New 700r4 won't go into 4th

Hey guys,

I just finished up replacing the leaking cast iron powerglide in my 58 Chevy with a 700r4. The trans I picked up off of craigslist. Some younger guy has bought it new a few years ago for a 84 Camaro build. But then knocked up his GF and had a kid and decided to part out the car to take care of them. The transmission was built by monster transmissions which i know has a hit n miss reputation from what i read online. It had all the fancy parts in it, 2,500-2,800 rpm converter, and billet servo on it. I do have the paperwork/receipts available for it as well.

He said it the car was started up a few times in the air & garage but was never actually ran on the road. He was putting a turbo kit on it and could never get the blow through carb to work right to drive the car. The trans was super clean except for a pan gasket gooped up with ultra copper rtv.

I dropped the pan and it had a decent amount of clutch material in it. The magnets in the pan didn't really have anything on them though and there were only two specs of shiny metal. The fluid had smelt good when i looked at it. I put a new filter and gasket it from auto zone. I put fresh fluid in from wally world.

The 348 it's bolted too has a edelbrock performer RPM intake, new poly street demon carb, and a tv cable bracket from demon for that carb. The tv cable is brand new from the gm dealership. The cable was adjusted by pushing it all the way back and then pulling the carb linkage all the way out.

Other than 4th gear the trans seems great. No slipping, no unusual noises, and it's a night and day difference acceleration wise from the power glide. It also seems to shift at the right rpm's as well. Actually it shifts better than the overdrives in my old man's 37 and 55.

I have not had a chance to put a pressure gauge on it. That's up by the old mans from when we putt the 200r4 into his 55.

Any ideas? I was going to give monster a call on Monday to see what they think.

Thanks,

Scott

 

You have a lock up converter? If you do and dont have a lockup switch it feels like it doesnt go into 4th.

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You can also check the governer. Located at rear of Trans under sheet metal cover take a punch and hammer knock it off some fluid will come out. Valve should move freely with wieght movement.

 

I just went through a long process of getting my 700R4 to shift into fourth gear. TV cable adjustment is critical and it must be correct in both geometry and adjustment or your trans will have a very short life. One of the things that a guy on here had me try, was to put the car up on jack stands and disconnect the TV cable. Then carefully run it up through the gears. This will tell the trans to shift at it's earliest points. I also read that sometimes getting a forth gear shift for the first time can sometimes be difficult and you might have to attempt manual manual shifts at very high rpms to get it to go the first time, sticky valves in the valve body. That was actually what caused mine not to shift into forth. There was oxidation in some of the bores that caused the sticking issue. I got another valve body of another cooked trans and cleaned it up, transferred the balls and such from my original unit, and it has worked great since. I used brake cleaner and air to clean the valve body, don't wipe it with a cotton or paper towel, lint will cause a valve to stick.

Good luck, I love my overdrive now.

 

Ummmm.... Your not going fast enough???..

 

TV cable adjustment ?

 

If you seen clutch material in the pan that don't sound good. Try wile it on the jack stands have some one run it up to speed and with a big bar and a block of wood pry the servo cover in and see if it goes into 4th then if it does then it has to be something in the band apply if no 4th then I would guess the 3 4 clutches are smoked.

 

this is what keeps me away from these trannies...

 

For sure I wish I didn't know how to spell automatic.

 

That's my question..... ^^^^^

Nuthin like quality fluid and filter parts....

I bet the guy put it in his Camaro, didn't adjust the TV cable right, used his old converter, burned it up, fought with the tranny company, and had a good romp in the sack with his girl to get rid of some frustration.... Yellin Monster tranny until he knocked her up, then parted out the car.....LoL

 

http://purplesagetradingpost.com/sumner/techinfo/700R4p1.html

 

One way to check to see if it is indeed going into 4th is to run it up to about 50mph, let off the gas, then be sure no one is behind you. Drop it from drive to 3rd, then to 2nd then to 1st. With each shift you should feel it grab the next lower gear. I'm having some issues with my 700R4 right now and I thought it wasn't going into 4th either but it is. I can't feel the upshift from 3rd to OD but obviously it's happening. Then you need to figure out if the lockup is happening. Since the ride is not F.I. You will need to install some sort of device to put the tranny into lockup, there are many on the market to do this without a computer and some guys even say that the later 700's will live a long and healthy life without the lockup feature, but if your converter has the clutch, why not use it.

 

Hey Guys,

So i called monster up. Gave them some info and they said that it was highly possible the 3-4 pack was burned up. But then they said usually the trans acts a bit goofy and slips which it didn't seem to be doing. I guess they get two calls a week with the same question and 90% of the time it's somebody who bought it used from somebody that didn't have the TV cable adjusted right and burned that out.

I called a local builder. Told him about the junk in the pan, he said it could just be normal break in stuff. That looks like glitter. He also said if 3-4 clutch pack was burnt out it wouldn't shift into third or it would slip like crazy which it wasn't doing. He said try messing around with it a bit.

Last night i tightened up the TV cable to move my 1-2 shift from 15mph to 23 mph per monsters instructions. I cruised around and manually shifted. It still didn't seem like it was going into 4th going up a gear. But when i went from 4th to 3rd i did feel a gear change a few times.

I racked my brain for a straight run free of cops out by me. Drove over there. Came to a stop and floored it. Went up to 30 MPH, chirped the tires into 2nd, heard it go into 4th, got up to about 85 MPH, and went into 4th. Success!!!! Saw a car coming that looked like a cop car and stomped on the brakes when i was doing 110. I really need to adjust the rears because it was pretty squirrely slowing the big boat down from that fast.

Anyways attached are pictures from the first time I dropped the pan before I put it in the car. Whatever the junk was in the pan, is slightly magnetic as you can see it trailing from the magnets. The large chunk was a piece of loctite or something. It was really thin and curled up.

Well I need to wire up the converter and order up a water pump as that was singing when i got home. It made some noise the first time i fired it up this year and then was quiet. I was hoping all was well but i guess not.

Thanks,

Scott

 

That dont look real good for a fresh rebuild. But who the hell gooped up that pan gasket?

 

700r4 is great Trans if you set it up properly and keep the fluid changed,got 175k out of my last one by keeping it serviced. Check out Bowtie Overdrives website for info on setting up TV. cable,critical to the trans.

 

I think the 700r4 is an excellent trans. A lot of it's bad rap is from guys who either don't hook up the TV cable, don't adjust the TV cable correctly, or think that it's a kick down cable.

The adjustment of the TV cable is the key. You can't beat the excellent 1st gear ratio, and the final drive ratio. I also highly recommend utilizing the lock-up feature for even better fuel mileage.

 

Yeah but a few people said it doesn't look horrible either.

The guy i bought it from said monster gooped it up. I think he was full of crap. Who uses ultra copper on a oil pan, let alone a trans shop?

 

FLAT'N'LOW is absolutely correct.

I had an aquaintance here in the '90s. Guy prided himself with his 'ASE degree', used it instead of logic.
He had no less than 4 'O.D. problems' with the dreaded 700 R4. One customer had a van, the expert had the tranny out 6 times. Finally sent the van out to a GM schooled shop owner, the TV cable was out of 'sequence'...(it was an easy fix)

...And the cable wasn't for 'Kickdown'. LOL

The expert told customers that he no longer did 700 R4s, "the GM factory can't seem to warrent any quality control..."

 

If the cable isn't right....the first thing to go is 4th gear. I love all of my 700s. I use them in everything.


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Yeah, that stupid cable is what scares me away from these transmissions. I swapped to a new carb and intake too just to make sure the geometry was all correct. Last time i did a bracket and carb arm from scratch it took me almost all day to get everything where i wanted it. My time is to valuable for that right now.

 

I`ve repaired dozens of th700 trans.Most common thing after job is that it not have 4th gear.And the solution is to drive it.Usually 4th comes tomorrow or few days and has always come sooner or later.Yes you can disassemble valvebody and governer but my opinion is that`s waste of time.Daily driving does the same cure.

 

Put some Z-Max transmission additive in it! That would be the only stuff I would use. Lucas makes some too, but I have not tried that.

 

I have a newly rebuilt 700R4 in my pickup with only about 600 miles since built. I still don't think I'm getting into 4th gear. I have 4.10 rear gears with a 28" tire and by all the calculators I have used on;line, i should not be running at 3k rpm at 60 mph. I can feel a very slight change while accelerating in 3rd, but it is so slight it has virtually no effect on rpm. I'm hoping something will come to light in the next few hundred miles.

 

Should be around 2066 in O.D.

 

On the pictures you took of the Pan bottom right is a bump out to bled off the 2/4 band; There is a hole In the pan rail above that, I would bet money that RTV blocked the bleed hole and burned up the 2/4 Band.

 

Yeah, that unit has too much of a shaggy-dog story behind it. I'd be tempted to go to the local boneyard and get one. I've had great luck with used ones out of wrecks with low miles on 'em.

Bob

 

The slight shift I feel in third almost seems like it's locking up in third. Is that possible and how does that happen?

 

Well I just turned 1000 miles and still don't have me my 4th gear. I pay very close attention to how my trans acts and strangely a few hundred miles ago while slowly accelerating from a stop on a gradual incline, low and behold it got 4th gear for the first time. It seemed like it came far too early in relation to my RPMs and I have never seen 4th since. Wierd shit! I have just gotten used to having a 3 speed trans. I may try some slight TV adjustments here in the near future to see if anything changes.

When I go from 3rd position to OD position on my shifter and am above 50mph, like I said there is an ever so slight drop in RPM almost impossible to feel or hear unless you are really looking for it, but I am assuming it's just lockup. And when it is in OD after this RPM change and say I'm coasting down a large hill at 55-60 mph (3k rpm), without giving it any gas my RPMs drop off almost like it's in neutral, then once I accelerate again it will have to rev all the way back up to 3k rpm before I get power to the axle again. It never acts like that when in the 3rd gear position. Is this how lockup works?

I'm stumped!

 

Did you google their is a lot of info out their with you're concern.
http://www.layitlow.com/forums/22-m...will-not-shift-into-4th-gear-whats-wrong.html


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Not sure if you actually said it, but does your trans have a lock-up kit in it? Do you have a hot lead going to the side of the trans, near the shifter? Is it 12 volts? Does it cut off when you hit the brakes? This is probably more important right now, than the cable adjustment.