It was supposed to be a simple drain and fill today. But I left one of the cooler lines off for about a minute. luckily it all drained into the drainpan so there was no spill. It emptied about 2 quarts before it stopped spewing fluid out the line. Put the line back on, put the pan back on, filled the trans. Fluid level good. drove it about a block before the drive gears dissapeared and all I have is reverse. I noticed while driving that the rpms were way up in order for the car to move...that is when it would move. Pulled the pan again and checked for the obvious. Checked the linkage and selector. everything seems in order....but something is certainly wrong. did I maybe burn up the pump by ruunning it dry with the line off? or maybe it pumped a bunch of air in the solonoids? this is a c4 trans out of a 79 fairmont. Please help if you can. Thanks guys
Sounds about like what the original trans in my '74 Grabber did. I didn't know it, but it slowly sucked all the trans fluid out through the vaccum modulator. When I took the trans apart it had pieces of red stuff in it, almost looked like paper or thin plastic... Trans would only pull in first and reverse.
You say you filled the trans. Did you start the motor and shift it thru all the gears then recheck the fluid level again? You know the pump will take fluid out of the pan to fill the converter you just pumped dry before, making the pan level low again! The whole system holds more fluid than just what's in the pan and shows on the dip stick.
I think you lost the check valve and spring that goes behind the filter screen......now you have to have a complete overhaul and flush to get all the cluch flakes out
The trans was rebuilt last summer. Yes I checked the level with the engine running in park. level is where it should be. shifted through all the gears many times. still no drive gears. My coworker and I are stumped. Theres nothing that I did that should've caused this....just my luck I guess. I'm wondering, if the pump lost its prime from running it dry is there a way to re-prime it?
hey, that kinda sounds like the parts that came out of my trans when i replaced the filter and the fluid..... I have been driving the car for 6 months now with those parts..... IN A PLASTIC BAG ON THE PACKAGE TRAY! haha, maybe this is a bad thing...
