904 confusion

[TheSkunk]

Hey guys I finally got my 904 in after putting it off in my 78 lebaron. But I’m having some issues. I had the trans (non lockup) rebuilt with the stage 3crt kit their budget converter, and a trans go shift improver had a good friend (does trans work on the side) go threw it with a fine tooth comb. He admitted he hadn’t had a mopar trans apart in almost 15 years but was confident in his ability and having a rebuild book. Guy rebuilds 4-5 trans a year..

I put it in the car. I filled the converter with a quart and filled trans with 5quarts. started the car in neutral (level went down) topped it back off to about 8-9 quarts. Thought all was good put it in gear n slowly cycled the the gears to get everything lubbed up. But when I put it in gear the trans acts like it’s no trying to engage. No movement no rpm change no nothing.

so I immediately check
1. Fluid level - little over full
2. Shift linkage- perfect
3. Pulled trans cooler line and started car in neutral- looks like a murder happened but pump is working..
4. Pulled pan- nothing out of the ordinary but will try to attach a photo..

So I call my guy up and he says to pull the whole trans he’s concerned somethings not right in the valve body. My question is is there anything else I can do before pulling the whole thing out again?

 

[Remow2112]

Most likely you did not get the torque converter lined up on the ears of the pump. If that is the case there is a good chance you broke the ears off the pump. This happens a lot. I always tell people to mark a line on the bottom of the bellhousing that lines up with pump all that way engaged and when you put it back in make sure you can see that line.

Exactly how many quarts did you put in? If I remember correctly with an empty tranny and TQ it is either 12 or 14 quarts.

Hth.

 

[Aspen500]

Since you have fluid from the cooler line, the pump is working. If you have a trans pressure gauge, you can check line pressure at the port (on the side of the trans). I take it you have no engagement in any gear position (1,2, D, R), correct? There isn't really anything internal to the trans that would cause no drive in any position. You'd have reverse but no forward, or vice versa, 1st and 2nd but no drive or reverse, etc................

The next likely place to look for trouble is the valve body, as your buddy said. Hard to tell from the pic but, the manual lever is in the manual valve groove? Move the selector lever and make sure the manual spool valve actually moves (if you haven't already). There is a small chance the torque converter itself is bad but since you say it's new, and I would assume it was tested at the manufacturer before shipping, so that's a remote possibility. If the input shaft is broken or something (the one that goes into the converter), it would also cause no drive. Just throwing out ideas to check.

 

[AJ/FormS]

assuming you bolted the TC to the flex-plate,lol;
Make absolutely sure that the manual valve is moving and properly detenting.
Before I would pull it out, I would check the pump pressure, which IIRC should be 240psi or more in reverse. But if the pan is still off, then I would do an air-pressure test first.

 

[TheSkunk]

Sorry for not being on info long. Come to find out he missed the manual valve lever not being in place. So I pulled the valve body and fixed that defect is a real pain lol. Car is driving well I have my kick down I think a tad tight (I have to completely let off for it to shift into 3rd) so hopefully that’s just a matter of climbing back under the car and adjusting

 

[Aspen500]

Seems like somebdy mentioned that

Glad it was something realatively simple.

 

[Duke5A]

Sorry for not being on info long. Come to find out he missed the manual valve lever not being in place. So I pulled the valve body and fixed that defect is a real pain lol. Car is driving well I have my kick down I think a tad tight (I have to completely let off for it to shift into 3rd) so hopefully that’s just a matter of climbing back under the car and adjusting

Cut the kick-down rod in half, thread both ends and use a turnbuckle with a couple of jam nuts to make it adjustable. Was always a pain in the ass to adjust that before I went that route.