AAAAAAGGGGGGHHHHHHH! ..that felt good I recently installed a 283 in front of a TH350. Now, because the trans seemed to be workin' fine before the new engine install, and the previous owner (a HAMBer) said it had about 10K on a rebuild, all I did was install a new seal, pan gasket and filter in this trans. The trans doesn't work...period. Don't know how to better describe it. I shift through the gears and "nada". Not one gear is being engaged. It's dead in the water...or at least dead in my garage. Now I keep going back to when I had the coverter out...I swear I never drained the trans fluid, but then, you never know for sure...I did sniff a little too much gas as a young child and I coulda forgot to fill it, if in fact I drained it. Do these symptoms match having not filled the torque coverter with fluid? Just want to know what to do next, before I haul it to the trans shop... Thanks.
the ****** will fill the converter with fluid all by itself when the engine is running, but you do need to add fluid to the trans. Tell us about how you've been checking the fluid level, ie engine running or not? what gear is it in? did you run it thru the gears before checking? did you look at both sides of the dipstick? how many quarts have you put in it?
The converter should be a bit loose after you bolt the trans case to the block, before you bolt the converter to the flexplate. Should be 1/16" to 1/4" play front-back. Kind of hard to check once it's installed, you could pull the bolts off and see if it has the necessary play in it. Double check fluid level firsth, though, that's easier and more likely the problem
I put 3.5 quarts in to start. Checked after running for about 5 minutes and running through the gears and it's smack in the middle. It was in Neutral when checking. I'm going to go run it again and see what it reads. thanks
Usually if you drain it, remove the pan, put it back togethr, and refill it, it will need about 4 qts. If the ****** has been out and the converter removed it will need more than 4 qts to fill it up, the exact amount depends on how much was drained. No way for us to know that. So it will need more than 4 quarts, but less than a case. You need to check the fluid level, add a pint and see if it comes up, if not then keep adding till it is definitely up above the "add" mark on both sides of the dipstick. Wipe the dipstick off before checking the level.
Damn...Pulled the bolts of and turned the TC and "chunk" it dropped back towards the trans...It's got more like 1/4" of play. The bolts are out of thread at this point and if i tighten it back down it will pull the TC back towards motor...what to do? Do I get longer bolts and add shim between TC and flexplate? WTF did I do wrong? Install flexplate backwards?
Sounds like you didn't have it seated in the pump, don't use any shims just tighten up the bolts now and run and check the fluid.
Hey, just sent you an Email---sorry 'bout that. Yeah I got about 5 qts in it now and it looks to be reading full. It has a Lokar aftermarket dipstick in it that looks real cool and all, but is a ***** to get a good reading off of. It seems to pick up fluid off the walls of the fill tube...
Problem is I barely have enough thread to get a bolt on it and won't it pull the TC out of seating on the pump once tightened down?
Push the TC back towards the engine. It is supposed to be against the engine, pulled out of the transmission about 1/4" when it's bolted to the flywheel. Otherwise it would grind up the front pump if it were pushed all the way into the trans when it's running. The lokar filler tube is probably the problem, they are a *****...stockers are much better if you can find one and make it fit.
If it clunked in, I think you should be able to turn it. Do that, then pull it back alittle towards the flywheel and bolt it up. You should only have about 3/8ths inch play on the TC itself. Hope this helps.
Don't worry about installing the flexplate backwards - it'll still work, I had a truck come through here that had that exact condition (bak'ards flexplate), and it drove fine. Starter engaged wierdly, though... Cosmo
***UPDATE*** Got everything bolted up again and fired her up...still nothing. Now, the vehicle is a bare bones T modified and I have the trans tunnel cover off, so I can see the top of the transmission. I can see where the Lokar fill tube goes in, so i get an idea. I'll pop out the fill tube and I'll be able to tell for sure if there's enough fluid in the pan. Well, there's enough fluid alright...a bubblin crude... Seems to me like not enough fluid aint it... Could the pump be bad?
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