86FireBird305

I was driving to work on wed. and as im driving the car would stay in 1st gear....i would let go of the throttle and it would go into neutral but once i hit the gas it just free revs up till about 3500 RPMs and then catches, bring me up til about 40-45 mph and then redline at 4500 and then this cycle just continues...

I still got it into my work at the STS in manville where it is still sitting until i figure out the problem...i have to do something quick because i dont have another car

Its my 86 firebird with the TH-700R4 auto transmission....

also i heard something about a "vacuum solenoid or module" thats under the car and outside the trans pan...could that be my issue?

any suggestions would be great thanks

danandamy

The 700r4 doesn't have a vacume controlled modulator valve like th350 and th400's. Assuming this happened out of the blue, and no recent work has been done to change things, it honestly doesn't sound good. I'm betting on tranny going out. Sorry, wish I could offer more, good luck.

lonman89

ya it could be your tranny goin out,but check your tranny fluid when its low sometimes it will not **** and act like its in neutral,my iroc did that when i first got it road worthy and it was low on fluid and it did that

87zjeff

iTrader: (4)

sounds like a toast band. might get lucky and it be low on fluid, but that usually just delays the shift till it burns up the band.

86FireBird305

ya the fluid level is fine...how hard is it to change one of these bands? and is there a part number for it

87zjeff

iTrader: (4)

to change the band requires pulling the transmission and opening it up. at that point, you might as well rebuild it.

as far as difficulty to rebuild one, i don't consider it hard. then again, i work at a parts place where we sell new, reman and used parts. i have done teardown, clean-up, and reman(a little of all of it....lol). i have tore down quite a few 700's and built a couple for my car and a couple of friends.

someone who hasn't even looked at a transmission might consider it fairly difficult.

86FireBird305

do u guys think it it could be a bad torque converter....if so how do u test for that?

gr8apmech

if it won't shift from 1-2,
1. Make sure your TV cable is adjusted properly. under the hood, push the adjuster tab in with one hand and push the cable towards the firewall all the way...get in and floor the throttle (engine off) and you will hear it adjust itself...this get's you close. now drive it...if it stackshifts-push adjuster and move cable 1/16th aft till you get a good shift. don't go more than about 1/8th.
2. pull the govenor out the right side of the trans...look at the gear on the end to make sure it isn't stripped.
3. If that is OK, look at the govenor, inside it, there is a valve that moves when the butterfly weights move...make sure it is moving freely, if not, clean with a good solvent, douse with tranny fluid and put it back in.
4. If this doesn't fix, you can go into the pan and pull the 1-2 accumulator out to make sure the pistons aren't stuck in there.
5. After that...it's either valve body issues with the 1-2 shift valve or something.

I'm not an expert but this is the path i'm on with a 700 right now...

Good luck and let us know how it's going.
Gary

86FireBird305

you may have just saved me alot of money my friend.....

i susspected it was the govenor so i dropped the drive shaft and the crossmember...un bolted and removed the governor housing and i saw little blue plastic pieces...
turns out the gear was completley shattered and not catching at all
now the only replacement part i could find was all the way in newark so i went there and now im gonna re-install everything tommorow morning and cross my fingers and pray to god!



http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l2...9999999999.jpg
(The top is the broken governor and the bottom is the new one im gonna put in....the issue is clear)

Pro Built Automatics

The governor gear in known to do this.

gr8apmech

glad to help!

86FireBird305

put it in today and the car runs like new....

thanks and remind me to buy you a beer if we ever run into each other haha

gr8apmech

Red Rock Pale Ale from Fredericksburg Brewery please!

Mine had a broken band...We changed the valve body and fixed the 1-2 shift issue then she wouldn't go from 3-4...just slipped real bad in 3rd...the anchor for the band at the 2-4 servo broke and caused all kinds of problems. In the process of rebuilding another one to put back in...

Glad yours was an easy fix.

86FireBird305

oooh sry to hear yours wasnt as simple

best of luck to ya