I was at a car show Saturday and when I left the car went 1st 2nd, 3rd up the hill. I was on it a bit. Next traffic light 1st, 2nd, it shifted again but just revved high with no power. Then i let up tried again and the car downshifted to 2nd and took off. Had to go 20-30mph all the way home in second. Its a 54 chevy with a 350 and 700r4 out of a 84 suburban. I do not have the lock up hooked up and the kick down cable. Still in shake down mode under 100 miles since build. It did have a leak before and was low on ATF. I think i filled it too far after that. I can see splatter of ATF from i think the fill tube opening. Its read too high i think when I got home.
the cable you are referring to ,it a T V cable and its not hooked up and set correctly , it doesn't take long to smoke a 700R4
Very common to lose third, most of the time you will also lose 1st or low and reverse too. The biggest weakest link in the 700 is the reaction sun shell splines give out or strip out and don't apply, aftermarket shells are available namely the "Beast" sun shell. The "Lockup" as you say is NOT a lockup. It's a pressure valve that responds to throttle position to apply enough pressure to the trans and governor at a corresponding time, without correct adjustment YOU WILL fry the trans! mostly within 100 feet!! sound like a teardown is in order....
Overfilling the trans can result in foaming or aeration of the fluid and possibly gasket/seal blowout but not missed shifts
Ya bummer. Not a kick down cable. A TV cable as stated. It MUST be hooked up and adjusted properly or....... well, I guess you know what happens.....
Plus the '84 700's are some of the weakest trans for internal parts reliability, very small input shaft, shaft separating from the input drum. The best ones are from '90-'93 as far as strength is concerned
Same thing happened to my OT truck . A good friend is a trans specialist at a chevy stealership , I got a rebuilt trans with some Corvette internals , pump , etc . He recommended a deep sump pan and an external cooler , it will help keep internals cooler and extend trans life .
When setup correctly, a 700 trans can live under some serious HP. My bro-in-law has one in his OT '71 chevelle...600 dynoed naturally aspirated HP..shifts great, awesome OD for the freeway he loves it!!
Before you condemn the transmission-try this test.With the engine running at idle and the trans in park-take a pair of pliers and give a few tugs on the TV cable at the carb-just the cable-not cracking the throttle. Then take the car for a drive and see if anything changes. There is a plunger at the bottom of the TV cable that can get microscopic debris and cause the symptoms you are describing. When you tug on the cable-you are flushing the debris. I have had this happen on my 700R4 and this procedure corrected the problem.
If it shift's just fine from first to second there is no problem with the TV cable. Easiest test. Smell the fluid if it's burnt you have a clutch problem. Im going to bet you dont have 3rd or 4th gear. Gregg
He never hooked the TV cable up....drove it without it hooked up, trans likely needs to be torn down.. burnt up 3-4 clutches possible, stripped sun shell splines also..
It can be done if you have the patience and a large CLEAN open bench to work on it. Most likely since it's an earlier model 700, now would be a good time to upgrade to a '90-'93 2WD model since it has decent parts to begin with JMO. And hook up the TV cable correctly so it corresponds to throttle angle. You can get a lockup kit aftermarket. They engage 4th but not the TCC above 45 mph.
I would say that if you have never Overhauled an auto trans before then No it is not a DIY job . You know your skill's better than I do. If you don't know what your doing this might be a time to pay someone else. When you consider what a pain it is to R&R a tran's you only want to do it once Gregg
Are there certain part numbers for this trans or do I need to know what it came from? Are there any variations of 90-94 700r4's that are different? Like for a 6cyl or spline shafts?
Being young at this I don't mind doing hard tasks and learning new skills. If I never try anything new I will pay everyone to do everything i'll learn nothing new. I know I'll have bumps along the way but now I know what a tv cable does in a 700r4. I could say I did on friday night but now I do.
Yes,yes and yes PM me if you need info... I used to be a GM trans tech for 10 years at a stealership...
What are options on putting a manual trans in? This is a 54 chevy. Engine from an 84 2wd suburban. Stock engine with holley carb.
You are of course right. As long as you dont mind the price that sometime's that knowledge cost I understand wanting to learn and do thing's yourself. If your confident in your skill's then find a repair manual and give it a try.I am a mechanic by trade. I cant tell you the number of time's I have seen people spend way more doing it themselve's than if they had just paid someone to fix it. Trust me I know where you are coming from. Iv'e been there. A better option might be to find a guy that doe's tranny's on the side. Maybe he could let you watch and you would learn to do it. Tranny's are complicated and it is very easy to overlook a small detail that will prevent it from working. Gregg
There are plenty of step by step 700R4 builds on youtube if you want to go that way. As far as dropping it to a shop would likely be cheaper to just buy a new transmission and install yourself. My own '88 vintage 700R4 has stuck in low a few times,,I get out and pull the detent cable a couple times, am told a valve in transmission sticks from time to time. From what I have read a stock 700 should have a shift kit installed to avoid these issues. I have yet to,,time to decide which kit I would use..
also there are a couple of 700r4 rebuild dvds on ebay , nice thing is you can put it in the lap top and refer back to the video while in the transmission
It's not rocket science! just take your time and keep everything organized and clean, that's the most important part! dirt is the enemy of internal transmission parts...
Well, a 350 or 400 trans will solve the problem, but gas mileage will definitely go way down. At 70 mph, my Deuce tachs 2700 rpm in third (or high), then drops to 2050 rpm in O.D.. Quite a difference, and 700R4 is overhauled with some good stuff for very little more than the 3 speeds. Just my two cents.
Yeah, that's a problem in some of the 700's,Mr.Shift makes a TV correction kit for it, you have to do a little drilling in the valve body to fix it. It's the shuttle valve behind the TV plunger that gets stuck, it has weak spring that gets fatigued over time and loses it's ability for it to "home" itself when you shutoff the engine. Yeah usually the shift kit corrects the problem because it increases line pressure to force the shuttle valve back to home when the spring can't do it's job...
X2 You sent it to an early grave by not hooking up the TV cable 3-4 clutch pack is fried,overhaul time
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