend that you drain and flush the gear oil out of the rearend. I bought a truck that had been under water and every thing was replaced but the rearend and after about 6 months on the road it locked down. Hope that you get it straightened out.