Hi all, Im learning on the fly as I go here...

Long story short after a few weeks of replacing this and fixing that I got my 86 trans-am running. Started driving it routinely. On the way back from nashville the other day just before I got home I started to hear a "rubbing" noise. I have since now discovered my tranny is not shifting at all once its gotten warm. Last night when I had a friend over to show him, it seemed to work fine until it got warmed up.. then no reverse, and its exhibiting symptoms like a bad clutch.. but this is an automatic,. I have checked the fluids and it does read as full, however it has been leaking. My goal for today is to replace the seal and see if it will hold fluids better.. but the question is "is this thing toast or what?" It doesnt make any smells at all like a transmission that burned out would make... Im stumped.

 

Update:

I just went out there again and indeed from an absolute cold start, no problmes with reverse at all... Dont dare go to far with it...

 

the thing about an automatic tranny, is that it uses hydraulic pressure to apply clutches, rather than release as in a manual tranny setup. sounds like you got bad seals in the apply pistons... how old is this tranny?

 

Well, I was told its brand new. But the guy that sold me the car lied about everything else so I really do not know. Im really hopping its just a fluid problem. Like I said it only does this when its gotten warmed up / hot.. .when its cold everything seems to work.

Another thing my friend did mention is once its gotten warmed up you can hear a mettal ticking sound that he said sounds like the torque converter... (?)

 

if he lied about everything else, are you sure it's a th350?...lol

seriously, if it is ticking, it is prolly playing time bomb.....the slipping is a warning that it either wasn't built good or it is going out. slipping usually means burnt/wornout clutches or broken seals.

 

probably throw that tranny away and get you a new one built by either B&M or TCI.....

 

- nieither company is worth a fiddlers......They're ok when it comes to T350/T400 stuff, but thats about it...ok.
- First off, you are checking the fluid with the trans warm and the engine running right? - Past that you'll need to get a gauge and a book and start checking line pressure. Yes, it could be a tc, it could be bad seals, or it could be bad clutches.
You wouldn't believe how many "trans shops" rebuilt trans are simply re-clutch jobs. No seals, no pump check, no tc, not even checking clutch pack install heights....

 

Well, replacing the pan seal didnt help at all. Didnt really think it would... at least it doesnt seem to be leaking anymore.

The guy who sold me this said the tranny came out of an S-10 blazer. Im thinking just pitch it and get a real tranny that will also resolve some torque arm issues at the same time. (theres nothing to connect it to on this POS)