What's new
CK5
Register an account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members.

350 tranny governor question

B

bigblaze76

Registered Member
Joined
Apr 10, 2009
Posts
70
Reaction score
0
Location
NC
so i was told my transmission was rebuilt so when i finally got it installed i was reminded to never trust anyone...

the first problem was it would hesitate to shift from park to reverse when i fist started it up...so i was told that might be the front pump...bummer

when i did drive it would not shift from second to third and i could manually shift it so i read up on it and found out is was probably the governor gear. I pulled the cover off and found that the valves were not working cleaned it up and got the valves working put it in and shifted perfect for the first 5 miles then it happened again this time i could not manually shift so i pulled the governor gear out again this time the teeth are chewed up.

so my questions are, what causes the gear to get chewed up like that and if i put a new one in will it happen again?

and the last question should i drop the pan and try to get all the plastic teeth out?

thanks for all the help in adavnce

IMAG0227.jpg
 
yep never trust anyone in f you don't have the money to do it right your self .

plastic gear on steal shaft . just wear out .

so many people say rebuilt and all you get is a pan gasket and filter . :doah:
 
If the bore the govenor rides in gets scored up or hogged out,it'll chow the nylon gears in a short time..also if the main shaft has up and down play in it that can wear it out fast too..

I had bought my 81 chevy g-10 van with a "blown tranny" for 500 bucks when it was 11 years old,all that was wrong with it was the govenor gear was wiped out like yours in the picture..after I changed it it worked fine,and I pit 53.000 more miles on it with no troubles..

I later learned the former owner liked to hold it in the lower gears manually,because the anemic straight six it had would bog on hills if you let it shift automatically..maybe doing that stresses the gear more and strips it eventually?..

The tranny should not even shift into second gear if the govenor wasn't turning--mine had only first gear and reverse,and shifting it manually did nothing,it just stayed in first gear..once in a while it attempted to upshift into second,but it would drop right back into first..

The modulator can prevent it from sifting into second as soon as it should,you'll have to wind it out before it'll upshift--and not into third at all unless you coax it by shifting manually from second to third,if its diaphram failed ,or its not getting any vacuum to it--it'll also feel like it goes into neutral when you let off the gas or coast too..its the cheapest part and easiest to change to try before considering it junk in need of a complete rebuild..
 
If there is rust on the output shaft it will eat a gear pretty quick, it appears to me by the picture that the other teeth are badly worn and that could have led to this failure.
 
thanks guys for all the info...

my concern is i think it there is something else going on...possibly excessive wear or hogged out as diesel4me eluded to

no more than 2 weeks ago i pulled the governor out and like i said the valves would not work but the teeth seemed ok ( i never seen a governor before so i dont know what they are supposed to look like) but once it was cleaned and re installed and it worked fine for about 5 miles...

but now some of the teeth are mashed down against themselves like it was wobbling in there and the gears didnt mesh together

so if there is trash/debris that gets in the governor will it keep it from spinning possibly causing the steel gear to mash the plastic gear...

i took another picture from a different angle...

i got a new governor but am reluctant to install it if it is just going to get ruined again..

IMAG0230.jpg
 
I just took another govenor out of a junkyard TH350 in their scrap pile and stuffed it in my vans tranny,rather than fiddle around trying to replace just the gear,and hunt one down..at least its an easy job,takes about 5 minutes to pop the cover off and swap it in..only way you'll know if it will keep eating gears is to run it...maybe you can use a shop vac and a peice of fuel line hose to try and suck out any crud in the tail housing..most likely anything in there would drop to the bottom and stick there though,there isn't anything in there down low spinning that would tend to toss it up towards the govenor gear..
 
By the picture I can see the remaining gears are severely undercut and close to failure. I would try the new governor and see how she holds up, if you get the same result I would suspect that you have a pitted or damaged drive gear portion of the output shaft. Don't worry about the broken bits, they will end up in the pan and won't do any harm.
 
new governor intalled tonight but still no shift..now i can manually change it..i have good vacuum pulled the line off and no fluid came from the modulator

fluid smells fine, doesnt feel gritty... should I change the modulator valve now?:dunno:

or could there be something wrong with the valve body?
 
I'm not a tranny expert,Greg here is the man when it comes to things like this..things I'd check for is to see if the modulator is actially good and working,its the cheapest thing to try first--and see if the valve it operates in the tranny case itself is free and not sticking,and see if the detent cable is releasing ,if it sticks in the "passing gear" position it might cause issues..

Your tranny case where the govenor spins might be worn enough to let enough pressure be lost for it not to operate correctly..that can make the gear strip out quickly also..

You said it delays going into reverse from park also?--thats usually a bad omen for a TH350,most every one I've had that failed eventually had delayed engaugement of reverse as the first indication it was about to expire...

I had one TH350 in my 72 K5 that refused to go into any forward gears when it was cold,first thing in the morning..you had to wait till the engine warmed up,then it would finally go in !..leaving it in drive,second or first gear position it acted like neutral till something warmed up and sealed or freed up..I was told the forward clutch lip seals were a likely culprit..or perhaps a pressure regulator valve sticking--but then it shouldn't have had reverse right away either,and it did..I could back up instantly--then be stuck in the road with no forward gears!..:doah:

I tried everything in a bottle or can known to mankind to try fudging it along or hopefully curing it--one mechanic suggested a bottle of Lestoil!--having nothing to lose,I tried it..it did nothing ,didn't help OR harm it..once you got it to go in gear,you could drive it away,it shifted fine,and you could go 500 miles without a care--next day,back to square one!..
I finally put a SM465 in it,after getting threats from my boss about being fired if I was late for work just ONCE more!..never did disect the tranny to do an autopsy see if I could find out what its problem was..probably should have..
 
Modulator doesn't control shifting in a meaningful manner. The modulation part refers to changing line pressure based on engine load (vacuum, firms up shifts when the engine is working hard) which is why ATF in the modulator hose/line is a problem.

I'd wait for further advice from a real trans expert as to your issue. You say you can manually shift it (so from P to R, all gears work fine if you start in 1st and upshift to 3rd?). If that is the case, if it's put in D, it won't upshift from 1st? If you manually upshift to 3rd, will it kickdown to 2nd when you mash the throttle? Just trying to get more info out on the problem, that might help someone narrow down the issue.
 
Put in a new governor, if it happens again, you have a bad output shaft bushing.
The failed bushing causes the output shaft to drop onto the gear.... Thus, apple coring it.
 
dyeager535 said:
Modulator doesn't control shifting in a meaningful manner. The modulation part refers to changing line pressure based on engine load (vacuum, firms up shifts when the engine is working hard) which is why ATF in the modulator hose/line is a problem.

I'd wait for further advice from a real trans expert as to your issue. You say you can manually shift it (so from P to R, all gears work fine if you start in 1st and upshift to 3rd?). If that is the case, if it's put in D, it won't upshift from 1st? If you manually upshift to 3rd, will it kickdown to 2nd when you mash the throttle? Just trying to get more info out on the problem, that might help someone narrow down the issue.
Click to expand...


i can manually shift all gears but i dont really feel it kick down to the lower gears...when slowing back down

when i start off in D it almost feels like it starting in 2 because i only have to up shift once to get it into 3, i guess to further complicate matters i am using a B & M mega shifter and i dont have the indicator hooked up ...and i dont have my tach hooked up either so i cant watch the RPM's

a couple times when i was starting off i would intentionally down shift to first and would drop down...so thats what makes me think it is starting off in 2nd..

but i'm a noob at this so it is hard for me to splain...
 
Greg Ducato said:
If it shifts manually I suspect you still have a governor issue, pop it out and have another look.
Click to expand...

i was afraid somebody might say that...I'm getting to be a real expert at removing and reinstalling that cap i have done it like 5 times now...it seems EZ but unfourtnately for me, my exhaust is pretty close to the cap and it is hard to get a tool on the flange to get the cap seated...

guess i will have a go at it tomorrow..i will post a picture of the governor when i get out..

thanks to ALL for the help and advice...

the members on ColoradoK5 kick ass!! :waytogo:
 
well i dont know why after 2 new governors it would still not auto shift but it wouldnt
pulled the governor, the gear was fine and the valve appeared to be operating...but i had enough so it will be making a trip to the tranny shop to see what is going on...

thanks to all for the advice

IMAG0248.jpg

IMAG0247.jpg
 
Let them know your symptoms for sure as these are a little odd. I would be looking for an old collapsed filter jammed up in the governor oil passage at the rear of the case or some other feed or bleed problem in that circuit. There have also been instances where a bronze sleeve was used in the governor bore to repair case damage and the sleeve has twisted enough to restrict flow. If you have all three gears manually then it almost has to be in that area.
 
i know this is an old thread but i finally got my transmission back the problem was the modulator was packed with steel shavings from the torque converter...

so i finally got some time to install it ..went to hook everything back up and i think i may have a detent cable problem...

the detent cable i have is supposed to be self adjusting...but it does not seem to retract...so i took the cable out of the carb bracket and made sure it didn't have any kinks... when i pull on the cable i can feel a click but when i let go of the cable it does not retract, i have to manually push it back in until i here it click

is there supposed to be a spring in the trans that is supposed to retract the cable?

any and all help is greatly appreciated...
 
The cable pulls a rocker lever that depresses a spring loaded valve in the valve body. Either the cable is binding or the valve may be sticking or spring broken. If you had enough metal to stick a modulator valve there is a good chance it may have stuck this valve as well:doah:
 
Greg Ducato said:
The cable pulls a rocker lever that depresses a spring loaded valve in the valve body. Either the cable is binding or the valve may be sticking or spring broken. If you had enough metal to stick a modulator valve there is a good chance it may have stuck this valve as well:doah:
Click to expand...

so i pulled the trans out and took it to the rebuilder, he tore it down and said he cleaned it up but would it be obvious to know to check if the spring was weak or missing would he have been able to know to check it, is the spring replaceable? might you have any pictures?

thanks in advance
 
thanks for pointing me in the right direction Greg...i pulled the pan down and could instantly see the problem it appears my pan may be slightly dented and that was pushing up on the filter not allowing the valve rocker to move...

bent that tab up a smidge and took a hammer to the bottom of the pan and it worked like a charm...

pictures kind of show how the rocker switch was rubbing on the filter

IMAG0002.jpg

IMAG0001.jpg

IMAG0002.jpg

IMAG0001.jpg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest Posts

Top Bottom