318 LA rebuild after losing a valve seat

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Well, for some reason I'm not able to get the car into neutral to move it out of the garage and into the driveway. I initially thought it might have been a problem with the shifter, but it's disconnected and I'm still having trouble. I can move the selector underneath the car by hand, and the car won't move in any position. The wheels move freely when the rear is in the air, but on the ground, nothing. I had this problem moving it into the garage to drop the motor, but I thought I figured it out.

I'm going to drop the valve body and see if either a) the park pawl is jammed or b) it's disconnected from the rooster comb. Wish I dropped the VB yesterday while I had the pan off changing the gasket and filter! Oh well.
 
Does it move a very short distance, like 1-2", and then stop like it hit something hard? That would sound like being hung in park.
 
Yes, it does move just an inch or two like it's stuck in park. What is confusing me though, is before pushing it into the garage, I was able to turn the driver side wheel - but with GREAT resistance. I'm trying to figure out how it would get stuck in park after I got the car pushed in, but I guess anything is possible. Do I have to remove the tail shaft, or can I get it freed by just removing the VB? I understand the park rod comes out with the valve body.
 
If you rear diff is an open type, then you could turn either rear wheel, and the far wheel would turn in the opposite direction, with the trans in park and with both rear wheels off the ground.

Ya know, pulling the driveshaft only takes a coupla minutes....but some trannie fluid will come out if you refilled it already.
 
Yes sir, it’s an open rear. With both wheels up they turn freely, as they should. With the passenger wheel on the ground/driver in the air, I was able to BARELY turn it. But this was before I pushed it into the garage. I haven’t tried that again yet. It was the end of the day and I was tired.

I haven’t filled it yet, and had the driveshaft out yesterday. Are you saying I can access the park rod with just the drive shaft out? I had the impression that I would need to remove the tail housing or drop the valve body.
 
No, just was saying you can push the car around but heck you know that LOL. Strange that you can't put the trannie in neutral and rock the car and have the pawl pop out. If it is stuck, then I don't know how to get it unstuck... never dealt with that problem.
 
Yes U need to remove the tail housing to access the Park rod. Can u feel it wanting to come out of park when u move the linkage? Kim
 
oldkimmer said:
Yes U need to remove the tail housing to access the Park rod. Can u feel it wanting to come out of park when u move the linkage? Kim
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Kinda sorta? It’s a little tougher coming out of park and into reverse. Like if I don’t finesse it a little, I might skip over reverse from the force taken to get it out of park.

I did try rocking it back and forth, although it was just me in the driver seat with a foot on the ground. I’ll try getting behind the car and putting a little more *** into it. (Don’t worry, I have wheel chocks!) I’ll just set them so the car has a little room to roll.
 
See if you can push the car uphill and push the chocks in tight to keep it from rolling back against the pawl. Nothing new about pawls being harder to pull out if the car rolls against them. If the issue is the get the engine in, then I'd probably pull the driveshaft and roll it and get to the pawl later...
 
nm9stheham said:
See if you can push the car uphill and push the chocks in tight to keep it from rolling back against the pawl. Nothing new about pawls being harder to pull out if the car rolls against them. If the issue is the get the engine in, then I'd probably pull the driveshaft and roll it and get to the pawl later...
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Thanks, I'll do that.

Engine is in! I'm just connecting things and putting everything back together at this point. I wish my garage was big enough (or not so cluttered) that I could just leave the car there without half of it sticking out. That's why I need to move it into the driveway at the end of each day.
 
Okay, this is getting weird. I pushed it a couple inches forward and chocked it in place. Went underneath and shifted into neutral. Now, the car will roll forward easily, but when I push it backwards, acts like it's in park.
 
I would say their is something wrong in the differential. Is the pinion nut loose?can u move the pinion yoke around? The tranny does turn easy 1 way and harder the other way. Maybe the sprag is wrecked. Kim
 
Sounds like taking the pressure off the pawl let it slip out easily. If you live on flat land, you may not be used to the pawl getting semi-locked in place on a slope.

Jack up the rear axle and remove driveshaft to separate out the axle and trannie as the source of this drag.
 
oldkimmer said:
I would say their is something wrong in the differential. Is the pinion nut loose?can u move the pinion yoke around? The tranny does turn easy 1 way and harder the other way. Maybe the sprag is wrecked. Kim
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I can't move the pinion yoke at all. I have a feeling I'm going to have to remove the tail housing and have a look inside. I didn't really have any issues when the car was running, starting to think I did something wrong when I put the drive shaft back in? But that seems hard to do, since it's just a matter of sliding it onto the output shaft. Or maybe something was misaligned when I put the pump back in? I really, REALLY hope that's not it, because I don't want to have to pull the engine again.

When it went forward, it felt smooth. It wasn't exactly easy, but then again I'm on a slight incline and I'm just one man pushing a car. But there is definitely something solid and mechanical that is preventing it from moving backwards. Would a bad sprag do this? It's almost like a ratcheting action, allowing movement in one direction but not the other.
nm9stheham said:
Sounds like taking the pressure off the pawl let it slip out easily. If you live on flat land, you may not be used to the pawl getting semi-locked in place on a slope.

Jack up the rear axle and remove driveshaft to separate out the axle and trannie as the source of this drag.
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When I first learned to drive, I remember putting the car in park on a hill without setting the brake. I remember the awful resistance and clunk when taking it out of park. I never did it again, it just seemed to be bad for the car.

I think I might give it one shot today to see if I can find the problem, otherwise the drive shaft is coming out and I'm moving on to the engine. I'll come back to it.
 
You might want to ask about the sprag action over on the trannie forum. IIRC, it ought to want to 'catch' rolling backwards. I would not think it has anything to do with the pump as there is not any system pressure and nothing is engaged internally to connect the input and output shafts.
 
Well folks, I've spent the last few days over in the transmission forum reading and picking brains. So far it seems as though I screwed up when I removed the pump by not tightening down the front band. This MAY have caused the band to either come out of alignment or out of adjustment, causing the symptoms I'm experiencing. I don't know yet, because I haven't had a chance to drop the valve body and have a look-see at the band.

So, tomorrow I'll be doing that. I think regardless of how it looks to the naked eye, I'll still readjust it since it's such a simple process. From the videos I've seen and how the service manual describes the process, I can do this with the transmission in the car. Luckily, the drive shaft is out and there's still no fluid in the transmission, so it should be pretty easy.
 
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Wyrmrider said:
You are going to end up R and R the trans and then the front pump and drum
YOU CAN DO IT
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Thanks for the vote of confidence! I feel like if I take my time it’ll be okay. You’re saying I’ll need to remove the front pump and drum just to adjust the takedown band? I was thinking I’d just have to drop the valve body and adjust using the screw and locknut.
 
I thougt you had some parts come apart when you pulled the pump without locking the drum in place with the band
fixed
darn mini keyboard
 
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I’m not sure yet. I’m going to remove the valve body and see what’s what. Best case scenario I just need to readjust the band. Or, I pull the transmission.
 
Got the valve body off, and the bands don’t seem to be bound up. But it was pointed out to me that I have some clutches that aren’t lined up since the tangs just behind the front band aren’t engaged in the drum.
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