Well I'm a little bit confused on this.... Ever since it started to cool down in Texas, I've been having transmission troubles... It only happens when I first use my car in the morning, but when I put it into overdrive it just sits there... forever... sometimes I can rev the motor and then it kicks in, but I don't like to do that just in case it kicks in, beacuse I've heard its bad for the tranny to basically "drop the clutch"... It's done this every winter for the 2 years I've owned it, but this year it's getting much worse... it used to just happen for a second or two, but now it's taking longer and longer to get into gear..(Only when the engine/tranny is cold)--the rest of the day it works like a charm... Now one strange thing is I can push the shifter into drive, and it will take off just fine, then after about 2 minutes I can put it back into OD, but if I try right away its just like pushing it into neutral... Reverse does this sometimes too, but so far, drive, second, and first have all worked great with no delay... Should I have the tranny fluid replaced, along with a nice deep clean, or does this sound more serious like a slipping belt or something to that degree?? Thanks, Steven

In the cold, my cars a little tricky also, motor and tranny. I usually let it run a few mins before I even try to drive it, sometimes even putting it in drive after a few mins and just let it idle in gear to get the tranny fluids going. If I go to drive it, the shifts are off, and just dont feel right, besides the engine being cold w/ a carb and choke on... After I hit 150 degrees, things get about to normal, when 195 hits, car runs perfectly. I also have a little bit of a delay from park to drive/reverse when dead cold. Everything goes away once its warm. If your fluids and everything seem good, and your car is tuned up, you probably dont have to serious a problem.

You've probably got some sludge in there making a valve or a servo stick when it's cold. A flush might take care of it, or it might kill it completely.

to my knowledge the tranny hasn't really been cleaned before... besides the occasional fluid change...

but yeah, the tranny works great after I let the car wamr up for a while.... (*** bless remote start )

Dude. Go to "Gene" at the AAMCO of I-35N just south of Classic Chevy (near Round Rock). Tell him the problems you are having and then have him do a regular service.

Odds are good you'll know the facts after that visit.

Is there any harm that can come to my tranny by leaving it as-is for a while? I bet getting the tranny serviced will cost a pretty penny... which I only have ugly ones...

what damage can be caused?

thanks

Its gotta be something else besides the cold. Though cold can be a helpful factor.

You know the products spot lights on NHRA events. Big Daddy interviews people. And the rep from B&M was showing a new cooler and said that you can never cool a tranny enough, they run so hot

Though I have heard that people had problems when the used giant 70s AC radiators for the tranny...

If I had to guess... I'd say the fluid is settling somewhere, and it takes a little while for the fluid to flow into the proper areas to actually allow the transmission to shift gears... I guess I'll check the fluid again, maybe I developed a leak without knowing...

but this doesn't sound like a belt issue does it? as in an internal belt in the tranny...

It sounds to me like a valve sticking in the valve body. Get the tranny flushed (not just a simple pan drop and refill.....an actual flush using a T-tech or similar machine) and it'll most likely fix the problem.

Although, if it's got a lot of miles and it's never had the fluid changed, there's a chance that it could kill the trans. This usually isn't a problem unless you have 150k+ miles on the original fluid.

FWIW we get 69.95+tax to flush a trans. Fluid included.

how could flushing it ever kill the tranny?

I believe it is something to the effect of if the trans was not flushed for 100-150k miles, there will be sludge/clutch materials etc in the fluid and a bunch of other crap. Now, im no transmission builder but if this material - clutch material that has worn off and is floating in the fluid that runs through the trans, it will behave like the material was still in the parts. when you change the fluid, u loose this stuff then the transmission fails shortly after. Hey it could be BS but i dunno, sounds good enough to me at 4 am...

Yep, changing fluid after 100k with a 700r4 is asking for trouble.

Though some say they had no problem. It can make things worse.

so the best bet would be to take it to a tranny shop and have them flush it AND replace all the bad parts? Or should I just deal with it... because I can almost bet its NEVER been flushed or anything like that...

I've had some personal expereience with Sea-Foam and it worked like a charm. For $7 or $8 put a can for cleaning the tranny in a adhere to the directions, chances are if it's just a sludgy vavle in the valve body the Sea-Foam will clean it and take the crap to the pan. I ran it in my first set-up in the car after the 700r4 was giving me fits not shifting on time, I just left it in there and ran the car-never changed the fluid after adding sea foam. Buddy had a issue with his K2500 4x4 which sounds alot like your problem. He put some sea foam in and cured it-he's where I got the idea from.

It might not be a bad idea to maybe run the tranny with the sea foam until your next oil change, then just plan on draining and replacing the filter/fluid in the tranny at the same time.

And yes, tranny fluid needs to be at a minimum of 160* to flow properly throughout the transmission. The tranny temp is one of the biggest factors for a cars inconsistency during bracket racing.

so this sea-foam... you just add it to the current old, crummy, sludgy fluid? Then you run it for a while, and empty your pan, and replace with clean fluid, with NO sea-foam?

Sorry I just have no idea what sea-foam is exactly...

You got it, directions are on the can. Just add it to what you got, they want you to manually shift through the gears, then cruise down the hwy, etc....

Just go to your local auto parts store and ask if they carry Sea Foam and they will knwo what your talking about. They do make 1 for motors and one for transmissions so get the right stuff. It's almost like mineral spirits or acetone.

You can leave it in and run it-I did that with my 700r4- or if you want let it go through the tranny for awhile then change the fluid/filter since hopefully any varnish of sludge it breaks loose will be caught in the filter.

I know this may be on the can... but how long can I/should I run the sea-foam?

Will it hurt it if I run if for a few months in there? I want to get it clean as much as possible

The seafoam would stay in there forever. Once the junk travels through and gets into the pan, it stays there and can't hurt much. unless it was so much that it clogged the filter.

Seafoam is some good chit. I can only find it at NAPA around me. Its a great fuel system cleaner. Very popular in the motorcycle world for keeping carbs clean.

Since a simple question has not been asked:

Have you checked the fluid level when it is cold?

Advance Auto Parts has it too.

One more note. I know the 95 mopars (sorry to use the "M" word) had problems very similiar to what you're getting. A simple filter change did the trick.

Also, are you running an external tranny cooler, or the one in the rad? Cuz I've heard that you should run the one in the rad along with an external one in order to ge good cooling as well as get some heat into the fluid when dead cold. I'm from Buffalo, ask me how I know this.

Mike

Yep good point. You should use the stock and aftermarket cooler together.

First run it through the stock cooler in the rad, then through the aftermarket cooler, n back into the trans.

no aftermarket cooler here... but I always thought you were supposed to check the fluid when warm... I thought you couldn't get an accurate reading when cold... weird

Every dip stick I've ever had was a hot marking only, guess I have'nt seen a cold mark on the gm or ford vehicles I've owned, but not saying there is'nt something out there with that?

As far as running the tranny lines through the radiator then the aftermarket trans cooler, most if not all the factory trucks are set-up this way. BUT...we have a hard enough keeping our cars cool as it is, with the tranny fluid going through the factory radiator tank it's losing heat by displacing it into the coolant which adds that tranny heat into the radiator coolant and lends itself to the running hot condition.

By all means I'm not saying this is a cure all to overheating problems, but it is another factor that needs to be considered. Get the biggest tranny cooler you can-expect to pay $50-60 and run it by itself straight to the transmission with no pit stops at the radiator.

Just from my experience using/riding in trucks towing with tranny temp gauges, cars with tranny temp gauges with stalls speeds of all rpms, it's not uncommon to see consistent 200* temps which is bad for trannies over a long period of time, 160-180* is optimal. Temps really sky rocket when you "power brake"-this is how I build heat into my tranny after sitting between rounds-or just beating on it.

hrm. I have never really had any tranny overheating problems... only the opposite.. undercooling...

What's your gauge reading in relation to your problems you listed?

well I don't have a transmission temperature guage... but it takes about 5 minutes to warm up the car enough to drive it without problem..

also I can drive the car away without warming it up much, just be reving the engine a bunch... for some reason when I do that it sometimes "catches"... but it feels like I'm dropping the clutch in a standard tranny...

Tranny fluid is a hyraulic fluid. It expands when the temperature rises. By checking it when it is cold you can get a refernece point.
Then after FULLY heating the fluid, check it again.
I have had a similar problem when the fluis was in the "safe" range when warm. Added about 16 oz of fluid and the problem went away.

thanks, Ill have to check it later tonight when it's completely cold.

Please post your results if you get the tranny fluid purged or just changed. I've got the same symptons with my auto and would like it solved. Also if my fluids have ever been changed I'd be surprised!