Been having some trouble out my C4. It was a junkyard tranny, said it worked when they pulled it,, took their word on it,, but anyways,,, it does work,,, kinda,,, The tag on the tranny said it came from a 65 mustang with a 289 2 barrel carb. Found that out when I went to get a filter kit for it! Thinking it was newer,,, turns out its older than the hills! So got the filter changed, full of new type F fluid. The vacuum modulator,, was damaged,, probably got bumped or something,, but the diaphram was bent,, (the style that screws into the housing, not held in by a clip) I bent it back,, thinking I saved it or something,,,, Or Something,,,, So the fluids changed, had some dirt in the pan,,, not clutch material, or metal,, but dirt,, and the filter was plugged up on it,,,, cleaned out the pan, drained and flushed the converter and the tranny. I had lost all drive for a few moments,,, I did not push the issue, shut it off and pulled off the pan,,, Cleaned and flushed,,, I put in 5 quatrs of F,, fired it up, ran it thru the gears with the brake on,, put it in reverse and checked the fluid,, topped it off,, but it never went into reverse,,,,,,, did nto go into any gear actually,,,,,, Severly wanting to push it off a cliff, I walked away from it for a few days,, fired it up, still nothing,, So, I was messing around underthe car, and I pulled off the vacuum line off the modualtor,,,, remember I said it had got bent somehow,,,, Started the engine, and went thru the gears again,,, it hit reverse as soon as I put it in gear,,, Went directly to low 1, it was slow, but it did go, low 2, was there, and D was there too!! Ive been driving it around the yard since then,,, line still unhooked,, And it works fine, as far as not slipping, or losing any drive,,,, Sometimes, when going from park to drive, or reverse to drive, it will take a second to shift then be ready to go. I havent hooked back up the vacuum line,,,, but is it possible that the damaged modulator can cuase it to lose all drives in all the gears?? I drove it down the road,,, if I shift it manually it will shift, strongly, and not slip at all,, 3rd gear, you got to drop it back into second then into drive and it will go into 3rd,,, over 35 mph,, It does go back to low when stopping in D,, but wont get past 2nd in drive,,, unless I drop shift it and then go right back into D, Boom third gear. Passing gear works,,, downshifts great!! But I have never seen a modulator completly stop the fluid drive, like its in nuetral!! Unhook it and everything is back. (I know,, go get a modualtor and try it) LOL!! I have an old Motors repair book,, its not the transmission repair, but its the one for the cars built up from 64-68,,,, the book says something about a difference between the 66 and 67 C4 tranny,,,, One had mentioned something about the shifting being different and something about the proceedure on the band adjustment. Is there any differece in the operation of the old pre 1967 C4 transmissions,,, like on how you can downshift it, or something about having individual 1st and 2nd gear selections,,, I know I can put this thing in to low 2nd, and its in low 2nd,,, not low, or drive,,, are they supposed to do that???? Thanks for letting me ramble!
Prior to 67 the selector was Park, Reverse, Neutral, Drive, Drive2, first. In Drive2 the transmission should start in second and shift to high. There is no way to hold the transmission in manual second. This all changed in 67 when the selector was enabled with P,R,N,D,2,1 which allowed manual selection of low and second. You can use a 67 valve body to make the selector fits your transmission and rebuild it to make it work. When a transmission sits for a time all the weight of the drive train rests on the seals for the clutch pistons. The fluid drains from the converter into the pan and over-flows onto the ground. That allows moisture into some parts that can rust and allows other parts to dry out like bands and clutches. I would never expect a transmission that has been sitting for more than six months (never run) to run and after having been run if it sits for more than a year I would expect to have to replace the seals all throughout the transmission in order to make it run right. The modulator can hold the modulator valve in a position that lowers pressure to the point where your transmission doesn't work. They are cheap, replace it and check the rod and valve too. If the rod is bent you can make one out of an 8d nail. Make it 1.6 inches long and round the ends with a file or grinder and then polish them.
I had a 66 Ranchero back in high school,, I think it had D, D2 and L on the column selector??? I had the 70 transmission still, it used the same filter as the 65 transmission. 71 filter was the same up to?? but used a gasket, where it seemed like the 65 and this 70 model year did not. The 70 tranny got scrapped, but I did keep the valve body,,, darn thing got wet though,, so its not much good to use unless its rebuilt. When I first cracked open the pan/filter, for the first time, I did suspect the filter was dirty,,, it had like a potting soil consistancy (MUCK) caked up in the filter screen. Pan floor had no shavings, fluid didnt smell burned. So I flushed it by unhooking the cooler line and filtering the fluid as it ran into a can, at the same time, pouring in new fluid till the fluid looked like new. (while engine was running) Drained everything one more time, dropped the pan to see whats in the filter,,, filter was clean, nothing in the pan,, put the pan back on, and properly filled the fluid. I saved the dirt in the pan/filter,,, unknown what it is,, but there was alot of it,,, maybe 1/2 a cup full! You got to love junkyard jewels!! As of this morning, fired it up, let it run for about a minute, dropped it into low, 2 second delay, it went into gear, held the brake and gave it a little gas, nothing slipped,,,,,, Had all the gears in the shifter position, no loss of drive or reverse, goes into gear strongly,, and the 302 is idling at 500 rpm. Yesterday, I pulled the modulator off, the pin is striaght,, the diaphram is still bent a little, Id say it could bind if activated,,, Did not mess with it too much,,, put it back on, vacuum line still unhooked,, Ill pick one up ASAP,, parts store had to order it in,, In low, its in low, in second, its in second, can manually downshift it to low, shift back and it instantly goes into second,,,, havent got it out on the road yet to see if it what it does in that gear selection,, if it stays in second, shifts into 3rd, and when it comes up to a stop sign,, should it still be in second gear?? Drive, starts in low, will shift into second,, and back again upon stopping, Id imagine it would go into drive at regualr speeds, but will know more when I get the new modulator. Might last a long time, might last 3 miles,,, will never know,,,, is the rebuild kit for the Cruiseamatic the same kit as a regular c4?
New modulator, works like new! Old mod, was banged up,,, the adjuster screw, was backed all the way out. I measured the travel the the modulator by compressing it, and measuring the pin distance. For kicks, I straightened the old bent mod, adjusted it to the same specs as the new one, shoot, that one works just fine too!! The old mod was backed out all the way, and when the vacuum pulled the pin back, it is suspected that too much travel in the modulator/piston, made it lose pressure, or by pass somehow??
Well, it shouldn't lose pressure all together but if it was bent enough in the right way I suppose anything is possible. Throw the old modulator away. It could be ruptured and still work fine, until the ATF that is being sucked through the rupture gets to the intake manifold. The selector in "Drive2" will go into 2nd from first and back to low if shifted to low but it will start in 2nd in Drive2 and not shift until it shifts into 3rd. When it comes to a stop it will be in 2nd. In Drive it will start in low shift to 2nd and then to 3rd - coming to a stop it will go back to low. When you order a kit you order it for a C4 and the year of the transmission. Some parts of the kit are the same but others vary depending on the year of the tranny. If you order a kit for a "Cruis-o-matic you are likely to get a kit for the "Cast Iron Cruis-o-matic and not a C4 at all. Order the kit for the year of the transmission.
How about the birth of the C4,,,, cause the one I have is an aluminum case, case fill. And, apperently has the cruiseomatic valve body. Had a 66 ranchero with a 240, cruiseomtaic,, had a green dot behind D, then D2 and L. Its a dead ringer for a C4,,, with a screw in mod, and a gasketless filter. Part number on the filter is TF126. tag on the passenger side servo over the bolt reads the following,,, PCW J 289 4H4 C3 Motors repair manual calls it out to be a 65 mustang, with a 289. The mustang had to have a floor shifter,,,, the linkage needs to be pulled back in park. Forwards in low, and the linkage sticks up at 12 o clock. The column shifter on the maverick, operated the tranny backwards,, meaning the tranny was in park, when the shifter was in low,,,, The kick down,, pulls forwards too,, it has to have the reverse linkage used on the older cars, to pull forwards on the kick down, rather than ,,travel with the motion of the throttle with a normal kick down rod. I put in a ford floor shifter, built a rod that looks like the one from a 65, with a floor shift, hooked it up and works great! Kick down isnt hooked up to the carb yet, I have a cable on it, and pulled on it when I tested it before all the trouble happened. Pulled it back at 50-55 and it kicked right down into second, and back to drive as soon as I let up on it the cable. Either way, it has to have the reverse kickdown linkage to work,, As for the loss of drives,, after it was all said and done, it was the modulator adjustment,,, it was backed all the way out,, letting the piston move back too far in its bore???
I don't know that I would trust a guy at the parts store (some sure but not most) to be able to use the tag number to get the right parts for my transmission. If you have decoded the tag then you can use that information to order parts. By the way - it IS a C4. Linkage for column and floor shifters are different and sometimes people reverse the linkage to use a shifter that is either aftermarket or home made. I once adapted a three speed manual shifter for use on a C4 and it worked great but had no detents or locks of its own. You had to know (learn) where each gear was with the feel of the internal detents. It was an early experiment that fell by the wayside because not long after B&M came out with floor shifters for automatics. I wasn't going to try to market something against them. If what you have is working and you can make the adjustments required then keep on using it. When you hook up your kick down linkage be sure that when your throttle is wide open the cable is free to move another .060" . That will assure that you are getting the right pressures and that the valve will not be placed in interference.
How many bolts in the bellhousing? 289 engines were changed from 5 to 6 bolt bellhousings in '65. Some '65 cars have reportedly been found to have leftover 5 bolt setups. http://www.mre-books.com/smallblockfrd/smallblockfrd2.html The a/t bell can be changed to a 6 from a 5. Seth
Its got 6 bolts in the bellhousing to the block, 157t flexplate, small bellhousing, 88 engine block, it bolted right up. So far, the transmission is working very well!! Shifts solildly, and on time, just seems to be doing what it should be doing!! Im happy!! Wanna say thank you to the fellas the replied! The ol maverick is going great! Darn filter kit gave the ol high performance rubber pan gasket,,,,,, I was thinking ,, oH MAN! its gonna leak! and it did,, HAHA!! I got it good and warmed up, and then tightened the bolts and got it sealed up. First one ever I got to seal up! talk at ya all later! Thanks again!
