Hey All, I'm really hoping someone can give me some pointers, this is my first foray into classics and I'm stuck. I had my fordomatic rebuilt a couple of years back at what I thought was a capable/reputable shop. Unfortunately right after I finished the motor and got things back together, I had to relocate for work and the truck sat for a while. Fast forward to now after finally having time to work on the truck. I've got the motor purring and ready to cruise, but I can't get the damn transmission to cooperate and I am "out of warranty" for the rebuild. Whenever I put it in gear, any gear, the motor stalls. The motor will idle fine in Neutral and Park, as expected. I can get it to stay running my holding the throttle open but it is completely undrivable. I have had a shop take a look at it and inspect the torque converter (mainly to solve a leak) and everything there checked out. Is is possible that the bands were set completely wrong after the rebuild?
More often than not when one stalls in gear it is not the transmission n that is the problem at all it is a vacuum leak. Something to bear in mind as well is that you set your idle speed with the car in gear not in park.
I had that happen with a 289 ford with an auto trans. I could keep it running and jam it into gear at high RPM and it would drive and shift. But it would not idle in gear. A transmission guy that I knew said I had a stuck torque converter. I messed with it for a few days driving around and it unstuck it's self, and worked fine for years.
Don't jump to conclusions. When all is New make sure all you have done is done right. Like Beaner, I have found that Vac leak to send people off in the wrong direction. The Wizzard
Another item to be sure of is today's Gas. If it's 3 years old dump it. It can cause the same issue. The Wizzard
Thanks for the advice. I will check for vacuum leaks. I do know that the torque converter is in good shape and the gas is fresh. I will report back.
Those Ford-o-matics have tight converters, do you have a performance camshaft in the motor? Think of it this way, when the car sits still with the motor running in gear nothing in the transmission is turning, except the front pump and that is turning when it is not in a gear. When in gear, and rear wheels are not turning, this holds the output of the converter still so all the load on the motor is from the converter wanting to turn it's output shaft. (well this and the front pump). If you had the converter checked ( I don't know how they did this without removing it) and it is OK, I don't think your problem is in the trans. This converter can be taken apart, it just unbolts and the internals can be put together wrong, just to let you know. One last thing, you MUST get the throttle valve adjusted correctly or you will burn up your new transmission, so read a book and make sure you get it right. This and most manuals have the wrong front band adjustment spec. you can search for a Ford Transmission forum site on the web, the guy that runs it is VERY good with ALL Ford transmissions, check it out.
Update: I replaced the vacuum line to the distributor and the full stall situation did not happen again. I was able to put it in gear without it dying, but it did drop idle quite low. It was clear that I have some carb adjustments to make as it wouldn't run well with the choke open 100%, but I'm not sure this is fully the problem. Unfortunately at the end of my troubleshooting, the motor started acting up like it wasn't getting consistent spark/weak spark. Now I will have to address this before proceeding. Clarification: The torque converter was inspected out of the truck. I had a new shop fix a leak that I could not solve myself. Turned out that the surface finish on the front cover mating surface was too rough and was allowing fluid to get out. As for the cams, I don't know. I bough the motor used and I have not taken the time to check the lifter travel and compare to stock. Again, learning as I go...
I had the same problem with my 57 Golden Hawk. The torque converter had a broken sprag although it had less than 300 miles on it. Of course I spent time and $ chasing the other possibilities thinking the torque converter couldn't be at fault as it was new. Basically the same transmission as the FOM.
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