arghh - trans wont go into any gear at all

-
J

jasonmrenda

Well-Known Member
Joined
May 13, 2009
Messages
271
Reaction score
1
well finally got brakes bled, everything tightened up and went to test drive and ....................... nada

the console shifter goes into all gears etc but when the car is on, i can't get it to move. tried revese and all drive gears and not a budge. fluid is full.

76 dart swinger 318 with auto trans. i pulled the eng/trans as a unit and didnt disconnect them. they were both running well when i pulled them.

i have no idea what coul cause this. tried adj the linkage but no luck. i know the kickdown still need adj but shouldnt i be at least able to get the car to move?
 
need more info. did you refill the converter? maybe forget flex plate bolts? pull trans lines at radiator stick in a jug and make sure pump is pumping not fried.
 
ok a bit more info

i removed the 318 eng/trans as a unit and never seperated them. obv some trans fluid leaked out when i seperated the driveshaft but that is the only thing i un-hooked.

so i added trans fluid when the eng was cold to the full line. car only starts in Park (not neutral) so i assume my shifter link needs to be adjusted. i did let the car idle in park (which is not the same i know but i cant get the car into neutral right now) and the oil was low so i added some. at that point i WAS able to get the car to go forward in drive and 1 and 2 but no reverse.

so i think i am going to 1> adjust the linkage again and 2> drain all oil and add 5 quarts per the manual. then hopefully test again.
does this seem to be a good plan?
 
The car will only start in park due to the neutral safety switch. Start car and let warm up. Then shift into neutral with parking break on(for safety) check fluid then. You may have lost more then you think and possibly when you pulled the engine fluid drained from the TC.
 
For what it's worth, also check the dipstick tube - make sure it's all the way seated or you'll get a false reading.
 
homecloned said:
The car will only start in park due to the neutral safety switch. Start car and let warm up. Then shift into neutral with parking break on(for safety) check fluid then. You may have lost more then you think and possibly when you pulled the engine fluid drained from the TC.
Click to expand...

I agree. You can't guess how much fluid is in it by adding what the book says. You have to warm it up and then put the shifter in neutral and check it. No other way to know if the fluid level is right.
 
Inner pump gear possibly broken (drive lugs that the converter engauges).

It's going to have to come out .. let us know what you find in the pump (pictures).
 
If you have a 0-200 psi pressure gauge you can check to see if the transmission has (pump) pressure, first before pulling trans out.

Keep us posted. 8)
 
ok well i got the car in neutral - it will start in neutral - and let it idle and added appropriate fluids. car will still only go forward - no reverse.

so i am going to let it sit fir a while and then pull 1 hose to radiator to see if pump is pumping.

where do i go from there? if it is pumping then what? if it is not pumping then its time for a new one?
 
It has to be pumping fluid if you have forward gears. It sounds odd that it worked fine before you pulled it out and now it doesn't. Are you sure your shift linkage is adjusted right and it's actually going into reverse.
 
I had to pull my valve bodie out and find the location it belonged and weld the shaft back to the linkage(I pulled the parts out of the valve bodie to weld them and used a cut off wheel to do the necessary grinding......works fine now
 
Okay this is what I would do to take the shifter linkage out of the equation. Get yourself 2 very good jack stands and jack the rearend up so the rear tires are a couple inches off the ground. Make damn sure the stands are on solid ground preferably concrete and locate them one on each end of the rear end tubes, close to the ends. Climb underneath the car and remove the linkage from the shift lever and get it out of the way. With just the lever on the rod coming out of the tranny first make sure that the bolt that squeazes the lever to the rod is tight. Now as you move the lever from park you should be able to feel all the detents as you go from park to reverse to neutral to drive to second to first. Put the tranny in park and have someone sit in the drivers seat and start the engine and hold the brake pedal down. Shift the tranny into what you know, cuss you can feel it, is reverse and see what happens. Have your partner take his/her foot off the brake and see if the wheels turn and if they do push the brake pedal down hard and rev the engine. If the engine sounds like it's stalling on the tranny you're in business. If nothing happens, with the engine running and brakes on go through all the positions of the tranny shift lever a dozen times, put the lever in neutral and check your oil level again.

Terry
 
thanks all
i have a feeling my shifter adj is way out of whack. i wa sunder the car last week and i can manually use the rod on the trans to shift into all gears (can feel/hear the detents clicking in / out).

when i swapped everything the 67 was / is a console shift and the 76 318 was a console shift so we had to retro fit some parts.

i also noticed that the detents dont align with the letters on the shifter itself. in other words, when the car is in "drive" instead of the shifter being next to the letter "D" on the console it is closer to the "N" for neutral. hope that makes sense.
 
Sounds like your onto it Jason. If the shifter isn't positioning the manual valve right it can cause all kinds of weird problems.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
-

Back
Top