Just got this truck running it's a 53 chevy its got a later 350 with a 700r4 behind it it has a Holley carb and there brackets for the TV cable I noticed the tires were spinning when I started it up thank god it's on stands. I checked to make sure it was in park and it is at the trans (don't have a shifter in the truck yet) I put it in neutral and the tires still spin when started. What could cause this? I can feel the detents for every gear but no matter where I put it it seems to be in gear. The truck hasen't been driven in 5 plus years but the trans was suposed to work when they pulled it out of the van he said he drove the van to his house and pulled the engine and trans for this truck.
Might be broken inside.You can pull the pan and look at the linkage and pawl. There were some GM transmissions made without park, years ago...I was looking at a late 60s class C motorhome that a friend had, it had no P on the quadrant. TH400.
Park is strictly mechanical, should be able to drop the pan to check engagement at the pawl, if it's engaging at all.
Good point, it could be clutch plate drag friction causing the tires to rotate. The vehicle might not be actually in gear.
There spinning pretty quick I just got the engine all together converted to carb. And hei and I had it idled up pretty high the tires were spinning pretty fast
No matter where I put it there spinning. If it had a shifter in it I could put it through the gears wile holding the brakes and see if that would help. I don't want to switch gears under the truck with the tires spinning as fast as they are
Ok I'll drop the pan tomorrow and see if anything seems out of order. I'm not real familiar with the inner workings of a trans anything I should be on the lookout for? I'll Google the pawl and see what it looks like.
The pawl is at the end of the long rod at the back of the trans, the rod is attached to the gear selector at the front, can't miss it. As you "engage" park, the rod pushes the spring loaded pawl and locks in park. Pretty easy to confirm if it's working.
I finally got a chance to pull the pan an no loose parts were in there I didn't get a chance to run it through the gears while looking tho because the 5 quarts of oil I put in Friday decided they would rather be on the floor so I had to clean all that up and looks like a new rear main seal is needed never seen one leak that bad it's weird because the motor sat with oil in for like 4 years it's been in my garage for a year without leaking we drained it about 3 months ago and I filled it up Friday to test fire it. Guess it dried out that fast or maybe tore on startup?
Think I would sort out the tranny then worry about the engine oil leak take one thing at a time makes life so much less stressful.
5 quarts of oil shouldn't leak out the rear main seal if it's not running. If it leaked out then something is wrong with the oil pan.
Bottom left corner of the first pic shows the parking pawl and linkage. The pawl engages the notches on part #594. So all the pieces are steel except for the aluminum case. So hopefully something is just missing or disconnected so you don't need another case.
You should be able to put it in park and turn the driveshaft by hand and hear the parking pawl click into place. Could the gear selector steps, should be PRNOD21 where O is overdrive, so 7 clicks total.
This is possible - I've had this experience with heavy equipment, it had no leakage problems but sat a really long time. When I put it to work it didn't leak initially but after a little while it started raining hydrualic fluid. The seal had totally tore up. Although in the case of an engine rear main seal I haven't seen it that drastic. Plus they only leak when the engine is running. If you just left it for a few days and came back to find the oil on the floor that sounds more like a drain plug or dipstick leak! If the leak is that bad it should be easy to spot. I would clean it all up and put some more oil in it and keep an eye on it. If you don't seee it right away come back after an hour etc..
As far as the oil leak, I would check the trans first for correct operation. Like saltflats said, one problem at a time. If the engine is leaking that bad out the rear main, either the seal is completely missing, fell out or the pan is damaged heavily where the pan lip rest against the seal itself.
Even if there was no rear main seal installed it won't leak 5 quarts out over night. The pan holds 5 quarts and the oil level should be well below the rear main seal so it shouldn't leak out from that point.
could have leaked out when it was running, and didn't get noticed until now? but that would be kind of strange....when I get an engine running, I'm looking underneath often
I've seen several engines where it was assumed that the rear main seal was leaking when it was actually the plug at the rear of the camshaft or an oil galley plug.
Wow I love this place thanks a lot for the diagrams and suggestions. It wasn't really all 5 quarts but it sure as hell made a big mess. It was dripping from the hole in the dust cover or flexplate cover or whatever it's called so I assume it's the rear main but I'm going to get it all cleaned up and remove the cover and see but I want to make sure the trans is useable before I replace the rear main because I don't want to pull and replace the trans more times than necessary. Life has gotten in the way of me actually being able to go mess with it but hopefully after work tomorrow I can look at it again. Thanks again everyone hopefully I can get this figured out soon enough