I need help. The flywheel was replaced in my beast, only now I have a whole new issue. Namely, she refuses to shift into 3rd. Engine is running fine, but she simply will not make that transition into gear. It was behaving before the tranny came out to do the flywheel, and I wonder is it possible the shop screwed something up or didn't adjust something during the reinstall?

I have *GOT* to get this sorted, since this thing is my only set of wheels, and I've got less than 2 weeks before I have to go out of town on business. Suggestions? Ideas? Anything?

 

Might help if we knew which engine and transmission you have.

 

302 ci V8, AOD tranny.

EDIT* this morning, tried to drive her just around my neigbourhood and she won't even grab any gear. I can't understand how just dropping the tranny could give me all these problems, unless something wasn't installed correctly.

 

well, let's start with an easy question - got enough fluid in there?

How's the fluid look? Blood red, oil change black/brown, somewhere in between?

 

Fluid, check. Colour, brownish-pink... like medium rare steak.

EDIT* Also, poked my head under the truck. There's a linkage with a rubber boot on it... think it's the TV cable. It's pointing back towards the rear of the truck. There's spring tension on it, if you push the lever forward (counter-clockwise) and release it, it goes back to the rear. My Haynes manual said that if the TV cable needed adjusting, you would have to have someone rotate CLOCKWISE and hold it, or use springs to pull it back towards the rear of the truck. Could this be the source of my problems?

 

Automatic transmissions are a bit out of my area of expertise - meaning only that I haven't had to work on one yet.

If the transmission was working fine before the flywheel replacement, then it seems highly probable that something wasn't put back quite right or was damaged during the work. Hopefully your Haynes book has some checks to do as far as the throttle valve cable, kickdown linkage, etc. But I suggest you're probably going to be talking with the shop again.

 

Take it back to the shop and tell them to fix it.

 

I've called them, and have gone round and round with them. Their position is that because the fluid was in lousy shape when it came in, and that it was just a matter of time before the tranny ate itself.

My Haynes manual was of little help. I'm just so hacked off I can't think straight.

 

Sounds like a typical shop answer. Bad fluid won't cause a transmission to kill itself overnight. Poor performance/harsh shifting/delayed shifting, ect will appear long before a transmission finally dies. Short of jamming it into park at 70mph, trannys don't die instantly.

Haul it back to the shop and leave it there until it gets fixed. It worked fine, they "fixed" it, now it doesn't work. Doesn't take a genius to figure they messed something up on re-assembly. Don't bother yakking with some techie(you'll just get more run-around about how it must have been something you did), go right to the manager and explain the situation. Unless the manager is a total douchebag, he'll help you out. But if not, make sure you tell him that you will never go there again, and you'll make sure none of your friends or relatives do either.

 

Well... there's a faint glimmer of hope. I reset the TV cable and adjusted it. I've regained reverse, first, and second. She's still refusing to make that final shift into third. Could that be TV cable related, or has something let go internally?