Constant 2004R issues.

[Mr.Spool]

Here’s an update on my erratic 2004R

Towed it to a transmission shop to have them drop the pan and VB and look at the throttle valve plunger to see it it’s stuck or whatever and to do a pressure test.

“We’ve got the pan down. Lots of debris. No need to go further. It needs to be rebuilt.”

I was nearby and dropped in unannounced. I looked in the pan. Pan and remaining fluid looked clean except for one piece of something. “That’s clutch material. Trans is wasted.” I grabbed the piece and told them to put the pan back on. Go no further. I will pick up.

That piece of “clutch material”??? This sure looks like a piece of gasket!!

People wonder why I PTSD about repair shops…..

Told ya

 

[Mr.Spool]

I spoke to Dave whenever your ready to send it

 

[dynoman]

Here’s an update on my erratic 2004R

Towed it to a transmission shop to have them drop the pan and VB and look at the throttle valve plunger to see it it’s stuck or whatever and to do a pressure test.

“We’ve got the pan down. Lots of debris. No need to go further. It needs to be rebuilt.”

I was nearby and dropped in unannounced. I looked in the pan. Pan and remaining fluid looked clean except for one piece of something. “That’s clutch material. Trans is wasted.” I grabbed the piece and told them to put the pan back on. Go no further. I will pick up.

That piece of “clutch material”??? This sure looks like a piece of gasket!!

People wonder why I PTSD about repair shops…..

Have Dave Husek rebuild it and it WILL be better than new !! I have Dave's Trans in my car and it handles plenty of power with no problems .

 

[conn84gn]

Dave did mine couple years ago. I took the tranny down to him (I live in Connecticut).
He took it apart While I was there and expend what he was going to do to fix it.
Turned my 84 BQ into a BR also Had it ready in less than a week.
After I got in back in the car, he spent the time on the phone Setting it up and break in.
When I had questions, he answered them.

 

[Bromine]

About 10 yrs ago I bought a built 2004R from one of the well known transmission gods (will remain nameless) because I didn’t want to blow my orig transmission up. The transmission he sold me lasted 50 miles. 1-2 shift and R is all it had. He walked me though steps to try and fix it. He ended up sending me a replacement unit after a wait which lasted months.

Unit #2: ..2015 or so…. There is an intermittent buzzing in Park with this replacement unit. I had to change out the governor to get the transmission to work correctly. I believe I had to take the one out of my stock unit.

Unit 2 today: ,2,000 miles later and haven’t been down the 1/4mi yet. Trans has 1-2 and starts off in 2 unless I go to N at a stop. Fluid looks new. TV adj correctly.

It’s been 10 yrs so getting on the phone with this guy is useless. …IF you can get him on the phone. It was tough 10 yrs ago.

I’m at my wits end at this point.

I had Dave Husek build mine just 4 weeks ago and wow he is awesome would recommend him to anyone. He walks you through everything and the tranny is strong.

 

[HighMileage]

Ok,I think I’m making headway in my research. According to the builder,the line pressure should be 100psi in PNO and D “no TV”. Minimum is 70psi. I’ve got 180psi.

In R it’s supposed to be 175psi. I’ve got 270psi.

 

[Mike T]

I'm not going to be able to give you much in depth advice but I went through something similar years ago. I bought a (never installed) rebuild performance transmission from a board member. It had sat on a shelf for several years before I received it.

I installed it, went through the TV adjustments and break in produce per the original builders instructions. Couldn't get it to shift right, was short shifting and extremely soft. Sometimes erratic kinda like yours.
Builder suspected a stuck throttle valve which he said was common on one that sets. I tried manually working the valve by giving the cable a dozen or so pulls and a few quick releases trying to free up the valve.
It helped but didn't fix it. Pulled the pan a removed the throttle valve assembly and cleaned out a very small amount of rusty looking buildup.

It was better but still not right. I made the mistake of continuing to drive it hoping it would straighten out. Within 100 miles the fluid was darker than it should be and I had debris in the pan.

I decided to pull the valve body and inspect it thoroughly. Every valve in it worked smoothly except for the "T.V modulator upshift valve". It was stuck from setting. It's located on the front of the valve body in the 3rd bore over from the throttle valve. I put the valve body back in and the transmission shifted perfect.

In the back of my mind I knew that the clutches were hurt from driving it while things weren't right.
I ended up pulling it and putting direct clutches in it after a few thousand miles.

This all could have been avoided had I known how simple the real problem actually was.

So with my limited experience it kinda sounds like your throttle valve may be stuck in a high throttle position causing the elevated pressures?

Am I understanding correctly that you're discussing this with the builder again?

 

[HighMileage]

I'm not going to be able to give you much in depth advice but I went through something similar years ago. I bought a (never installed) rebuild performance transmission from a board member. It had sat on a shelf for several years before I received it.

I installed it, went through the TV adjustments and break in produce per the original builders instructions. Couldn't get it to shift right, was short shifting and extremely soft. Sometimes erratic kinda like yours.
Builder suspected a stuck throttle valve which he said was common on one that sets. I tried manually working the valve by giving the cable a dozen or so pulls and a few quick releases trying to free up the valve.
It helped but didn't fix it. Pulled the pan a removed the throttle valve assembly and cleaned out a very small amount of rusty looking buildup.

It was better but still not right. I made the mistake of continuing to drive it hoping it would straighten out. Within 100 miles the fluid was darker than it should be and I had debris in the pan.

I decided to pull the valve body and inspect it thoroughly. Every valve in it worked smoothly except for the "T.V modulator upshift valve". It was stuck from setting. It's located on the front of the valve body in the 3rd bore over from the throttle valve. I put the valve body back in and the transmission shifted perfect.

In the back of my mind I knew that the clutches were hurt from driving it while things weren't right.
I ended up pulling it and putting direct clutches in it after a few thousand miles.

This all could have been avoided had I known how simple the real problem actually was.

So with my limited experience it kinda sounds like your throttle valve may be stuck in a high throttle position causing the elevated pressures?

Am I understanding correctly that you're discussing this with the builder again?

Thanks for the reply. Did you adjust your cable using a line pressure gauge?

I gave my cable a few flicks and the pressure dropped to normal. It was 100psi too high in P. Took a test drive.

It didn’t take long for erratic behavior. Around the block and I went back home. Checked pressure…. 275psi. I tried to flick the cable but apparently the plunger is stuck in. Flicking didn’t matter. Shut car off…

Let sit for 45min in 30 degrees. Checked pressure again. Normal. It cooled off just enough to release the plunger..

I can’t see how anyone can adjust these things without a line pressure gauge.

 

[Mike T]

Transmission has been in the car and working well for 10 or 12 years now so I honestly can't remember how I set the cable. At one point this particular builder put dykem on the throttle valve with a scribe mark that aligned with a corresponding spot on the valve body. The pan has to be off with this method. The idea was to precisely align the throttle valve with a port opening in the valve body at WOT.

Another pan off method required using a dial caliper to determine the proper alignment based on length of the throttle valve vs the port location in the valve body.

I still have a piece of tape marking the proper cable adjustment at the throttle body. There's other less involved methods that are described on this site that doesn't require the pan to be off.



Also to be clear ultimately my problem was a combination of the actual "throttle valve " and the " throttle valve modulator upshift valve". Two separate valves

 

[HighMileage]

Transmission has been in the car and working well for 10 or 12 years now so I honestly can't remember how I set the cable. At one point this particular builder put dykem on the throttle valve with a scribe mark that aligned with a corresponding spot on the valve body. The pan has to be off with this method. The idea was to precisely align the throttle valve with a port opening in the valve body at WOT.

Another pan off method required using a dial caliper to determine the proper alignment based on length of the throttle valve vs the port location in the valve body.

I still have a piece of tape marking the proper cable adjustment at the throttle body. There's other less involved methods that are described on this site that doesn't require the pan to be off.



Also to be clear ultimately my problem was a combination of the actual "throttle valve " and the " throttle valve modulator upshift valve". Two separate valves

It’s sounding like I have the identical problem. Yes I did call the builder days ago but with the holiday I haven’t Ben able to again. He said to take the transmission out and send it to him. Well,let’s try to avoid that for now.

One more try with proper line pressure tomorrow and if it starts acting wacky I’m gonna drop the pan and probably do exactly what you did.

 

[Chuck Leeper]

 

[Mike T]

My problem didn't cause excessive and sporadic high pressure like you're seeing.

This would be really simple to try, before you drive the car today or even move the gear selector see if the pressure in park rises and falls in the specified range by pulling the cable.

That would at least tell you if the throttle valve is working properly and moving freely

 

[turbocamino1]

It’s sounding like I have the identical problem. Yes I did call the builder days ago but with the holiday I haven’t Ben able to again. He said to take the transmission out and send it to him. Well,let’s try to avoid that for now.

One more try with proper line pressure tomorrow and if it starts acting wacky I’m gonna drop the pan and probably do exactly what you did.

I respect the fact you work to remedy the issues you are having especially if its a money thing. But some jobs may be left to the guys that have made this their life's work. To get a 200-4R as good as it can get requires a fair amount of proprietary package development and calibration knowledge is a huge part of the equation.

 

[HighMileage]

My problem didn't cause excessive and sporadic high pressure like you're seeing.

This would be really simple to try, before you drive the car today or even move the gear selector see if the pressure in park rises and falls in the specified range by pulling the cable.

That would at least tell you if the throttle valve is working properly and moving freely

I flicked it and it went to normal pressures. Yes,if I pull on the tip of the cable there is a rise in pressure.

The pressure is now at the builders recommendation and rises with advance of throttle.

Test drive time again after I cable-tie the 6ft tester hose under the car to the crossmember.

 

[HighMileage]

I flicked it and it went to normal pressures. Yes,if I pull on the tip of the cable there is a rise in pressure.

The pressure is now at the builders recommendation and rises with advance of throttle.

Test drive time again after I cable-tie the 6ft tester hose under the car to the crossmember.

I just don’t want to pull this transmission out of the car and ship it off to the builder if it’s something I can easily diagnose and fix myself.

I recently brought the car to a local transmission shop to drop the pan and pressure test it as well as adjust the TV and diagnose its issues.

They dropped the pan. “Lots of debris in the pan. It needs to be rebuilt!” I showed up unannounced. They brought me to the recently dropped pan. “Look…a big piece of clutch material”. The pan was clean except for that piece.

I took the piece home and looked at it under a magnifying glass then took the piece to two shops where the owners I’ve known for decades.

Both shop owners and myself verified that the “clutch material” piece is a piece of GASKET from the pan.

I told them to put the pan back up and I towed it back home.

I’m one of those guys who has spent tens of thousands on this car over 15 yrs. . Half of it was just getting ripped off.

Ok,time for test drive…

 

[Mike T]

Reread your original post. Sounds like the current transmission was a replacement for another rebuilt transmission that was having issues.

The current transmission was built by a well known reputable builder and had an issue with the governor. You replaced the governor per the builder. You've put 2000k easy miles on it in 10 years. Was the transmission working as it should during this time? Did the current problem occur after a prolonged period of setting?

 

[SCOOBY DOO]

Personally, I'd pull it and hand it to Mr Spool or Husek, but that's just me. And have them over build it for your HP goal.

 

[HighMileage]

Reread your original post. Sounds like the current transmission was a replacement for another rebuilt transmission that was having issues.

The current transmission was built by a well known reputable builder and had an issue with the governor. You replaced the governor per the builder. You've put 2000k easy miles on it in 10 years. Was the transmission working as it should during this time? Did the current problem occur after a prolonged period of setting?

This is the replacement for the original replacement which wasn’t right when I got it.

My stock unit is in the corner of my garage. I didn’t want to hand it over to save $$ on a core. Stock unit worked perfectly.

The present transmission has been fine for 10 yrs and 2,000-2,500 miles. This car doesn’t sit for more than a few months. I’ll take it out on the hiway then run errands with it once a month.

This issue started being intermittent. It was gone 3 weeks or so ago and I put 100 miles on in a day. Now it’s back with a vengeance.

 

[Mike T]

I had been watching this thread for a little while before responding. In fact hadn't posted here in quite soom time.

Everyone is giving good advice but what surprised me is how different things are from 10 years ago.
When I had problems similar to the OP situation several guys responded with "check this" or "check that".

Maybe the builders and the self taught guys don't post much anymore.

I had phone conversations with 2 builders on here that collectively helped me fix the problem.

I was very frustrated and disappointed with my transmission and was just before pulling it out to ship it off. One of the builders said to me "Let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater". He was right and had I been just a little more patient and methodical I could have saved myself a lot of time and aggregation.

I understand it could be a no win situation for a builder trying to help out long distance. Especially when relying on someone else's eyes and ears to relay information.

It's a shame that the site has lost so many pictures and post from back when so many experts were contributing

 

[HighMileage]

I had been watching this thread for a little while before responding. In fact hadn't posted here in quite soom time.

Everyone is giving good advice but what surprised me is how different things are from 10 years ago.
When I had problems similar to the OP situation several guys responded with "check this" or "check that".

Maybe the builders and the self taught guys don't post much anymore.

I had phone conversations with 2 builders on here that collectively helped me fix the problem.

I was very frustrated and disappointed with my transmission and was just before pulling it out to ship it off. One of the builders said to me "Let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater". He was right and had I been just a little more patient and methodical I could have saved myself a lot of time and aggregation.

I understand it could be a no win situation for a builder trying to help out long distance. Especially when relying on someone else's eyes and ears to relay information.

It's a shame that the site has lost so many pictures and post from back when so many experts were contributing

I remember back then as well.

Ok,test drive complete. 3 mile drive from stoplight to stoplight to get to the hiway. Everything seems good.

All gears and lockup are there. 65-70mph.. Set Cruise. It doesn’t work. Wtf. Cruise light is on but no Cruise. Hmm.

Exit ramp…

Red light at exit ramp. Downshifts are uneventful. Back on the hiway back home. Mashed on it a bit on the entrance ramp. Let off the gas…. No 4th! wtf

Exited the hiway for home. Relight. Now I only have 1st gear. Limp home in 1st…

Threw the gauge on in my driveway. 100psi too high again. Back it in garage. Pan has to come off…