at the risk of be laughed at.
are all the automatic trannys called 700R4 in the 3rd gen

 

oh..and what is the T5?

 

first off yes it is a TH700R4 the worst automatic ever.
but in mine it had one but the previous owner changed the tranny fluid every 10,000 miles and it went with 183,000 miles on it with no rebuild. so it did'nt have a bad life.
Just had mine rebuilt and i hope i get the same or better life/performance out of it.

The T5 is the 5 speed transmission in camaro's and other various pre- 90's GM cars and trucks like an S10.

 

so, I have a car with a potential pos tranny in it.

What are the options if any when it croaks..and I'm sure the correctterm is 'when"

 

no i never said it was a pos. but you do have a few options...
1. when it goes have a Ask a few transmission shops what kind of bands and clutches they use.
i use reybestos bands and borg warner clutches..
great performance for the price(not to expensive)
2. you can get a Dr. evil Transmission... they are a little high priced though. the base 700r4 starts out at about $1550.
and from there they go up to $2250+ depending what options you want with it.. torque-converter. shift kit...
they have great options to fit your needs.
3. Dr. Evil also puts out rebuild kits. this is also a good option
they have quite a few tranny kits depending on how much power you are gonna put to the tranny and the aplication..
drag,daily driver,street.....
But NEVER GO TO amaco. all i ever have herd is horor stories about them.. in other words they don't usally have the best workers out there.. (i want someone to get the job done right the first time)
ohh another thing whatever you deside to do make sure you find a tranny shop that has a good warenty poliocy.
make sure you find a shop that has at least a 6 month-6,000 mile warenty. (if they don't have atleast that.
then you are gonna get screwed. tranny guys know how to make the tranny do what they want. if they have a 3,000 mile warenty they can "fix" it so it might go after 3,500 miles. just for an example...
if you have any questions or just to shoot the wind my aim screen name is gbm665 .
one last thing if you are gonna get it rebuilt before it goes a little bit of a drive is not a bad thing to get it rebuilt the right way. ask around word of mouth is the key. thats how i found the place that rebuilt mine.

 

I'm not so sure the 700R4 is as much of a terrible POS as many will tell you it is. It's been proven that lots of torque destroys this automatic overdrive transmission, so it doesn't fare so well behind a built 350 or 383. What I like to believe is that if regular maintenance is done (fluid and filter change around every 30K miles) and a dedicated trans cooler is used in addition to the cooler in the radiator tank, then the trans should last for a reasonable period of time (if it's not beat on daily, i.e. brake stands and burnouts).

However, if you do choose to drive your f-body like an f-body is usually driven, then make sure you keep your trans cool and full of clean fluid.

 

ohh when mine "went" so to speak what happend was i lost the clutches for third i had first and second. see GM had really crappy clutches stock. also known as what i call paper clutches. it gets the job done but when you get one rebuilt the usally last a bit longer. the key thing is to get the tranny fluid changed every 10,000 miles.
Don't belive any crap about changing it every 50,000 miles or 75,000 miles..
its a camaro it takes a lot of crap. lets face it you buy a camaro you don't buy it for driving it 55 mph going down a free way. or buying it for your 70 year old Grandmother
you buy it for you to give it hell see how fast it can go.
to run the **** out of it. so to speak.
if you don't know when the last time the fluid was changed then don't messs with changing it what you will find out is that if you change it with a lot of miles on it what will happen is stuff and crud that had a home in ur tranny will find a way to goof it up after draining the fluid. and then you will need a rebuild. but at this point it's the point of towing the witch to the tranny place. cuz you won't have but maby first and reverse. i at least was able to drive mine to the place.
burned a lot of gas but i got it there.

 

all i know is that mine was a single owner car and he changed it every 10,000 miles and it had 183,000 when the witch went but as i said i still had first and third.
and i know it was the worst tranny ever, if you don't take care of it. my dad had a chevy van with a 700r4. we could count on it going every 45,000-50,000- miles.
by changing it every 10,000 miles u eliminate the build up factor. if u get rid of the crap before it has time to build up then you don't have to worry about stuff getting on the clutches and the bands. by the time 20,000 miles would hit you will have twice the amount of build up by it forming up and doing more damage by the junk getting on the clutches and making more crud to do more damage.

 

Come on. Seriously, who is going to change tranny fluid every 10K miles? It's a nasty messy job unless you pay a shop around $100 to flush it for you every time.
And as far as recommending that others not change the fluid if the time of the last fluid change is not known...I call shinannigans.
You're still loading a bullet in the Russian roullette revolver if you never change your trans fluid. That nasty old oil is not going to hold things together any longer than the fresh oil will.
If a person currently has a good shifting trans and wants to change the fluid, but is wary of bad things happening as GBMCAMARO665 describes, then why not just get a new converter when you change the fluid? All the crap that could potentially work loose from the converter won't do so if a new unit is installed.
I have a 4L60E in my truck, and after 70K miles and two fluid changes, it hasn't sh*t on me yet.

 

you are suposed to change it 15k miles, 30k if you drive 55 on the highway and dont do alot of short trips. pre 87 700r4 are junk. after 87 with the aux valve body they got alot better.
change the fluid if its old its not a bad thing to change the fluid.
on a high milage tranny that didn't have regular fluid changes do not flush it. that it when the built up crap will move into the place that cuase harm. ie valve body and case passeges.

 

id rather spend $100. bucks every 10,000 miles than a tranny go every 80,000 miles if u add it up $800 is what an average tranny place charges. all i know is from personal experiance.
like in my '91 jeep cherokee the fluid has never been changed and it runs really good. in my camaro im not gonna run it like the way i run it and not change it ever 10,000 miles.
the guy i bought it off of was a single owner, im the second owner. and he bought it brand new from the dealer. and he used to give it hell just like me. i don't car what anybody else says if ur like me and planing to run over 100 mph every day like me. then u need to get it changed every 10,000 miles.

 

Hold on a minute...you didn't even know how to adjust the TV cable. And now you're an expert on the maintenance and function of the 700R4?
Do you seriously drive over 100 MPH every day in that car? Where could you possibly need to be sooooo badly, that would warrant that kind of driving?

As far as changing the fluid, I agree that changing more often is better. I'm just trying to be realistic on the intervals.
By the way, comparing the Mopar transmission to a GM unit is not exactly an apples to apples comparison.

 

Did I open a can of worms or what.

 

the TV cable was a little problem, all ive ever herd it called was a kick down cable. i know hydraulics. ive been working on tractors and other hydraulics for a while now.
and yes i do drive over 100 a lot and when i mean that i do that maby 5 out of 7 days a week. i drive that fast because i can. its a camaro not a tahoe , or pick up. if GM didnt intend for camaro's to go over 100 then why do they have spedo's over 100 mph, i know that an automatic tranny is a hydraulic system. all about pressure aginst the clutches and bands to change gears. and i now know about the TV cable and how it works to "kick down" to a lower gear. ya your right about a mopar to GM comparison,
a 700R4 isent a bad tranny but you have to take care of it. and changing the fluid im not saying would be a bad thing. but i had a friend that got the fluid changed in his truck an s10 with a 700r4. with in 100 miles of having it changed it went on him and when they pulled the pan off a bunch of crud and crap came out that wasent there when they changed the fluid. it was build up over time that got on the bands and clutches that wore them out really fast.

 

I have a few 700R4's & 4L60E's in the 10's & 11's doing quite well, and many more in the 12's & 13's, so they can be made to last. If I can be of help on this let me know?

 

A lot of 82-86 F-Bodies got 80 or 85 MPH speedos.
700R4s can be good if you get the right years and don't try to **** it up on a daily shedule, unless you got a weak V6, then go ahead. HAHAHAHAHAHA...... I never had a problem with the 700R4, later version type 1991, when I had a 3.1 V6 with 150,000 and no fluid change. My V8 on the other hand. I got my GTA because the motor chewed up and spit 6 trannies out. Mine has problems but because of sensors and the electical stuff. I would go with 350 or 400 Turbo to save the hassel, but gas will be worse with no Overdrive.

 

A 700r4 can be built to hold up well for little money. Little is a relative term. There are 1/2 dozen tricks to make them last that costs nothing. In 267,000 miles, I have worn out 3 700r4 transmissions. This is in a car that was daily driven, and dragraced to death. I love the bad rap they get. It lets me pick up the cores for nearly free.

 

I know of a guy who ran the balz off one of Dana's (Pro Built) 700r4's. Car ran low 10's and 60' in the 1.4 range. NEVER had a problem with it. Sold it eventually to a guy running low 11's. I believe it is on it's 4 th year with zero problems. If I could not build one myself, I would buy one of Dana's probuilt units.