th350 trouble

[chevdoug]

OK so I took my truck up to browns today, loaded it up on trailer with no problems. Once we got there we took off up powerline then once we got to the gravel road, up hill next to shooting range, I lost drive??
When we first left I did need to give it a little more gas to get moving. So first added 1qt of fluid still nothing 2'nd nothing, but it had reverse which is strong, so drove it backwards to the camp area. there we added a 3rd qt (from tow rig) still no forward movement.
I could not manually shift to 2nd or 1st because the linkage hits the exhaust pipe. (been meaning to fix)
Now I did have it rebuilt about 12 years ago but since I only wheel it, it maybe has 3000 miles on it but the first 500 miles it was driven on street

Any ideas what to try or look for?? or is it shot?
if it matters it has the 205 t-case

[Brennerbadboy]

first off where did all the trans. fluid go.....leaks?, i had a th 350 in my off road rig first, lost the seal between tranny and 205 it would puke out the 205 vent it was that full ,could drain the 205 and half fill a 5gal. buckett

[Jonny tsunami]

If it was slipping, your tranny may be done. I had one start slipping when in reverse and it just steadily got worse till it was gone. I would see if you can get into first and second and see what that dose, and check what pat said too.

[cousinmike]

If I remember right reverse and low 1 uses the same clutch pack, so if you can get it in low 1 and it works fine you know that part is OK. If you can drive it in manual 2nd and the motor compression slows you down you know the band is OK.
If the above mentioned works, I'm guessing it's either a lip seal leaking (engages piston to direct drive clutches) or the stator sealing rings to direct drum (inside portion of pump and beginning of fluid circuit to clutches).

BUT first try what Pat said.

THEN is that is not the problem and manual shifting does not work try putting a quart of 80wt oil in it. The oil is thicker than tranny fluid and will tell you if your seals are bad. This would be my last option as I'm not sure of the long term affects of the oil could have on the transmission. But I have heard of some of my racing friends using the oil to get them through an additional season.

Hope this helps.

[chevdoug]

May 16, 2012 20:58:40 GMT -5 Brennerbadboy said:

first off where did all the trans. fluid go.....leaks?, i had a th 350 in my off road rig first, lost the seal between tranny and 205 it would puke out the 205 vent it was that full ,could drain the 205 and half fill a 5gal. buckett

Good point, it has always had the typical slight leak nothing major though.
which made me think that maybe it had leaked more than I thought. the last couple years when ever I would move it I would need to add any where from just a drop to maybe a 1/4 of a quart of trans fluid to get it to move. Once it got going it was fine, it has a shift kit so shifted somewhat hard, never really noticed any slipping??
how much fluid should the trans hold anyway?
Guess I will have to look at the 205 when I get a chance.

[cousinmike]

The lubricating circuit and torque converter holds about 6 quarts, and there's about 4 quarts in a stock size pan. My new rebuild took 11 quarts because of the larger cooler and external filter.

[chevdoug]

so I got the exhaust out of the way to shift into 2nd &1st but still nothing.
drained the t-case no trans fluid, just gear oil, filled just about 2 liter bottle.
drained the trans and it is black/sort of red(ish) and smells BAD, as far as how much fluid was in it, not sure because the once minor leak developed into a major leak, so what I drained out was about (1-1/2) 2-liter bottles
tryed the 80wt and of course nothing
so now the trans &t-case are sitting on the ground

[chevdoug]

the trans fluid
IMG]http://i721.photobucket.com/albums/ww211/chevdoug/d9a0626c.jpg[/IMG]

this is not pepsi


205

[chevdoug]

I think I am in the market for a replacement, want to have back up and moving for summerbash. is there any versions i should avoid or what to look for???
I have exchanged a couple of e-mails on this one
portland.craigslist.org/mlt/pts/3061338180.html

[popeye]

why did you use 10-30 in your trans? lol looks like you might need new clutches. i know there are several guys on here that have rebuilt th350's and from them talking they are pretty easy(i dont know never done it) but from the talk i hear a turbo 400 k case is the best, i dont know im a ford guy and definatly not a tran's guy

[Rock Dawg]

Jun 11, 2012 11:31:07 GMT -5 chevdoug said:

I think I am in the market for a replacement, want to have back up and moving for summerbash. is there any versions i should avoid or what to look for???
I have exchanged a couple of e-mails on this one
portland.craigslist.org/mlt/pts/3061338180.html

This is a great price! I'll send cousinmike an e-mail and see if he can post up any thing to look for when looking at this.

[cousinmike]

Never know what you get with a used tranny. I have a hard time thinking that the clutches are totally the problem as I think all four packs would have to be fried for nothing to work. I am guessing that some of the clutches are fried though from the color of your fluid. I am also going to guess that it's either the pump or torque converter that's keeping it from moving. Look at my build thread and see all the parts that I put in my tranny when I did it. That should give you a good idea of what should be put into this tranny for a good build.

If you pick up a used tranny, pull the pan and make sure it's clean. Also, have a tranny shop flush the torque converter if your going to use a used one. They hold quite a bit of fluid and if there's contaminants it will circulate through the tranny.

Let us know what you find. I'm not a tranny expert, but learned quite a bit after rebuilding mine last winter.

[leadfoot]

I have a good th-350.

[chevdoug]

Just an update, got the th350 from leadfoot, got it installed and filled full of fluid and it moves on its own again!!!
looks like I will make it to summer bash after all