Thanks in advance for any advice I may get from you all! I sure need it...
So, what I've got is a 78 Fairmont with a newer HO 302 coupled with the original C4 trans. It's got a few issues and I'm not sure if it's toast or repairable. First off, as soon as I take off from a dead stop it very quickly shifts through all the gears and into 3rd by about 10 or 15 mph, unless I manually hold it in the desired gear. Then it will not down shift unless I give it gobs of throttle. Second, if I am laying on the gas hard it goes into a "false nuetral" between 2nd and 3rd gear, where it revs freely until I let off the gas fully, at which point it will finally shift. I replaced the shift modulator and trans filter, made sure the vacuum lines were good, adjusted the kickdown linkage, and adjusted the bands to no avail. All the gears hold strong with no slipping aside from the 2-3 shift issue.
So, what do you think? Could dropping the valve body and cleaning it real good help? Could my performer intake and carb be screwing with the kickdown linkage? Do I just need to rebuild it? I am a trans novice, but everyone says C4's are dead simple. I just don't want to go through it and still have the same issues. I do want a stall and shift kit anyhow, so this is a good time to do those things. Thanks!
BTW, I bought the car with these problems existing (just made more apparent with a switch from open 2.47 gears to a 3.27 geared track lok)
The fluid looks and smells real good. The modulator is new, as I changed it thinking that it may help. I will drop the valve body and clean it real good within the next few days. Is there a prefered method of cleaning it? I've never done it before, but I assume you just pull all the bolts, drop it, squirt it with carb cleaner real good, then blow it all out with an air hose, yes? Also, could you please elaborate on the GOV? Is that short for governor, and if so where is it and can I clean it? Thanks a bunch!
Carb cleaner yes, governor is in the tailhousing.
Drop a bottle of B12 Chemtool in the trans and run it around till hot before you drop the V, it will help.
There is a VALVE behing the modulator, the modulator valve, it needs to be clean and free moving.
Ok, I will clean and check the modulator valve while I'm in there. As for the chemtool, will it hurt anything considering that the torque convertor will still be full of chemtool laden trans fluid when I put it all back together, or will the new fluid I fill it with be enough to dilute it sufficiently? I'm off on Friday so I will do it then and post the results here...
Well, I tried everything and it made things worse. Now if I hold it in second gear manually it kinda floats in and out of second gear, plus it's still flaring up between second and third. On top of that I saw a lot of fine metal flakes in the pan and fluid, so I'm calling it a loss. I think I'm just going to buy a TCI sizzler trans and torque converter out of the summit racing catalog and call it done. Do you know how I can tell wether or not I have the big bell housing or small bell housing without pulling the trans, or should I just go ahead and pull it to be sure? Any opinions on the tci trans? I'm only making about 250hp and don't plan for much more. Thanks!
