hey guys,

so after a 3 week out of town trip, I come home and truck doesnt have reverse. it worked in the morning, drove it all day, and then no reverse when i had to back up.

now im noticing that when I put it into drive, it really slams in there and makes a clunk.

truck only has 129.8K miles on it, and I checked the fluid level. it shows like it all over the place, so im going to change it soon, as I don't trust the reading, and also check for metal shavings. my neighbor who sold me the truck said that he had the tranny rebuilt by AAMCO when the truck had about 85K miles on it.

what should I also check, and how can I fix this?

 

Drop the pan, see if there's a stray band anchor lying in the bottom of it. If not, you're probably hosed.

AAMCO is a good place to go when you're looking for a vending machine from which to buy a snack. For all other purposes, not so much. Certainly not for automatic transmissions.

 

Thank you,

I'll try to get that done this weekend.

I did call AAMCO about band adjustment, they told me they can't do it without dropping the tranny, because the pins are inside the housing. When i told him the service manual says they are on the outside and inside the pan, he got offended. other transmission shops in the area had no idea about band adjustment.

guess im on my own here!

 

Stunning brilliance, eh? It's to be expected from any franchise outfit, since most of them (and AAMCO specifically) prefer that their franchisees have no automotive background at all. Though you might sometimes catch lucky, in most cases AAMCO is going to try to sell you a rebuilt unit whether you need it or not, and it's going to be a pretty lousy rebuild at that.

I'm hoping that it's just an escaped band anchor you've got. Good luck with the thing!

 

well, bad news. I finally had the time to drop the pan and check things out. there wasnt an anchor in the pan, just lots of metal shavings

heres a pic:



how much is the reverse band anchor supposed to move? i was moving it and it think it moves about a quarter inch, while i saw a vid where they said its only supposed to move an eighth.. ill adjust it and see if i get lucky. but im seeing a lot of shavings in there, which means it might be the clutch? what do you guys think?

 

I think your pic isn't working.

 

i fixed it. sorry!

 

so i measured the amount of fluid that I drained, it came out to 8 quarts. isn't that a bit excessive? I added 5 quarts, but for some reason, i can't get a reading on the dipstick. I dont know why this is so hard. I put it in neutral, measure it and it shows like the whole stick is wet, up to the middle part of it. it was showing that when it had 4 qts in it as well.

oh and now, when i put it in reverse, i head this morse code beeping, and stilll no reverse.

 

Still low on fluid. The amount it takes is quite variable on these...... what you are seeing on the stick is the stuff that hasn't flowed down the tube yet....... yeah, it's a pain in the ***. Leave it sit for a while, start it up, run it thru the gears, (don't actually have to move the truck) and check it again. Add as necessary. I think most folks put in at least five, maybe six quarts to get it to where it should be.

I have seen worse stuff on the magnet, and the trans still lasted a while.... but, it probably wouldn't hurt to start saving up for a replacement....