1983 ,325-4L trany shift points

[Guest northmn]

My trany was rebuilt a few Months ago.It seems to work fine except that it doesnt seem to kick down soon enough from 3rd /overdrive to 2nd like I feel it use to. When in 3rd /overdrive if you give it gas the engine seems to labour more as the gas pedal is pushed farther down at which time it kicks down finally to 3rd & the turbo lites both come on -this is about 3/4 down on the gas pedal.The trany shop said the cable is adjusted properly & couldnt be adjusted any further inside the trany.I told them that it use to be only adjusted 1/2 way in instead of all the way in as it is now.They say its shifting properly.Can anyone who has one of these tell me if it is running ok or am I overreacting or getting a hose job.

Bob,

[sosuzguy]

Bob,

Myself and Chuck are having terrible experience in getting the transmissions rebuilt in these cars and have been discussing it somewhat. http://forums.aaca.org/f177/transmission-rebuild-1985-a-281300.html

Is this situation when you are driving around town -- it's in OD and you feel like it needs to downshift but it isn't downshifting and just bogging the car down? If this is the case I just make sure I drive mine in DRIVE, not OD when engaged in city driving. That's the way these seem to be after a rebuild, for some reason they just don't perform like they did new. Bad rebuld? Louzy replacement parts? Lack of information? WHO knows.... I am transmission dumb and have not been able to have anyone tell me why this is. Seems like no one know anything about these transmissions. I hope someone can tell us what to tell the shops they are doing wrong!

I'm having a drain back problem overnight and the shop says they can't find a valve body or front pump that isn't wore out, they even say the remans are bad. ???

Edited August 23, 2010 by sosuzguy (see edit history)

[Guest northmn]

Jayson,

It happens anywhere city or highway.It comes out of OD to 3rd ok. It just takes a lot of pedal travel before kicking from 3rd to 2nd & the engine seems like it's struggling.When it gets into 2nd it flies & turbo is on then tooI took mine to another trany shop AMCO transmission who did my truck tranny & he wants to check the pressures at no cost thinking it might be a valve screw up. Think I'll take him up on it & see what happens.

[Booreatta]

From what I have learned the pressure is very important to the shift quality. Most of the shift issues are from the proper set up at the start. In my opinion a lot of transmission mechanics dont understand how to do the set up correctly. I was able to find several articles that I took to my transmission man and so far the tranny is working correctly. I have only driven the car 30 miles or so but the 2nd rebuild seems to be much much better than the first rebuild. The article that I finally took to my mechanic was at www.tvmadeez.com I think it shed some light on the subject. I also think that it hurt the feelings of the mechanic so if he read it all, then maybe he learned something.

I still have 2 small issues but they might not be transmission related. My Speedo does not work all of the time and I have checked the cable so I am thinking that it is a problem with the digital dash itself, and I also have a miss fire at 55 and higher rpm. I thought at first it was the tranny lock up but now I thing it is a carb or distributer cap issue. I will replace the dist cap and the coil and see what that if anything solves. In the meantime I will keep hoping that the problems are on their way to being solved. I hope so it has been a long year fooling with this issue.

[Guest pfloro]

Have a Transgo Shift Kit installed. This can be done with the transmission in the car. Only the valve body, separator plate and intermediate servo are removed and modified. The THM 325-4L appears in this listing: General Motors Shift Kits

I have enjoyed the improved shift quality, correct shift timing and increased durability of the friction elements for over 125,000 miles (18 years). The improvements are immediate & dramatic. Gone are those long lazy shifts, delays in the up & downshift points and the flares/overlaps which sometimes occur on the 2-3 / 3-2 shifts. At 77,000 miles, the intermediate band had burned up and before the rebuild, I researched 'shift improver kits'. The Transgo kit was the appropriate one for my Toronado.

The Transgo Shift Kit modifies the hydraulic control of the multiple disk clutches & the band servo. This is accomplished by increasing pressures, the rate of pressure rise, flow rate and the apply/release timings of the clutches & servo. The result is an improvement in the transmission on several levels. It's hard to believe that changing some of the valve body springs, enlarging holes in the separator plate and modifying the servo can have such an amazing effect. But it does...

I would not be talked into a shift kit from a different manufacturer. Some of the other kits are designed for performance driving. Those kits will firm up the shifts too much and destroy the 'boulevard smoothness' you expect in a '79 - '85 GM 'E' body.

The only complaint I have with the Transgo Shift Kit is the slightly more harsh 1-2 shift when the fluid is cold. This occurs only in the winter months for the first mile or so. From what I understand, this was a design decision necessary to provide a quick 1-2 shift after the fluid is warmed up. A weak point in the 325-4L is the intermediate band which, when applied, creates 2nd 'gear'. The GM slow apply of this band (via the intermediate servo) provides a soft 1-2 at the expense of a short lived band.

IMHO, I consider a shift improver kit mandatory for the downsized Hydra-Matic transmissions which GM used from around 1977 until the late 1980s. Those smaller units (THM 200, 250, 325, etc.) had a high failure rate early in their lives. True, the units were a bit too small for the weight of the cars, but the engineered soft shifts burned up the friction elements way too early. After 100,000 miles with the shift kit, the intermediate band in my 325-4L was like new. The only reason for the second rebuild was to replace the worn out drive link & sprocket bearings @ 175,000 miles...!

Paul

Edited August 25, 2010 by pfloro (see edit history)

[Guest northmn]

Thanks everyone for the much needed help.I had a feeling the tv cableand set up might a possible problem but didn't know for shure .I have used a transgo kit in my wife's Explorer & they are very good.Its still working great after 5 years.

[Guest northmn]

Booreatta,

I read everything in this article and found that setting the TV adjustment as mentioned didnt work out too well but the understanding of how it works made look farther into the problem I found that after adjustment the cable could be further pulled out aprox 1/4" or more when the gas pedal was fully depressed.I did the adjustment again but held the end of the cable back till i was shure the tv valve was buried then had the other person slowly depress the gas pedal.I took it foe a test drive and everything seems to work perfect. No more flare ups,shifts are perfect,it downshifts properly,and the o/ddoecnt come in till 51mph and falls out at 40mph when letting off on the gas lightly .Now the driving around the city happens in 3rd gear without having to keep it in 3rd.Havent done a pressure test but it everything seems to have fallen into place.

[sosuzguy]

Thanks Bob, since I'm transmission dumb, I'll just have to point this out to the trans rebuilder when I talk to him next. I'm glad you found something that makes it shift smarter!

[RivNut]

Jayson,

Go the the link posted in thread #4. Read it carefully. I took much information from this article and a couple of phone calls to them (Bowtie O/D) to get a handle on what all I need to be aware of when installing the 200-4R in my '64. From what I gather, the 325-4L is the FWD version of the 200-4R. If so, lots of information on the 200-4R should be applicable.

Ed