Just my luck!!! Over a month troubleshooting and finally fixing my engine issues, and on the day I'm finally going to take the car for its first road test now something's going wrong with the tranny. Car has been on jackstands this entire time, this problem just started happening out of the blue (car was not even being driven, just sitting). Start it up in park and no problems, shift it into gear and sometimes I hear a faint grinding/scraping noise (only sometimes), put it back in park and I hear a horrible grinding noise (this is consistent) almost as bad as accidentally using the starter when the car is already running. The car is up on jackstands with no wheels, got under it and the noise is definately coming from behind the flexplate shield/cover. Removed the cover and made sure the flexplate bolts were still on and tight. Did some reading and sounds like it might be something called the Transmission Pawl or Parking Pawl, though I have no idea what this part actually looks like or where it is located (I know nothing about tranny internals, only how to swap em). Has anyone ever heard of this problem before? I'm hoping I dont have to drop the trans to inspect/fix but I'm beginning to expect thats what will happen. I'm gonna pull the tranny pan tomorrow and check the magnet. Fluid is at the right level and does not smell burnt. Tranny is a 80's something TH350-C long tail (with the TCC lockup) with about 4K hard miles on a fresh rebuild. I beat on this car so probably my fault this happened but I need to get it fixed ASAP, losing out on alot of track time. If anyone can help I'd appreciate it ...

You are holding the brake (i/e making sure the rear wheels are not turning) before putting it in park?

Ack, not another glitch on the way to getting back on the track!

Did a seach on WWW, found the following regarding 700R4 "parking pawl" that sounds like your trans problem.

Eventually though, you might want to consider that road race and drift cars benefit a lot from manual transmissions, while drag race cars are more consistent with automatics.
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Originally Posted by greyghost -- I was rolling slightly and put it in park and heard a noise and something hit the ground it's a 3/8'' round hard pin about 11/2'' long! now I have no park lock! I can't find were it came from!!!! it drives fine just no park lock, oh its a 83 chevy 700r4.

Check the back of trans case for a hole just behind and above the cover for the governor on the driver's side. The cover is like a small round hat. The pin you have most likely came out of that hole and it serves as the pivot pin for the parking pawl. The pawl has dropped down so putting the pin back in the case will not correct it. You will have to drop the pan to do that. You will probably will have to drop the parking rod bracket-two bolts 15mm heads. Note the orientation of the bracket before you remove it. Make sure the parking pawl has not had the lug on the end broke off before you reassemble everything.
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Chuck Henry - GollyGwagenNovember 5th, 2003, 01:02 AM -- When I put it park and let it roll forward there is a ratcheting sound. It shifts fine otherwise. The factory manual says that the sound means that the pawl spring is bad or misalligned.

HuntNovember 5th, 2003, 01:49 AM -- I used to drive tow truck in college, and I can tell you that the ratchet sound does not always mean a bad tranny. I'd pop the hood and put a little pressure on the tranny linkage and simply push it backwords. This would produce the ratcheting sound you describe every time. I was right at the edge of the parking gear. Try adjusting the linkage so that you are just a little more into the parking gear and see if it fixes your problem first.

Chuck Henry - GollyGwagenNovember 13th, 2003, 01:00 AM -- Well, it's back together and working great. I found a guy that works on Tranny's that got me the used parts. I told him I was concerned I couldn't find the shaft and he said "Happens all the time, it's out on the highway somewhere." After reassembling it that's really the only place it could go. The manual said to put Locktight Red on the cap, but he said to take a chisel and put an "X" in the cap that bites into the alum. case. I did both. ;) Thanks for all the help guys. Saved me about $450 doing it myself.

Thanks for the replies guys. I do press the brakes every time I shift back into park, but my friend that was with me the day this all happened told me the rear wheels were still spinning slowly when I was holding the brakes down, so maybe thats what stressed the part. I really hope its this pawl and I can fix it w/o dropping the trans. I took a look for a cover matching the description and found one on the drivers side above the speedo cable. But before I do anything I need to find more info on TH350's and where everything is (could take the wrong cover off and screw something else up).

Yeah, I really wish I had gone the manual route from day one, would definately be better for what I'm doing with the car.

If the wheels were spinning, then work on that (rear brakes) before you even worry about the tranny. As long as the driveshaft is turning, then no way the pawl will engage.

where do you have the rear of the car supported from?
8mike9 is correct, with wheels turning, it will not go into park. all it will do is grind.

Car is supported on the chassis, suspension currently unloaded. Alright guys, sounds like a good idea to me. I have an extra set of NIB rear brake pads laying around (this is a PBR disk rear 9bolt). I'll swap them and make sure the rear brakes are working 100% before doing anything further. So you guys think its possible I didnt break anything yet? That would make my day ...

Wonder if I should be worried about parking the car after this. If the pawl did grind alot think there's a good chance it might just start rolling down the hill someday? So far I've shifted from park to drive and back to park 4 times total causing the noise, 2 times just to verify that it wasnt a 1 time thing and 2 more times trying to locate the sound. Doh!!!!

Thanks again for the help everyone, really appreciate it!!

i doubt seriously that it has hurt your park gear much at all. the story listed above is an exception. i would just put the car on the ground and try it.