I just swapped my engine. Still trying to run the stock 700R4 automatic. Everything was hooked up, wires, new cable to the shifter and nothing!? We dropped the car back on the ground, added fluid until it was above the add one pint line and there is no pressure between gears. I can press on the lever from underneath the car and easily cycle between each gear. I do not know where to go from here.
Any solutions?
-Ben

 

Anybody? Im pretty dead in the water from here. Any suggestions for a list of things to run down to check?

 

stupid question did you install the converter bolts ?

 

Yea. No bolts or nothing left over. I made sure to bag and label every bolt and nut during the swap. I noticed today the reverse lights come on when its in the correct position and they turn off going down to neutral and beyond. Still no pressure So it seems the new cable is working properly. Im Stuck!!!!!

 

seems like the S-link may have come loose. Either way, you'll have to drop your pan, because you seem to have ruled out everything external.

 

I don't know anything about transmissions but I'll start there. I have that 20 pound book to figure out what that part is you mentioned.

Thank you

Anything else anyone?

Im not going to be able to tackle this for a little bit but while Ive got the pan off, anything else I should check that could add to this problem? I don't understand how it went from working 100% to almost nothing. I had taken the pan off, cleaned it, and put it right back on. Then I put on the converter, and flex plate and everything seemed right.

 

All you said was that you swapped the engine. Did you do anything to the transmission, torque converter etc?

To confirm pressure, you need to install a pressure gauge on the test port(s).

The S-link won't come off unless you had the valve body off.

 

I used the same converter and swapped the same size flex plate. Everything bolted nice and smooth.

 

Generally, he's right, but S-clips can fail. maybe only 1 in a million, but there were several million 700R-4s produced.

 

This is kinda like that show about Dr. House. The S-clip fits the symptoms exactly. I suppose there could be an issue with line pressure, but I've driven a 700 that only had 50 psi, and it moved around just fine.

 

Since the tranny pan wasn't removed, I'd rule out the S-clip. Maybe the converter didn't fully engage when it was installed?

Did you have to pull the converter back out to bolt it to the flexplate?

 

It's supposed to pull out a little, and it'll disengage the pump, so that would give no pressure at all, but still be engaged to the input shaft.

 

No I did remove the pan but only to power wash it and polish it some. Yet I didn't touch anything inside there. I torqued the pan back on like it was. Then I torqued the flex plate onto the engine. Then I torqued the converter onto the flex plate. I held the engine from the lift and slid the transmission (on a wheeled table) right onto the converter and torqued the bolts to the engine.

 

That was wrong. Take it apart, put the converter on the trans, put the trans on the engine, then bolt the converter to the flexplate. Your odds of having the converter engaged to the front pump are slim, and you may have bent the flexplate.

 

thank you
Im just trying to learn as much as possible out of this----

Will I feel if the converter is on right in that case? And how would this affect my feeling of pressure between switching gears on my shifter?

 

Bare with me please. My first engine swap. My dad walked me through this.


We manly turned the crankshaft during the process to make sure the converter engaged before went ahead and slid the whole thing into the car. So it doesn't seem like engaging was the problem

 

Bzzt. Wrong answer.

When installing the torque converter onto the transmission, there are 3 distinct steps as the converter goes on. You usually have to play with it to get through all the steps and fully install the converter. Trying to slide the tranny over the converter that's bolted to the flexplate will never line everything up properly. You're trying to line up the input shaft, stator and pump. They don't all line up the same.

As mentioned above, pull the tranny, pull the converter. Reinstall the converter onto the tranny properly then reinstall the tranny with converter onto the engine.

 

I'm sorry if I seem as rough as the namesake I chose to parody. Now, if you didn't get it right, then you create no fluid pressure in the trans, and the shift feel is entirely in the springy lever with the roller working on the rooster comb in the shift input. I don't know the real names. Anyway, If this is the problem, then you may have scuffed a bushing or 2 inside the trans. So now, don't run the engine again until you go through all the labor we described, I know it's a lot of hard work, but it's the only way to get it right. Then you should be able to get the car to move under it's own power.

 

Alright thanks guys. Got some time tonight and tomorrow to do some work on it but I probably wont get anything else done for 2 weeks. Ill be back on here then to update

-Thanks again

 

O and by the way, why does it have to be ten times more difficult to do things the proper way?

 

FIXED!
I was simply missing the bracket that held the shifter cable to the pan. Still needs adjusting but it was close enough that I could drive it around the neighborhood.

Thanks for the help though guys. Engine feels powerful. Spun the tires at ~1800rpm.

 

It seems you did get the converter fully in; good job! but for everyone else, it's better to do it the other way.

 

He got real lucky.

 

May be luck but why would it have worked so many times before?

 

You got lucky getting everything lined up by installing the transmission over the torque converter that was already attached to the flexplate. That's not the normal, proper way to install it. You made installation difficult and got lucky you didn't damage anything in the transmission from a converter misalignment.