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I am running a th350 that sat for 4-5 years in a shed (converter/yoke installed). The dipstick tube was open, but there was fluid in there so while there was debris in there nothing got too deep into the trans. There was signs that some dirt dobbers had tried building in the cooler lines and the vent (did my best to clean these out).
Fast forward to now. I filled the trans up and checked the fluid with it running. Car runs hard and it shifts normally. Twice now however it has failed to engage gears after being warmed up/shut off/then restarted. I have had to rev the motor up a bit in drive for it to engage a gear, after that the trans seems to function normally. (Both times this has happened have been after taking the car for a ride, coming home and shutting it off in the driveway then a few minutes later hoping in to put it in the garage).
The trans does have a few leaks that I am taking care of right now, the output shaft seal is leaking (not real shocking since it sat for so long), the speedo bullet has a leak around the o-ring, and the pan gasket is also leaking a bit. I pulled the pan/filter/bullet/output seal last night and am plan to replace. I did notice a decent amount of debris in the pan, but given the circumstances it is not a surprise. The fluid did not smell burned at all and besides the debris looked perfect (then again it only has 10-15 miles on it).
My only ideas at this point are:
1- The trans is simply getting low on fluid between warming up and loosing fluid. Not sure if this really makes sense, but in my head it seems like reving it up a bit is getting enough fluid sucked in to engage the trans.
2- The vent tube is clogged resulting in these leaks and as the trans becomes hotter the pressure does not allow the pickup to get fluid??? (Wild guess)
3- The trans is simply shot and I should throw it off a bridge?
Cliffnotes: After warming up th350 requires a little rev in "3rd/drive" to engage, after that point the trans functions normally.
Fast forward to now. I filled the trans up and checked the fluid with it running. Car runs hard and it shifts normally. Twice now however it has failed to engage gears after being warmed up/shut off/then restarted. I have had to rev the motor up a bit in drive for it to engage a gear, after that the trans seems to function normally. (Both times this has happened have been after taking the car for a ride, coming home and shutting it off in the driveway then a few minutes later hoping in to put it in the garage).
The trans does have a few leaks that I am taking care of right now, the output shaft seal is leaking (not real shocking since it sat for so long), the speedo bullet has a leak around the o-ring, and the pan gasket is also leaking a bit. I pulled the pan/filter/bullet/output seal last night and am plan to replace. I did notice a decent amount of debris in the pan, but given the circumstances it is not a surprise. The fluid did not smell burned at all and besides the debris looked perfect (then again it only has 10-15 miles on it).
My only ideas at this point are:
1- The trans is simply getting low on fluid between warming up and loosing fluid. Not sure if this really makes sense, but in my head it seems like reving it up a bit is getting enough fluid sucked in to engage the trans.
2- The vent tube is clogged resulting in these leaks and as the trans becomes hotter the pressure does not allow the pickup to get fluid??? (Wild guess)
3- The trans is simply shot and I should throw it off a bridge?
Cliffnotes: After warming up th350 requires a little rev in "3rd/drive" to engage, after that point the trans functions normally.
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