ok, here's the deal...for some reason reverse is not working.(350 turbo incase you skipped the title!!!) it worked the other day when hotrodtohell and i got it running...now all it's doing is making a sort of dull pulsing noise...all the forward gears engage just fine... the thing that i don't get is that just a week before it seemed to work fine... all i did between that time was change the trans cooler and lines. the trans dipstick reads full, but it is an aftermarket job, so it may be wrong... i'm hoping that i don't need to take this thing to a trans shop, but with my luck i'm sure i will... anyone have any suggestions? still low on fluid??gear selector not fully engaging due to mis-alligned linkage??? hot rod gods shitting on me?? any insight would be greatly appreciated. thanks, chris
if you did nothing to the trans except change the lines & cooler, you may have gotten a piece of dirt or metal from the cooler or lines into the trans, it doesn't take much fine metal or dirt to stick valves or clog passageways, even if the cooler is new it's a good idea to blow or flush the cooler and lines before installing to the fresh tranny. Unless something broke all of a sudden from that reverse burnout you did, or the linkage came undone when you did that reverse to drive spinaround u-turn, I cant think of anything else that could have happened.
Did you happen to change the fluid and filter when you did the lines? 350's are known for going down after the fluid and filter have been changed. If not, It sounds like you lost your low/rev clutchs. Things like that happen. If you want I can help you go through your trans. It's not that hard.
Yeah, what ^^ they said. Even if the fluid is clean, if that filter gets any crap in it, something isnt going to work right. Did we do hard lines? Braided stainless stuff? If its hardline, I've seen some pretty ugly stuff come out of them... who knows how long they were on the shelf at the parts store...
ok, thanks for the input so far...i did make an effort to blow out the cooler and lines before installing them...however, there is quite a bit of dust, dirt, grime, etc. floating around my garage. so what's the next logical step?? just drain and drop the pan and re-fill with fluid?? do i need to somehow "power flush" the system?? what's the best plan of attack??? i wanna get this thing on the road asap...but reverse definately helps. thanks, and keep the ideas coming. chris
as you know the TH350 trans in my daily driver reacently took a poo poo. i believe what happened is that the 2/3 clutches went out. it gave no warning what so ever, just quit working, and i was'nt beating on it at all. i do have a tranny guy, who is doing a 700R4 for me right now to replace the 350, who is VERY reasonable on price and comes highly recomended. i'm going to have him rebuild this 350, just to have around, once i get my truck back on the road. if you need his number just let me know. he is in Perry so it's not real far from you either. good luck with the trans home-slice...
if it's any consolation, it seems that every used th350 that I've ever taken apart (even the good working ones) needed to be rebuilt. The 350 is a decent trans, but they get used up....
When you pull the pan you'll be able to see what might have happened...if you find clutch flakes the clutches just decided to let go, sometimes they just start flaking apart dropping small brown flakes into the pan, if all you find is fine grey metal dust that's sorta normal but if there is a big pile or chunks then that is a sign of bigger wear problems. If you find anything else let us know. In most cases if you loose reverse or any other gear and it's not a linkage problem, the trans has to be rebuilt.
I've seen these videos n tech guides on the th350 and th400's, which company would you guys recommend to the newbie who wants to rebuild a automatic trans ? i just rebuilt my 4 speed and it coulda been done in the dark, but autos are another story. id rather learn to rebuild them than to take it to a shop!
you say all forward gears work fine. Are you sure? Does 3rd gear work correctly as you cruise or is it a soft/weak shift? If it drives fine in forward gears that means no valves are stuck.. main line pressure is good enough to make reverse work. When you place the shifter into "R" ... the manual valve that is moved by the shifter then places fluid to the low/reverse clutch pack and the direct clutch pack. this creates reverse gear action. That is why I ask if 3rd gear works well.... usually a bad reverse will mean a bad 3rd gear. Could be hard seals in the back end of the case on the low / reverse piston.
all three forward gears shift have a nice solid shift...i am clueless about this thing...i give up. will take it to a tranny shop on monday...we'l see what they say.
The Jalopy Journal
