Im chasing a few problems with my 84 Trans Am, one being the transmission. The fluid was quite low when i got it so i changed the fluid and filter, and took it down the road but all i could get was 1st and reverse, i tried shifting it manually and it made no difference.

I was told it could be the governor so ive got a new one of them but not fitted, ive also got a new TV cable to fit, ive adjusted the current cable as per the instructions on here.

Weird thing is i had the car up on stands so i decided to try it that way and i got all the gears ?!? i put it in D and put my foot down gently and i felt it shift, gave it more gas and felt it shift again and i even clicked it into overdrive and that worked too.

But ive just had the car down the road again after doing something to the carburetor and it just screamed down the road in 1st again.

 

Sounds like a bad governor (gear) is the place to start. Although I can't think of any reason it would work on jack stands and not on the road. The load on the gov is the same either way I should think? Easy to check though - pop off the cap and it just pulls out.

Rick

 

Either that, or it's slipping severely...there's no load on the transmission while it's on stands...

 

That's what I'm afraid of. So when the governor goes you only get 1st and reverse. This is what I thought it was but I just happened to have it on stands and tried it and it worked. So I sort of dismissed the governor for now

It seems to shift smoothly on stands too.

Worth going back to the governor then ?

 

Put it back on stands...carefully apply the emergency brake, and see if it's slipping?

 

I'm not sure what you mean to see if the trans is slipping by applying the handbrake mate? While I'm 'driving' it on the stands slowly put the handbrake on. What should happen ?

 

In theory it will do the same as it does on the street, stay in first.

 

Ah right, got you.

 

That's what I had in mind...

 

Well I had to swap out the radiator today as the old one bit the dust.

When disconnecting the trans cooler pipes from the radiator there was no trans fluid at all. Not even a drip. I even held the rad flat after getting it out and none came from the rad either.

That can't be good can it ?

 

When I swapped trans recently I didn't get much. Some, but not much. That's after driving it into the shop an hour prior. I imagine if is sat for a while it would probably mostly drain back to the trans. You can start it with the lines directed to a bucket and see if she pumps.

GD

 

Just when I changed rads on my 87 a while ago I had drips of trans fluid when I undone the pipes and that was sat in the garage.

On this 84 I had just drove the car out of the garage and turned it around so the coolant would drain out of the garage so it only been running maybe 20 minutes before I started disconnecting stuff.

I guess I could start it up briefly to see if anything comes out of the pipes as you say