My transmission took a dump today

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Quinton Castle

Quinton Castle

MOPAR OR NO CAR
Joined
May 5, 2019
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Location
Petersburg, Virginia
So my 1975 dart swinger special has been on jack stands for about a month as I have been fighting to find headers that fit (318 w/ ps) idk what transmission is in it but I think it's a a904 I could be wrong only had the car about 2 months. Anyways I finally got everything buttoned but and noticed a rather large puddle under the car thought nothing of it drove it to the store baught some ATF and put a quart in ad I drove it to the store I noticed it would not shift out of first but then later noticed that its stuck in second anywho car wound shift I'm stuck and frustrated car shifted irregularly wen I got is had to lift wen really on the throttle to get it to change however there is no lockdown hooked up and I fear that the person i bought it from threw the car together just to sell for a profit because of the mismatch trunk lid (year unknown) and entire front clip (74) please help I got a helluva deal but I dont wanna throw away time and money on a transmission that I really dont need View attachment 1715333692 View attachment 1715333695
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1....Did it drive and shift correctly before you did whatever all that you did? (Header work, etc?)

2.....If you don't have, stop over to MyMopar and find a shop manual to download. Some of them there came from the guys right here. Closest you will likely get is the 73 manual. I don't recall if it is Dodge or Plymouth

3....Then start by checking .......is the shifter properly adjusted? If the linkage has not been hacked up/ damaged, this is fairly easy. There is a sliding adjustment underneath with a setscrew/ bolt that locks the adjustment in position

4...Easy to identify a 904 vs 727. Look underneath on the passenger side. The pan rail is straight on a 904, in other words it's like a square box with one 45 cut corner so to speak

The 727 has a large round protrusion on the pass side.

I would start by checking your cooler line connections

These photos are "not to scale" and actually might cause the 904 to look larger. Not the case

904-727.JPG
 
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Ok so looking at the photos its definitely a 904. I haven't looked to see if any of the lines are kinked but I'll look tomorrow. The shift linkage pin (about the size of a finger and travels left to right) had jumped out of the pivot location and I popped it back in. Also a plastic bushing that "seemed" to git the location was on the ground and I reinstalled them before this problem occurred.
 
Will it shift into gears manually?
 
U have to fight with it quite a bit and wen u get it to 3rd and come to a stop or slow down enough it will drop back to first and u have to start all over again with he fight
 
What do you mean? Are you saying it binds? Be specific. "Fight with it" means not a damned thing. Help us out here.
 
If your throttle linkage is not connected between the transmission throttle lever and the carburetor, the transmission will quickly self destruct.
 
I know you're new and it's easy to voice command and I'm voice commanding right now. But you seriously need to go back and proofread it. Things are so misspelled with not one punctuation through your entire first post. Even the title of the thread (my transmission "too" a dump today?)
It sounds a little gibberish but we do get the idea.
It sounds like your kickdown linkage is stuck in the wide-open position it's giving the transmission the signal that you have it to the floorboard. It won't shift till really late and it will downshift on you when you let up. This is a better condition than it not hooked up at all and it shifts immediately into first second and third. If it does that then you're burning your transmission up qquickly.Do not drive the car until you have this figured out. Mopar trannies go to toast quickly without this sorted out...
Also you said something about adding a quart did you check it while I was warm and running in park or neutral?
 
You also need to look at the engine motor mounts. Looks like you have biscuit mounts pounded in a bolt thru 73 and up mount. I would look over that car real good before driving it.
 
j par said:
I know you're new and it's easy to voice command and I'm voice commanding right now. But you seriously need to go back and proofread it. Things are so misspelled with not one punctuation through your entire first post. Even the title of the thread (my transmission "too" a dump today?)
It sounds a little gibberish but we do get the idea.
It sounds like your kickdown linkage is stuck in the wide-open position it's giving the transmission the signal that you have it to the floorboard. It won't shift till really late and it will downshift on you when you let up. This is a better condition than it not hooked up at all and it shifts immediately into first second and third. If it does that then you're burning your transmission up qquickly.Do not drive the car until you have this figured out. Mopar trannies go to toast quickly without this sorted out...
Also you said something about adding a quart did you check it while I was warm and running in park or neutral?
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Dudinithabascampergrilledindafront
 
Sometimes you gotta fight them a lil bit to get them into the right ger but if it's really really fighting you hard just to try to get it in and out then there may or may not be a linkage problem. Your lockdown shouldn't be locked down or it might not shift at all or shift too early and block your carb. If you check the fluid and don't know what it is then you might try again a few times just to be sure. So lets see you had trans fluid under your car but drove it witout checking the level and dont wanna buy a new trans if you don need it..
 
U have to jiggle the shifter and eventually if u get it just right it will go into 3rd gear but one u slow down it goes right back to a lower gear. Not sure if its first or second.
 
Quinton Castle said:
Is there something wrong with those designs
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I told you in post 10 if you read the whole thing you're kickdown lever or what it really is is a pressure livre is wide open, as if your carburetor is telling the transmission you have it to the floor. That's why you notice it doesn't shift until you're going kind of fast and then when you let off it downshifts as if you have it to the floor and want it to go wide open..
 
j par said:
I told you in post 10 if you read the whole thing you're kickdown lever or what it really is is a pressure livre is wide open, as if your carburetor is telling the transmission you have it to the floor. That's why you notice it doesn't shift until you're going kind of fast and then when you let off it downshifts as if you have it to the floor and want it to go wide open..
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O ok now I understand in other words I need to hook up the kickdown correctly and it should fix the entire issue
 
Quinton Castle said:
O ok now I understand in other words I need to hook up the kickdown correctly and it should fix the entire issue
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Possibly. You need to address those motor mounts badly. They are NOT right at all. Looks like someone just cobbled that engine in there just to sell the car. If it's not mounted correctly, that can and will have an adverse effect on everything. Can you get some better, closeup pictures of the mounts? Both sides?
 
Quinton Castle said:
Is there something wrong with those designs
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Your K member has 73 and up spool mounts and the engine has 72 and earlier biscuit mounts. You need spool type engine mounts on the engine to get the motor setup correctly. A real hack put that motor in.
 
Quinton Castle said:
FIXED IT!!!!! I had to move that arm it was reading wide open throttle instead so it was essentially waiting till the last possible moment to shift j par thanks for the insight it was exactly as u said
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Make sure it's hooked to your carburetor and working exactly as it should. now if it goes the other way it's even worse because it will go right into 3rd gear quickly and not put any pressure on the pressure regulator and blow up your transmission lickety-split!
 
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