I'm sure it happens to everyone. At least that is what my gf tells me. Well, motivated by some advice from the HAMB, I got to turning wrenches on the Buick today. It didn't make me long to realize that my fuel pump issues weren't actually fuel pump issues. I disconnected the fuel pump from the carb and cranked the engine, and the fuel pump spit out a decent quantity of fuel into the empty beer bottle that I had the hose going into. Later I almost drank that gas because I thought it was my beer. So, I took the top of the carb off and the needle valves were blocked off with black crud. Oddly enough, the rest of the inside of the carb looked clean. Cleaned out the black gunk, and low and behold the fuel pump functioned fine. My starter-sticking-to-the-flywheel issue immediatly returned when I went to start it. And then it went away again. While I was under the car messing with it, I took the time to hook up the tranny linkage, and realized that the shifter lever coming from the transmission doesn't move very much. Feels like it is stuck. After hooking the linkage up, I noted that the position of the shifter lever was in Drive - but oddly enough, I am able to freely push the car around as if it were in Neutral. I couldn't get the shift lever to move to Neutral or Park. So, convinced that it wasn't actually stuck in gear (since I was able to push it out of the garage with little effort) I went ahead and primed the carb, and started it. She started right up, and ran. Good oil pressure too. Did make a lot of valvetrain noise, which I didn't like. Unlike the several times in the past when I have started it, this time it continued to run since the fuel pump was actually functioning. In addition to the valvetrain noise, there was this weird whining sound coming from the rear of the car. I have never heard a noise like that. Now, it would be weird, but it is possible that the car is stuck in gear, and that either the tranny or rearend is toast, making a noise, but not making the car move forward when the engine is running? I also discovered that the previous owner had JUST painted the exhaust manifolds, because they were a smoking. I thought they looked a little to clean. Anyway, if anyone has any advice on the trans/rear end noise issue, I'm all ears. And I may be in the market for a useable Dynaflow and rear end if it is as bad as I think it is. Maybe I should post an ad in the Wanted section. Thanks guys!
I read some post on here that those buicks made that whining noise and that it was normal. I had a 57 and it never did. You might want to try searching for the thread. Good luck with that dynoflow. Whenever my car wasnt running that was the reason why
I have heard that they are supposed to whine too. I have heard two mid 50's Buicks running, and neither made a noise quite as noticeable as mine. Oh well, I have learned more from this car in two months than I have in the last 10 years of owning Camaros and Firebirds....
Your trans is probably stuck in Drive. It will roll around easily because nothing happens without pressure, the engine has to be running before it does anything. Dynaflushes usually whine in gear, some more than others. Does your speedometer come up with the engine running? If so, the rear end or axle is toast.
You know, while I was under the car, I debated hooking up the speedometer cable. I was good at frustrated by that point, and the sun was starting to go down, so I didn't. That is an excellent suggestion, however, and I will try it when I get the chance.
Does it have an open drive shaft? It should be turning in gear if your rear end is pooched. Can you find the main pressure service port on the transmission? Try sticking a gauge on it and see if your pump is working. Flatman
The car still has it's closed rear end/torque tube setup. I know that the transmission pump is working to an extent, because when I first started the engine, it blew the rubber transmission line off the radiator and began spewing fluid all over the driveway. (I had forgotten to tighten the hose clamp.)
Crawl underneath and put it in park on the tranny. Your linkage may be bound up or bent. Do you have any tranny fluid in it. THose things leak like crazy and if its been sitting I can pretty much gaurantee it is low. I found out the hard way that those have to be very full to work. I had the car running and noticed the tranny fluid was low, not real low but needed a little. So I started to pour some in, then my car started to creep forward. I still dont know how or why I left it in gear
Crawled underneath it today. Hooked up the speedo cable, and checked out the linkage. Linkage looked good and had a clear path of travel. Well, after hooking up the speedo cable, I cranked the engine, and sure enough the speedometer moved up to about 30 mph. (stayed there too, oddly enough). Didn't bother starting the engine, that was all I needed to see. Soooo, I guess the rear end bit the dust, likely because the tranny is stuck in drive. Back to the Wanted ads.
I dont know if it makes a difference to you or not but my 57 buick special would jump up to 30mph on the speedo when I started and stay there. Sometimes it would kick back down and sometimes it wouldnt. Did you try just grabbing the shifter on the tranny and turning it to see if it goes through the gears? Is is just stuck?
I did try that as I was under the car. The shifter doesn't really well. In fact, it doesn't really want to move at all, even when disconnected from the steering column.
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