FostersPerformance

Here is what i have.

1988 700r4. Was fully rebuilt and upgraded to handle the 383. Ultimate master rebuild kit (TCI i believe), TCI MANUAL REVERSE pattern valve body, B&M 2600 stall converter, -6 AN lines going to front mounted oil cooler (B&M i believe. Same one also for engine oil). Moroso deep pan. B&M Mega shifter. Royal Purple synthetic MAX ATF fluid (put in 12 qts originally, with 1 going in torque converter as i installed it.). Torque converter is wired to only lock up in 4th, and it def is.

So the guy that built it is on vacation, and ill call him next week. He owns a major trans shop up here, and has been doing it for 35 years. I had him build the trans in Nov 2017. When i got it back it was filled with fluid and ran on stands a few times until last year when i actually started to drive it 100 feet at a time. Just got plates in Aug, so the car has 80 miles on it now.

Prob 1. Had a noise i couldnt find for a while. Best described as a buzzing sound. Thought was distributor or coil as it sounded electrical. Wasnt specific to rpm or anything. Just a buzzing sound here and there. When it did do it, i could see the trans lines "breathing" like it was on a ventilator. I could also feel the noise in the lines. Added fluid until it went away. Took 2 qts. Noise gone.

Prob 2. I have no 3rd gear. I shift it 1-2 no prob, and when i go to 3rd, there is a slight drag on engine, then goes into 4th. I havent lifted car yet to see if its just a linkage adjustment issue. But its def missing 3rd, and going to 4th. I did put my hand on linkage at tranny and nothing seems loose. Will lift car this weekend

I will be calling the guy next week but wanted to see if anyone that knows what they are doing to chime in.

So the assembly has 14 qts in it. I have no other issues at all with it. The deep pan (part #42025) says its 2.375" deep, and didnt call for a different pickup/filter. Is it possible the filter came off? Still low on fluid? Im at a loss. And id like to know before winter as i have to finish welding the exhaust. Im hoping i dont have to pull it back out.

Oh, and its a universal dipstick that was installed after i installed tranny. So thats my bad i didnt see how it extends into pan. Its a Lockar unit. It does read on the stick, the fluid is clean and smells good, and not foamy. When i drive the car, the trans temp gauge takes a bit, then runs at 150 degrees. I have the sender installed in the pan.

Any thoughts? Thanks!

FostersPerformance

Talked to tranny guy who built it. He was confident it is a linkage issue.

Lifted car last night. I took off cable end and I can manually shift the tranny into all positions - no problem. Each one clicks into position and stays there. I put shifter in 1st, cable lines up. I put in 3rd, cable lines up. I was by myself so today ill have my wife shift the car while im under it. But at this stage, the cable alignment seems to not be the issue. Im at a loss here and really dont want to pull tranny out if its a valve body problem. I have all the directions for the parts i put into it, but i still wont know what im looking at if i drop the pan.

arbee

Sounds like your best move would be to take it to the guy that built it.

383vett

If you have a deep pan, you should have a dropped filter. Maybe you are still short on fluid.

FostersPerformance

Was hoping to not have to take it out if it can be addressed in the vehicle. Hate to go through all that to find out it was a bad valve body or whatever...

And i just looked at the sheet for the pan. It calls for Fram FT1074 filter. Says nothing about it needing anything else. Considering my noise was from the fluid low i was wondering if the filter fell off or ??? System has 14 qts in it total. But why would everything work great except 3rd gear? I swear im the only one that gets these weird issues....

arbee

You don't have to remove the trans to check out the valve body. Do that first.

ACMX92

I am no transmission expert by any means but I have messed around a enough to be familiar. I recently did a shift kit in my 85 700R4. One thing that is critical is the 2nd band servo pin length. Too loose and there will be a delay in 2nd + 4th gear engagement, as well as not enough clamping force applied by the band to the drum. If the 2nd servo pin is too long (or spaced too far in with shims in the servo assembly) it will cause the band to drag which can burn it up and cause binding issues in 3rd gear if it doesn't release all the way. In neutral, make sure you can turn the driveshaft by hand in both directions. If not, the band is too tight. Being a rebuilt transmission, if your builder used an extra long pin, added in shims to the servo assembly and didn't check the band after install of the servo it could be much too tight. Normally with a fresh band the long pin will need to be ground down to maintain 1/16" clearance on the band.

I am not saying this is your issue, but it is simple enough to check. Fixing the servo pin length can be done without dropping the valvebody.

arbee

Two problems with this statement. 1. If you can turn the driveshaft by hand in park, you have bigger problems than a servo pin too long. 2. This "test" is only valid in one direction. Turning the driveshaft as if the car is in reverse will turn the reverse input drum. Turning the driveshaft as if the car is in a forward gear will simply cause the rear carrier(splined to the roller clutch) to freewheel.

ACMX92

You are right. Not sure why I said park haha. So the forward drum will not turn if you turn the driveshaft the opposite direction? Again, not claiming to be an expert on this. The correct way to check pin length would be with a dial gauge the servo cover (without oring installed) and I do not think you can access the band for a visual check with valve body still installed.

arbee

The forward drum will not turn no matter what you do with the driveshaft. It is totally isolated from the driveshaft because the clutches are not applied. The only drum that will turn is the reverse input clutch and then, only when the driveshaft is turned as if in reverse.

cv67

Wonder if the "breathing' you see in the line is air?
Did you use a dropped filter as posted earlier? Sure would be a relief to find thats the fix.

FostersPerformance

It was air yes. The extra 2 qts solved that issue.
And the pan is stock depth supposedly. I went to measure my old one but i must have tossed it. I still have the orig valve body and springs he replaced. I looked at the fsm and directions for valve body and whatever is wrong its above me. I think there is a ball missing or added in that shouldnt be. No clue. I will be calling him today to see what he wants me to do. And the way the weather is turning i might not be able to drive it again this year to verify its fixed.

FostersPerformance

Tranny guy said call TCI first as the problem makes no sense. So i did. Guy at Tci was nice but a little dismissive and i understand. But long and short he said the 3rd gear passage is blocked somehow. I asked IF there was a check ball in there, would it cause the issue and he said yes-either that or the gasket is installed wrong. So i ordered a new VB gasket. Im gonna drain the tranny today and pull pan tomorrow IF i can clear the exhaust. Have a 3" Melrose system on it and its close. I need to weld exhaust so i might just get this all done this weekend. But i feared the worst which is snow. We got some today. So now theres salt. Lovely....wanted to be able to verify its fixed before the real winter kicks in and i have to stew on the fact that i dont know its fixed. And thats on top of the HOPE i find something wrong....its funny because i have been a tech all my life and i run a service dept at a marina. I have a hard time trusting anyone to do a flawless job. So ive always done everthing myself. So besides mounting and balancing tires, i did all the work on my car myself. EXCEPT the tranny. Go figure......rant over....ill see what i find. Thanks!

Upstate

If you get jammed up I have a rebuilt (B&M 450HP Kit) 700R4 sitting in my garage with maybe 500 miles on it too.

I put the original tranny back in the car before I got rid of it so it has been sitting about 12 years.

Was the shop that did the work over by Milton?

FostersPerformance

Tempting. It was built over in Green Island. I drained fluid last night clean as hell looked perfect. Waiting on new VB gasket. But gonna pull VB out tonite or tomorrow and HOPE i find checkballs in there that shouldnt be.

FostersPerformance

A few things dont look right. Let me know what your thinking.....

FostersPerformance

Also the filter had the fluid inlet on the top where as the spare i bought NAPA 1-9718 is a 'bottom feeder' with the inlet on the bottom. Is this why i had noises cause the fluid was a little low? The level would have to be above the filter. I guess it makes sense that it cant really suck up debris on the pan but is that why?
Always stayed away from trans work i guess now i gotta get woke lol.

Midnight 85

In your last picture the piece sticking out of the VB is not supposed to be doing that. It looks like the roll pin that holds it in is gone.

arbee

The valve body sleeve should not be out touching the forward accumulator feed. It is held in place by a small roll pin pushed in from the worm side of the valve body. It slides into the notch at the end of said sleeve to retain it. It is the sleeve for the 1-2 throttle valve. The 1-2 shift valve is further inboard of this sleeve. This pin is impossible to fall out once the valve body is in place(assuming the right pin was used). Your conundrum is: Was it missing from TCI or did the tranny shop loose it during the install?

FostersPerformance

Thanks....Im going to email the pics to TCI right now, then call them tomorrow and see what they think. After that ill send the pics to the guy who built it. But even if he says he will fix it i dont know if i trust him now. And i hate saying that as the guy has been doing it professionally for 35 years. But i understand, he never did a modification like this before. But still....Not too happy...

Any thoughts on the filter comment i made? Thanks