Hi, When I start the car in Park it starts up just fine and runs nicely and revs up pretty smooth (although some work is needed on tuning but its fine for now) When I put my foot on the brake and put it into reverse, there is almost a 1 second delay, and then the car jerks back a few inches and the rpms drop from 750 to 500. Same thing happens when i go into drive. Another Thing: When I floor it from a stop it goes to about 2000 rpm then switches gears. This makes it incredibly slow to accelerate. The only way to get up speed is to put it in first, hold it there, then drop it into drive. I also noticed than on thr free way when i'm crusin at 50 or 60, if I Floor it, nothing happens. The rpms stick to about 2000 and barely move. It won't downshift!! I also noticed that the only gears I can select are 1,2, and D. There is no Overdrive Gear( or maybe theres JUST an overdrive gear) but theres just one DRIVE. so Park, Neutral, Reverse, Drive, 2, 1. are the order. Is that normal? Almost Forgot - Engine has a bigger Cam (so I was told) I know nothing of Trannys but maybe this matters? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance, Oliver

It sounds like somebody has had their hands on this car so there are some things you need to check out first.

1 - How do you know it's a 700R4? It's worth checking out. Look underneath at the transmission pan, if it's a plain rectangle then it's most likely a 700R4. If it's funky shaped then it could be a THM-350.

2 - The shifter plate. Does it have 4 selections for forward gears? ie, D (with circle around it), D, 2, 1? Or does it have a D (with circle), D, and just a 2? Or does it just have a D, 2, 1?

3 - Assuming it really is a 700R4, have you checked the throttle valve (TV) cable? It's a cable that goes from the transmission up to the carb or throttle body. If your car has cruise control there should be a total of 3 cables attached to the carb/throttle body (Main throttle cable, TV cable to tranny, and cruise control cable). If the car doesn't have cruise control then there should be two cables attached to the throttle, the main throttle cable and the TV cable.

4 - Did you check the transmission fluid? Does it smell burnt? It should have a nice oily, almost "sweet" smell to it.

Ok I just read your post again and you did say that the shifter only has D, 2, 1. This shift plate is for a 3 speed car but that doesn't necessarily mean that's what's in your car. Can you pull the shifter down below the 1 into an extra gear?

There could be a lot going on here. You need to figure out for sure what transmission you have.

Hi. Thanks for the reply

The shifter plate (I'm guessing you mean the plastic piece with the gears in white letters/numbers lol) says P -N -R -D (Overdrive) - D -2 -1

But when I actually select gears, there is no Overdrive. It goes from 1st, to 2nd, then to Drive, and straight to N. There are no 2 separate Drive gears.

The interior plastic cover blocks the shifter from going past what is marked as 1 at the bottom. ( I get what you are saying though, that maybe what is Marked as 1 is really the 2nd gear, if the car originally had 3 gears and now has a 4th that doesnt "fit")

To test this I will take off the trim piece and see if the shifter will drop down another gear

YES it has a plain rectangular pan
YES the oil level is right on and fresh

The car was equipped with crusie control (since the controls are on the column) but the cable is not present nor is anything I can recognize as a cruise control servo or anything under the hood.

The only 2 cables are the TV cable and the throttle cable (the tv cable looks like ****. It's spliced together and frayed and the self-adjusting thing looks like **** too.

I've gone from a car that I could take apart adn put back together with my eyes closed (93 twin turbo mazda rx7 - I do miss it) to this camaro. EVERYthing is different. But I bought it expecting to learn to love it as much as the Mazda. As soon as the 383 is finally done I'm sure I will.

Thanks again for your help,
Oliver

I don't understand this comment. Are you saying that as you accelerate the car will shift from first to second to third and then not go into 4th?

the fact that you have a delay when shifting from park to reverse or drive is a dead give away that the transmission is on its way out, it may not go out tommorow or next month or this year, but just know to not rough house it, no burnouts, no neutral drops, none of that stuff. since it sounds to me the delay isnt that huge id say drive it nicely until you can get a new one or get it rebuilt.

i had the same problem, first comes the delayed engagements and then you get REALLY late engagements. then comes slipping in first gear, then no 3rd gear. and so on and so on.

good thing you caught it early though, check the fluid routinely make sure there are no metal specks in it and that its not burnt smelling. also dont replace the fluid until you do find that its burnt smelling, the transmission makes its own "shift enhancers" over time and depending on how long it went without a flush theres a chance that flushing it will cause it to get worse.

Sorry for the misunderstanding. I can only manually select 3 drive options. Either D, 2, or 1. I am not sure however, if this implies that I have a 3 speed, or a 4 speed that just doesnt give me the option of selecting 3rd manually. I though all 700's were 4 speeds though. Should I suspect the TV cable? I know this transmists throttle pressure to teh tranny for up/downshifting, but know nothing about this thing so I am at your mercy.

Advice taken, I will definately go easy until I know whats up and can fix it or I get a new one (whichever doesn't make me poor)

Thanks
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Also, I was thinking, couldnt the slight delay between chaning from park to drive/reverse be due to the large cam? if the idle is lumpy, the power would be in lumpy surges also, maybe it can only change into the new gear in rythm to the lumpiness?

I would tend to think that (assuming you really do have a 700R4) that your shifter or shift plate is preventing you from manually selecting 1st gear. You see D, 2, 1 on the shifter plate but as far as the transmission is concerned it's OD, D, 2. You can test this by selecting "1" on your shifter and driving. Does the car upshift once into second gear and stay there until you stop?

This still leaves the problem of the strange behavior. I would suspect the T.V. cable. What kind of induction do you have? Carb? Got any pics of the throttle linkage/TV cable?

I took the shifterplate off last night and tried dropping it down into an even lower gear that i suspected would be 1st, but it wont go any further than it already is. maybe its not set up right. I took it to a tranny shop and the guy drove it and told me that in drive, it shifted into overdrive.

If i take the shifter off (assuming its like bottomed out) and trie to push the linkage piece forward maybe it will go farther, havnt tried that.

i will post pics of the linkage (yes its a rochester Q-jet carb)
The TV cable looks kinda crappy and the guy at teh shop told me he thought it was probably that and wanted to charge me 200 bucks (labor plus part) which I cant do right now.

Is it that hard to get a new cable and adjust it yourself?

thanks,
Oliver

I've never replaced a TV cable before but I've adjusted mine a hundred times. It takes 30 seconds and is pathetically easy.

ol that's good to hear. Guess that's the next step.


Thanks

Not to endorse a particular vendor, but the following site has some good info on the function of the TV cable and installation/adjustment:

http://www.tvmadeez.com/

Looks like a replacement TV cable can be had for around $25-30. I'd start with that, you AND your mechanic identified it as a problem.

Thank you all. Great link too, thanks. I'll check that out.

I'm still unclear on whether you're getting 2 good upshifts, or if it's shifting a third time but then acting like it went to neutral by itself. I've had that happen. Soon after, I lost second gear as well. At that point, mine was still driveable if I went to redline in first, then lifted off so it'd go to third. I had a 2.73:1 rear at the time. I drove it 6 months that way.

it appears to shift more than twice, just not at the right times and all that. I will try and find time in the next few days to install a new TV cable and adjust it.

That link is great BTW, awesome step by step with pictures. An easier explanation can't exist. I bought a pressure gauge and will do their testing and adjusting procedure and will hope for good results.

BTW does anyone know what the correct pressures should be? they have a table to fill out after performing all the tests and they say to call in the pressures to make sure they are okay, but was hoping someone knew a ball park of what should be right.

Thanks again to everyone,
Oliver

has someone opened up that transmission before? if your planning on taking that car to the track id say take out the governor and replace the weights with either heavier weights for later shifts, or lighter weights for earlier shifts

noo not takin it to the track...not with an automatic i wouldnt (i dont really do straight like draggin...more into autocross, scca, whatever)

got a pressure gauge, just gotta do some tests i guess. atleast for idle pressure and instant pressure rise. the pedal also has play, which may be why it doesnt double downshift, since it might not be tellin the tranning im giving it WOT (cause im not)

btw anyone know where to get just the missing bellhousing cover?

So I hooked up a gauge. idle pressure was about 80 psi. the cable was junk though, all spliced together and looked like ****, so i unhooked it from the linkage and stuff. with the cable unhooked, and the engine running in park, the tranny pressure spiked up to like 140 psi or something. I figured it would drop down with no pressure on the cable. When i pull on it now it doesnt go back down to what it used to. If I pull slightly, nothing happens until its pulled all the way out, then only a slight increase. if i yank it quick, it drops for a second then shoots up. If i put on a new cable and just adjust it, will it work itself out okay? or is something else up now?

Thanks,
Oliver

gotta put a new seal on tranny pan, leaks like a bitch, but checked it to be full during all tests, and with car level and warmed up