I recently bought a 700R4 from a salvage yard - It had just been removed from an 86 TA and was still connected to the TPI motor when I first saw it. I installed it in my 86 IROC and it won't shift out of first. Reverse works fine, and drives in 1st fine, but it won't shift! I adjusted the TV cable according to the Tech Article (basically reset it, and then applied full throttle and listened/watched for the ratchet action).

Anyway, has this happened to anyone, and do you guys have any ideas what I should be looking at? Any help is greatly appreciated!

 

Hi Andy , yes the same thing happened to me. All I did was install a different shifter. I didn't touch anything inside of the trans. just moved the lever on the side to adjust the shifter. It never shifted again. I had park, neut. rev. and first. It's still sitting on the floor in my garage . If anyone knows the anser I would be interested also.

 

you need to adjust the shifter cable if memory serves me right, about the same thing was happening after i installed my B&M megashifter, i had reverse, nuetral, and first, no park and no 2,3,4. Adjusted the shifter cable underneath the car on the driver's side of the tranny (hooks up to a lever that kind of resembles an upside down hammer) and it works perfectly.

 

I can tell you in my case, at least, it's not the shifter cable or the tv cable .

 

i adujusted the tv cable and the shifter cabl on a freinds 85ta, and we have had no luck with it.

 

check out the govenor gear, you can pop the cover off and pull the govenor gear out and check the gear on it, and check the valve also. This is a sign since 1st and reverse is working. Good Luck

 

Thanks for the advice. I'm pretty sure that my cables are adjusted properly, so I'll investigate this govenor gear theory next. At this point, I don't even know what a govenor gear is, or where it is, so if you could spell it out for me that would be really cool...

 

On the left side of the trans just behind the elec, plug and just in front of the tail housing there is a cap looking cover on the side of the trans, take the cover off and remove the governor, you just pull it out you may have to turn it either way, and it will just come right out, And at the end of the governor there is a plastic gear if it is worn with the gears broken or any such, you can either get another gear, or just take the governor to a trans shop and have them fix it, should not cost much, If they say well I will sell you another governor for say 20 bucks, you have to consider this, governors have tabs, different weights of tabs means different shift points, along with the springs, So best thing to do is get a Vette Governor and you should be fine if this is the case. And after instal adjust the Tv cable again. When you take that cover off the trans make sure the seal is good, and apply some loc tite around the cover and put it back on. Good Luck and hopefully this is your problem. Search some 700r4 sites to look and see what the cover looks like you will find it with ease. along with the governor.

 

I've got the same problem with the 700R4 in my conversion van. It used to just skip second and go into 3rd and not even go into overdrive, but taking it down the road last week, it just stayed in 1st So, I took a governor out of another transmission to put in the van. The one in the van is bad, So we put in the good governor and it still won't shift out of first.

BTW, the transmission was just rebuilt and I just got done putting it in a few months ago.

 

Well I removed the cover and pulled out the governor and there it was - A totally messed up plastic gear. So big thanks BrandenCali - I can't recall the last time I was so happy to see a screwed up part! I have high hopes for this transmission once I get that replaced. Again - thanks a lot!

 

Glad you found out the problem and you did it yourself. Thanks for the Big Thanks Now if you don't have a Vette Govenor you can always get one and mess around with it. See if you get better shift points. If you have say 2:73 gears a Vette Govenor will help out alot. You can always learn to put in a Boost Valve in also. Then before you know it you can learn to remove the Valve body and instal a shift kit. Good to see another 3rdgen back on the road.

 

I have the same problem guys, friend drove the car over a parking curb and bottomed out the car bad, that night the trans stoped shifting out of 1st and slipped to red line. Could it be the govenor or something small? I am planing on a trans swap next weekend cause some guys think the trans went. Fluid looked fine.

 

If it happened all at once, then it is most likely the governor gear (broken or stripped).

 

It did, thank you very much sir I will check in the morning