Hello, I have a 3 speed auto transmission on a 1985 Dodge b250, v8 318 motor. The vehicle has trouble climbing uphills to get past 65mph, and towards the end of the hill I am unable to hold 65mph, the speed drops slowly even when floored towards the end of a long stretched hill. It is trying to climb the hill in 3rd gear (which is my highest gear) when flooring it at 65mph, so not sure if that is normal or if it's supposed to downshift.

On flat surfaces or a flat stretched highway, I can easily hit 85 mph when flooring the pedal from a rolling 65mph. It does take some time but at least the speedometer increased slowly to 85mph compared to uphills. Note that on this highway, when I am rolling at 65mph and then I floor it, it does stay in 3rd gear to get to 85mph so there is no kick like my newer cars but I'm assuming it's because kicking down to 2nd gear at that speed might be at redline already.

Last thing, going through a steep uphill from a stop sign is bad too, the van will make it but I am flooring it and I am probably going uphill (guessing under 20mph) and the van doesn't make that high engine sound (as in low gear) but rather as if I am going uphill from the stop sign at 2nd or 3rd gear at 20mph. I used to drive manual so I am comparing it to when I would go uphill on a highway on 5th gear at a low speed.

My mechanic believes the transmission is fine, but says I can test by dropping from 3rd to 2nd gear, my question is since I don't have an RPM gauge, at what speed can I safely take 2nd gear up to? I believe my speedometer goes up to 85 so I am a little hesitant to take 2nd gear past 60mph.

Catalytic Converter is also hollow, went through about 3 CATS in the last 2 years due to a air/fuel related issue.

Thanks for any input and happy new years!

 

TV Cable adjusted properly?

 

I would start with a full tune-up and see how much that helps.
Steve

 

1.5 years later, brought it to a transmission shop over the weekend because the owner said he thinks it could be the TV Cable. I brought it over and he said it seems to shift fine in surface streets.

He said the transmission fluid was dirty (at least 10 years old he said) but that's when I told him it was changed twice during our restore project 3 years ago. He drained the fluid to find metallic substances in the fluid.

Ended up getting the transmission rebuilt, however he doesn't want to touch the TV cable to see if it needs adjustment.

Here are my findings on the way to the shop.

Assuming my TV cable is fine, my WOT shift points.
1st to 2nd gear, @ 3400 RPM @ 33 MPH
2nd to 3rd gear, @ 3600 RPM @ 60 MPH

I can't find any documentation on what the actual shift points are or what RPMs should the shift occur during WOT.

 

Shifting WAY too soon. At WOT, should shift closer to 5K RPM. (and probably higher.....) Tighten up the TV cable a bit.

 

After the transmission rebuild, it now shifts between 3,900 and 4,000 RPM with no slipping. This is on flat surface streets or highway.

Did a test yesterday going uphill under load, after cruising in Los Angeles 405 freeway traffic, was probably going about 40mph on 3rd gear, it downshifted as soon as I punched it as it started to go uphill.

However, instead of shifting at 4,000 rpm it shifted too early at 3,000 RPM @ 48mph (uphill), tried it again when I exited the freeway on surface streets and it will shift normally to the next gear at 3,900rpm.

With the transmission rebuild, my issue still persists with the early shifting under load. I'm being told it's like engine lugging. Also, once it upshifted to 3rd gear at 48mph uphill, the RPM on 3rd gear started at 2200 RPM and maxed out at 2400 at 5mph with no other power felt at WOT.

If it shifts fine in neighborhood streets and shifts fine WOT in neighborhood streets, why am I experiencing this issue only under load?

 

TV cable adjusted properly?

 

So I went into the dog house yesterday, in the past 3 years the TV cable has been adjusted twice, my mechanic had me put in a screw in the "rod end" (not sure if thats the term but its the sliding rod where the pin goes into. So messing with it was more of a guess to feel if it shifted right. I noticed yesterday when comparing it to a video iI saw on youtube where adjusting it is as simple as opening the throttle all the way back and the rod end all the way back too. What I noticed because we put the screw in, is that the rod end does go all the way back but now the pin is not all the way back by 1/3 of an inch, meaning it's probably not WOT when I'm flooring it. Hope that makes sense.

So in the end yesterday, I decided to remove the screw/nut so that the throttle will go WOT when I floor it but now there is 1/3 of inch play with the rod end and the pin. A video I saw said there should not be any play and then other data online says a little play is normal??? so confused now.

Note, that prior to me putting in a screw to adjust the rod end further back when flooring it, the issue uphill was the same when I would press the gas (flooring it) and the car acted as if no gas was being put in. Could it be fuel related? even though the fuel filter and pump was replaced.

Link to the video I recorded when I went uphill last weekend. After hitting 3rd gear, it slowly climbed a few MPH and stayed at 55mph and the didn't increase either, on the pedal side it felt like as if I wasn't flooring it.

 

Have you check compression? It sounds like you may have dropped a cylinder.

 

Talked to a few transmission shops, was losing hope after one shop told me the TV cable has to be replaced but that they can't order the cable since their system doesn't show it as an available part to order. Luckily before I left I had him check the free play between the kickdown and throttle. He realized I don't have a TV cable and said I just need to adjust the kickdown linkage near the transmission. He didn't have time to do it since his shop had cars being worked on but he basically told me it was easy. I got home and was hesitant to do it since I might make it worse but with the help of my dad holding the throttle open while I was under the vehicle ensuring the kickdown lever was also all the way back, we were able to make it work!

Did a few test runs last night on the same uphill (405 freeway) and it definitely had power when I needed it. It took 2nd gear all the way to 60mph this time and shifted to 3rd gear @3,600 or 3,700 RPM, and best part it still increased in MPH pass 65mph when just two weeks ago I couldn't get passed 55mph.

Thanks for your advice as this helped me realize that when I adjusted it a few years ago by putting in a screw/nut in the kickdown rod, placed it in the kickdown rod not knowing I pretended it from going WOT by an inch, even though the linkage on the transmission end was all the way back, (not sure if that is the right term but the linkage was all the way back in the throttle)

I also hope that the success last night was not because I had half a fuel tank left and it was definitely cooler in temperature, maybe it helped the carburetor also since I heard carbs are temperature sensitive? hoping that is not the case and this is solved.

Thanks again for everyone's help! It may have just solved a 15 year mystery that we had with this van.