why does my transmission do this?

[novaderrik]

i haven't actually driven my car regularly for about 5 years. when i parked it, the trans worked fine- went into gear right away, shifted thru all gears, torque converter locked up when it was supposed to. it just leaked out of the front seal from time to time when it was parked, but never while it was running.

2 summers ago, i moved across the state. drove the car onto the trailer to haul it here. took it for a drive around the block, and it went thru all gears. shifts were a bit soft, but this trans is out of a full size Olds of some sort and has always done that. it's just a temp trans until i can get the original one rebuilt..

last summer, i needed to move it out of the garage so i could clean under it, and it took forever to go into a forward gear after adding like 3 quarts of atf to replace the stuff that had leaked out of the front seal while it sat. a quick drive around the block and it wouldn't shift past 2nd gear. went right into reverse immediately. i put it back in it's spot and left it there until last weekend.

when i started it up, it was about a quart low of atf- i topped it off. it wouldn't go into any gear. so i dropped the pan and found some black stuff on the bottom of the pan and all over the filter. it wasn't gritty, it was just like black oil. a new filter and fresh atf, and it goes immediately into reverse but never goes into any forward gear no matter how long you give it.. i was really hoping that the fluid/filter swap would work good enough to drive my first born child home from the hospital in it sometime in the next couple of weeks.. oh well, the kid comes home in a 2010 Impala, i guess..

so, what's going on here? it can't be anything mechanical from just sitting, can it? something hung up in the pump or valve body, perhaps? also, why does it drip atf out of the front seal when it's parked? it will suck all the atf out of the pan if left long enough. it has never leaked a drop while running, and sometimes it will sit for weeks without leaking then one day there will be a quart of atf in the drip pan i keep under it...

 

[novaderrik]

no one knows enough about the operation of a 200-4r transmission to help diagnose this?

 

[Douglee]

Assuming you know the correct hot check, level ground thing, where does the fluid sit on the stick? Have you tried adding more? Reading your post, you may have drained the converter and it will take more than you believe to get it moving. Have read similar stories before and more fluid was the fix more times than not considering the story. Please keep us updated on progress. Oh, and I hope you used a couple of rubber O-rings on the filter neck instead of that crappy seal in the filter kit.

 

[novaderrik]

been a busy few weeks for me since i posted this question, what with having my baby girl being born and trying to get acclimated to that. i found out the day after this post that they were going to induce labor the next wednesday, so this fell to the back burner. i didn't get to bring her home in Regal style, but that's ok she can ride in it later..

someone sent me a PM about this, but i read it when i was tired and deleted it without thinking.

local people have told me to dump a bottle of Lucas transmission goop in it and that will fix everything, but that seems too simple...

 

[turbofrank]

Trust me save yourself grieve and time install correct built trans.

 

[novaderrik]

That's the long term plan, but it's not in the cards right now. The car moved under it's own power last summer, then it sat over the winter and won't go into any forward gear.. it can't be anything majorly mechanical..

 

[77 cruiser]

It's likely all the lip seals in the trans are hard & leaking. Give the Lucas stuff a try it can't hurt, well maybe it could but in this situation I doubt it.
Does the level on the stick lower when you start it?

 

[novaderrik]

The level in the stick acts like any other auto trans: way overfull with engine off, goes down to just under the full line when the engine is running..

 

[novaderrik]

put the Lucas in it a couple of weeks ago, no immediate improvement other than going into gear from time to time with the selector in L1.. let it sit until today, worked same as a couple of weeks ago, but actually popped into gear in "D" a couple of times today. it took 15-20 seconds for it to go into gear, but it went into gear... sometimes... checked fluid, was a couple of quarts low somehow... topped it off- right at the "full" mark with everything up to temp, now it only goes into reverse. let it sit in "D" for about 10 minutes and it didn't even try to go.. flipped down to all the lower ranges, and noticed that it makes a really low almost imperceptible growl and a slight vibration thru the column shifter immediately when put into "1" or "2" range, so i know it's doing something..

 

[we4Mateo]

It's going to need to come out for diagnosis/repair. Unfortunately.

Sent from my HTC6535LVW using Tapatalk

 

[Sinister CO]

Yep, transmissions are full of seals and clutches and sitting around for years without use can take its toll. I know I've learned the hard way that the longer cars sit around unused, the more problems you can have.

 

[novaderrik]

the car sat for 13 years before i got it and the original trans worked fine with nice crisp shifts... right up until it blew the rear sprag at the track a year after i started driving it..
this trans sat for a couple of years then came back to life... then it sat for a year and only goes into reverse..