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Transmission woes - 1 and 2 work, 3 and OD don't

Jessie James

Jessie James

1/2 ton status
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I have a 1990 K5 350 TBI with (I presume) the stock transmission in it. About 180k miles. I've noticed the last few times I drive it that it was "wandering" between gears when driving at speeds of around 50 mph, as if it was trying to decide to go from 2 to 3 or 3 to 2, it felt kind of like a drum brake shoe catching and dragging.

Yesterday while pulling out of my driveway I noticed that it would not catch, so I checked the fluid and of course it was basically empty. I added some tranny stop-leak stuff and a quart of fluid and it works fine. Except when I get up to speed.

Now when I get to about 50 mph and it shifts into third gear it just disconnects and the motor revs. If I manually switch down to 2nd gear and keep it there everything is fine, but obviously I can't go much faster than 55 mph. Reverse is fine too.

Is this something that is an easy fix? I know the tranny could be rebuilt, but I don't have the money for that.

Suggestions?
 
Service the trans first. Do a filter and put a thing of lucas stop slip in it. I cant personally say I've had that bring back a trans from shifting bad but I have had it stop slippage.

That being said if you really wanna diagnose it the first step is to check your line pressure.

O and stop driving it before you burn up whatever clutch/drum isnt properly engaging.
 
Meh, that's what I was afraid of. Oh well. I use it so rarely it isn't a problem, so I guess I will just save up to have someone rebuild it.

Can anyone recommend a quality and reasonably priced outfit in the NoVa area where I can drop it off?
 
Sorry, this is off topic, but Jessie James is a distant relative of mine. My grampa's name is Jessie James also. Sorry, that's all.
 
munepit said:
Sorry, this is off topic, but Jessie James is a distant relative of mine. My grampa's name is Jessie James also. Sorry, that's all.
Click to expand...
That's cool to know. I have no relation, but my name is James. :)
 
Mine had the same symptoms. I lost 3rd and OD on a Sunday morning leaving Idabel, OK. while I was on a trip. I ended up driving to OK City in second gear, about 250 miles. I was sitting in a transmission shop's lot Monday when they opened and they had my transmission rebuilt and road tested by 3:00.:thumb:
 
munepit said:
Sorry, this is off topic, but Jessie James is a distant relative of mine. My grampa's name is Jessie James also. Sorry, that's all.
Click to expand...


were you once married to Sandra Bullock ? :D
cause he's suppose to be a distant relative too :tongue1:
 
Bump. It is possible there is any kind of switch that has gone bad and can be replaced to fix this 3/4 issue? Or something else that won't cost an arm and a leg? :D
 
No.

The only switches in the 700 are pressure switches used for the lockup system. That and a TCC solenoid are the only real electric items you have. Its like others have said : your 3-4s are gone.
Sorry no good news for ya
 
Make damn sure you have a competant shop rebuild it. These are too easy to fuk up if you dont know what you are doing. I had a 700r4 rebuilt by a shop when I was 16, I was just in a rush to get my truck back so I didnt care if it shifted like ****. That trans lasted almost a year, by then the shop was out of business.

Nowadays I would take it back and say this is BS, Oh well, live and learn.

Pretty much why I want to get into building auto's for myself.
 
Jessie James said:
Drat.

Anyone around here want to charge me $200 to fix it? :D
Click to expand...

drain pan
remove filter
remove tcc solenoid
remove pump
(you may have to remove the servo pin to allow the band to relax. At worst you would have to remove the valve body.)
remove reverse input drum
remove input drum
3/4 frictions and steels are the first thing you see when you turn the drum over.
remove snap ring, selective backing plate, frictions, steels, selective steels, and selective apply plate.
Install new everything dry and set clearance. OEM calls for .060-.080 but I run on the tighter side.
once clearance is set soak frictions in clean atf.
install new pump seal while you're in there.
assembly is reverse of removal

Piece of cake :whistle:
 
Kjunky5 said:
drain pan
remove filter
remove tcc solenoid
remove pump
(you may have to remove the servo pin to allow the band to relax. At worst you would have to remove the valve body.)
remove reverse input drum
remove input drum
3/4 frictions and steels are the first thing you see when you turn the drum over.
remove snap ring, selective backing plate, frictions, steels, selective steels, and selective apply plate.
Install new everything dry and set clearance. OEM calls for .060-.080 but I run on the tighter side.
once clearance is set soak frictions in clean atf.
install new pump seal while you're in there.
assembly is reverse of removal

Piece of cake :whistle:
Click to expand...

How do you set clearance in the clutch packs? I dont remember doing that when I helped a friend build one of mine.
 
79rustyk10 said:
How do you set clearance in the clutch packs? I dont remember doing that when I helped a friend build one of mine.
Click to expand...

The apply plates and backing plates are selective. Meaning you can get them in different thicknesses. Some early units even used selective steels in the clutch pack.
 
Kjunky5 said:
drain pan
remove filter
remove tcc solenoid
remove pump
(you may have to remove the servo pin to allow the band to relax. At worst you would have to remove the valve body.)
remove reverse input drum
remove input drum
3/4 frictions and steels are the first thing you see when you turn the drum over.
remove snap ring, selective backing plate, frictions, steels, selective steels, and selective apply plate.
Install new everything dry and set clearance. OEM calls for .060-.080 but I run on the tighter side.
once clearance is set soak frictions in clean atf.
install new pump seal while you're in there.
assembly is reverse of removal

Piece of cake :whistle:
Click to expand...
So you're saying I can do this without pulling the tranny out? I might actually tackle this.

Or are you going to be asking for a picture of the pile of parts that exploded out when I unscrew the wrong thing? I did that once on an old BMW. Removed the cover and 12 springs and 24 little balls flew out. I gave up right then and there!
 
you have to pull the tranny out for all that. shouldnt be too hard to find an exploded diagram. The haynes manual for GM automatics is pretty good too from what I remember.
 
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