I'd just like input on what may be causing my problem: When at a stop, when I go to leave under light throttle, the car revs up and moves, but very slowly. At about 3K or so, I feel the car "catch" and acceleration is normal. I'm not talking about launching the car hard off of the line, just a normal take off. The car revs but it feels as though the MPH doesn't match. I have done the following: new filter, fluid, gasket because I had a leak I knew about; PROPERLY adjusted the TV cable; new rear end oil/gasket. Based on my searches, it seemed that any one of these could have contributed to the problem, but nothing has changed. Is my tranny just shot, or is there anything else I can look into checking? Thanks. P.S. tranny has 116K miles on it, motor has 200 miles on it.

Anyone have suggestions about what to check?

I'm going to try and check for the forward sprag being a problem, but does anyone have any other possible causes? Governor, TC, anything? Does this sound like a problem anyone has had before? I'm not too familiar with diagnosing this tranny, so any help is appreciated. Thanks.

Since no-one else chimes in I'll try to help but I'm definitely not an experienced tranny guy.
My first thought was the TC, and then maybe the pump. Has the stall speed changed, and is it defined? (Mine stays at 2100 if I floor it - until the car catches up, & then the rpm's follows the speed of the car.) When it "cathes" does the rpm's drop or does the car just launch harder?
The gears are fixed, and if the bands or clutches were slipping then it would quickly burn & wear down with lots of dust in the pan as a result.

Thanks for replying. I haven't really paid any attention to the stall speed, but I will. When I say it catches, it doesn't drop RPM like a gear shift, it simply hooks at the higher RPM. The fluid/filter change was about 150 miles into the new motor, of which I know it acted this way, and there were no particles that I could see in the pan. I really would just like to know what I need to replace, because I know something is going. TC would be better than the whole tranny. What's a good way to test the pump? Is the fact that it drives enough to say the pump works? I've read that if the pump fails, you may get no forward/reverse motion from the car.

So imho in a way it can be said that the stall speed has indeed increased.
Did it happen by itself, suddenly or gradually, or after some work had been done, or was it like this when you bought it? Is there any difference to the acceleration capability at low and at high speed? Does the converter lock up above 45 mph?
The TC stator roller clutch can be checked by inserting a finger into the splined inner race of the roller clutch and trying to turn the race in both directions. The inner race should turn freely clockwise, but not turn - or be very difficult to turn counterclockwise. If it freewheels in both directions you should have poor acceleration from standstill. If it's locked in both directions you should have poor performance at high speed, and the converter might be blue from overheating.
I was just thinkin maybe the pump wasn't supplying enough oil into the converter, but in that case the pressures should also be low and the tranny would seriously misbehave like you say - slip and wear, although the converter feed does go via a pressure regulator valve. There is a test port on the drivers side, and there are pressure tables available (you'll need to get a gage, & know the three-letter model code of the tranny).

The tranny has been like that since I bought the car. I haven't driven the car much above city speed limits, as I've been working on it alot since I bought it and never had it ready for the highway. From what I remember, it did lock up on the freeway drive home when I picked it up. Also, under heavy throttle, it launches like it should - powerful. I'll look into what I can of what you mentioned.

Ok, well based on what I've read, the forward sprag could be all/part of the problem. I took it for a spin today to get gas and I threw it into 1st instead of OD. Didn't really notice the problem at all. Does this sound like the culprit to anyone?