Help! No reverse or dive!

[MascotRejct]

So I just finished repairing my leaking rear cam seal/oil change, and go to get it out of the garage, and it decides it doesnt want to dhift into drive or reverse. If i rev the engine a bit in dive, itll lurch forward like it wants to engage, but then stop again. Anyone have any ideas as to what it is and how to fix it? I need my truck for work tomorrow...

 

[clmrt]

Linkage adjustment?

Press and hold the shift button in and slowly pull it back out of park while idling.

Will it drop into reverse at some point? Or will it travel all the way to "1" without engaging anything?

 

[MascotRejct]

No engagement. I cna hear buzzing (which i'm assuming is the solenoids?) when switching in and out of reverse and drive, but the transmission doesn't actually engage.

 

[MascotRejct]

So the linkage is ok. Had a buddy shift from park down to drive while i was under it and it's moving fine, but I cna hear a buzzing coming from where the linkage connects to the tranny each time it goes into drive or reverse. I'm assuming those are the transmission solenoids trying to engage, but I find it highly improbable that both went out at the same time and while I was fixing something else.

 

[MascotRejct]

I think I figured it out. In my massive stupidity, I drained the tranny fluid instead of the oil when I first started. Im a **************. Haha. The oil leak musta been worse than I thought though, because it took a whole 5 qt jug and then some when I refilled it.

 

[Jay Ayala]

From what I'm reading it sounds like your torque converter was empty. The tranny fluid was so low that it couldn't lock up the torque converter to get you moving forward. Once you put tranny fluid back in, it allowed the torque converter to engage now that it had enough inertia from the fluid.

 

[MascotRejct]

Well, I only had two quarts of fluid on hand, so it's not engaging yet. I hope that was the problem, but I guess I'll see after I get more fluid tomorrow.

 

[Jay Ayala]

Yes that will fix your problem. The pump in the tranny isn't filling the torque converter enough. You will need to top it off. I prefer to top it off once it is under normal operating temperatures. However, I would suggest that you fill it to the cold line before trying to bring it up to normal operating temperatures. Don't risk damaging the tranny if it's that low on fluid.


1989 Dodge Raider 3.0L
1997 Mitsubishi Montero 3.5L

 

[MascotRejct]

So it was the tranny fluid. Picked some up from the dealer on monday, and now it's running fine. Ended up having to drain quite a bit of oil since I had filled it without draining it to begin with, but other than that, its running great!