Hello, I have an 85 t/a, automatic.
Finally got to testing the trans..on her maiden voyage I discovered it won't shift from first. I have reverse, park, neutral and first. First runs STRONG.
I was told by a previous owner that his kid couldn't keep his foot out of it and fragged two tranny's, this was a newer one.
Car has 36k original miles.

I pulled the trans pan, fluid was nice and didn't smell burned, tho there was a smallish amount of black media in the bottom. Nothing on the magnet.
The governer gear wasn't stripped..but didn't move at all, in any direction. 3 of the pistons on the valve body were seized, as in wouldn't move even with a hammer and chisel. Gear 1 was open and wouldn't close, the spring was broken, and what looks like a guide part of the valve body over the open piston was broken off, and what looks like a pump (bottom of the VB, pass side with 3 bolts. Inside the cap was a spring, the other side went to the plate above the valve body) had a broken spring.

I'm new-ish to transmissions, so I'm not sure if repairing/replacing the broken parts would fix the problem, of if I'm better off getting another used transmission. On a **** broke budget..so spending outrageous monies for a high end trans isn't an option.
Thanks

 

Also while on her maiden voyage the other day, the TV cable came unhooked, I drove it for like 3 miles unknowingly like that. My TV cable bracket was busted, and I converted to carb, so I had to cut the cable, hook to throttle linkage, pull the cable right and put a cable stop on it.
Back to, am I left with needing another trans?
Or will getting a new valve body, pump, governer, TV cable and a bracket for it work?

 

I would personally just get a different trans. with all the broken stuff you found just from a basic check, I can only imagine what else might be wrong. you could replace all those things but I imagine that wont be cheap, and if it has deeper problems you would just be wasting all that money and still have to replace it anyway.