904 acting weird

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Byron Gray

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My 67 dart I put in a 318/904 from a 78 lebaron. Didn't touch the trans. Just new filter and fluid. Been driving it around a couple months and everything has been working without issues. Now 2 days in a row transmission acted funny both times was after it had been sitting over night. I left the house going down the road it would not shift out of first gear. Couple times i tapped the gas and it just reved like it would be in neutral as I was going down the road. After about 5 mins limping it back home I stopped checked the fluid. Fluid Level is right on the full line dose not look or smell bad went to drive it again and it shifted and worked like it should even after making a couple stops ran just fine. I'm wondering if it's the converter giving out.
 
Make sure your shift linkage is working correctly and if that's not it its probably time for a rebuild. Mine did the exact same thing for a couple weeks before going out completely. You could try a flush and fill, might have some sticky crap in the governor or valvebody making it not shift right. Don't worry about your converter, when the go they don't comeback, they also normally make a **** ton of awful noise as well.
 
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My 67 dart I put in a 318/904 from a 78 lebaron. Didn't touch the trans. Just new filter and fluid. Been driving it around a couple months and everything has been working without issues. Now 2 days in a row transmission acted funny both times was after it had been sitting over night. I left the house going down the road it would not shift out of first gear. Couple times i tapped the gas and it just reved like it would be in neutral as I was going down the road. After about 5 mins limping it back home I stopped checked the fluid. Fluid Level is right on the full line dose not look or smell bad went to drive it again and it shifted and worked like it should even after making a couple stops ran just fine. I'm wondering if it's the converter giving out.

You don’t want to hear this I’m sure, but those are the exact symptoms of metal in the fluid.
Most of the times it’s planetary gear needle bearings dust that settles in the valve bores after sitting.
Next morning the valves don’t want to move to make the shift.
Betcha if you listen close you will hear it as a whirring sound in first or second gear that is slowly getting louder.
Pull the pan and it looks like real fine metal flake.
 
Thank you all for the help ill check the shift alignment and I can try adding a little more... I got the engine and trans from a wrecking yard so it could have been already on its way out.. ill consider rebuild or get another.
 
Run it and then check the dip stick right away.
You will see super fine metal dust (fine enough to get through the filter and into the rest of the trans)
I have a 904 sitting here that did exactly the same thing right down to the no shift after sitting.
My new magnum motor was ready to go in when the 904 did this.
It’s what caused me to go with the 42RH overdrive, since it was going to cost about the same to fix the 904 as to replace it with the OD trans even though I can build them myself.
Not only would I have had to buy the parts to fix it I would have had to tear down and clean the entire trans but also replace the converter and probably the pump as well.
Nope.
 
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Thank you all for the help ill check the shift alignment and I can try adding a little more... I got the engine and trans from a wrecking yard so it could have been already on its way out.. ill consider rebuild or get another.

See my post above.
 
Ok thank you for that.
I don't know if I'm too late yet but the 904's behind the six's and eight's had problems with sticking kick down (TV) linkage. They would corrode where the TV shaft goes through the shift shaft and finally start to stick. Eventually it will become hard to press the gas pedal too. WD40 all of your linkage and around the TV linkage at the trans and work the heck out of it. Even if you have a cable it can be caused by a sticking TV shaft.
 
I don't know if I'm too late yet but the 904's behind the six's and eight's had problems with sticking kick down (TV) linkage. They would corrode where the TV shaft goes through the shift shaft and finally start to stick. Eventually it will become hard to press the gas pedal too. WD40 all of your linkage and around the TV linkage at the trans and work the heck out of it. Even if you have a cable it can be caused by a sticking TV shaft.
This is great advise, but please use something that is actually a lubricant after the wd. Wd is not a lubricant.
 
This is great advise, but please use something that is actually a lubricant after the wd. Wd is not a lubricant.
Lubricants take for ever to penetrate through the rust. Use lube after it has been freed up. Sorry I forgot to add that. As a matter of fact you might want to clean the WD40 off with brake cleaner or something similar before you spray the lube
 
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