Need help - no buick

[Hans1965]

Dear all, standing on the highway with my '56 CdV and in need of quick and good advice. No matter what I do with the hydramatic gear selector, there are no gears. Car is in neutral and idles fine, but no reverse, no low, no drive. Still in neutral. Looks like the connection of the lever to the transmission is gone. Any other explanation, quick fix or solution?

 

We were driving in 4th gear, then it shifted down to 3rd for no apparent reason and then it was in neutral and no power anymore. 

 

 

 

Don't want to crawl underneath. Here is the start of school holidays and high traffic. Thanks, Hans

[jackofalltrades70]

Sounds like the linkage assembly came apart somehow......hard to tell without being able to see under the car. Good luck!

[JohnD1956]

Sorry to hear about your troubles.  If you haven't already done so, best to call for a flatbed to get it off the highway.  No matter what else may happen you will have to go underneath to check for linkage disassembly.  Maybe a pin holding a section of the assembly together broke and the rods pulled away from each other?  But even so, if you were in a driving gear,  why would it suddenly shift to neutral.  

I assume the trans still has sufficient fluid?  Maybe a line broke and leaked the trans to a point it can't operate anylonger?

 

[Hans1965]

Hi,

back home, had to wait for 2 hours but then we were quickly off the highway on a yellow flatbed ADAC car. Pays off to be a member. 

Tranny has enough dexron 3. Checked it before we left. A little leak but nothing spectacular. 

Will look underneath the car later.

 

Food supply now. 😁😁😁😁

 

Thank you!!!!! 

[NTX5467]

On an internal trans linkage section, which the outside linkage attaches to, there should be a "detent plate" (with a spring-loaded ball bearing) that would keep the trans in gear unless the linkage somehow moved.

 

When my '77 Camaro (THM350) had about 3K miles on it, I was driving home one night when the engine's rpm went up to 3000rpm, rather than it's normal cruise rpm of 2000rpm (55mph speed limit).  If I took my foot off of the gas, the tach would go back to idle.  When I throttled back into it, then it'd go to a higher rpm before it "caught".  So I stopped.  It would do "D" and "R", no problem.  BUT it would not upshift until it hit about 6000rpm, no matter what.  Being that it had a 2.56 rear axle ratio, in "2" it was like a 4.10 axle in high gear . . . so not a really big deal if it never hit 3rd gear.  But I could hear a metallic rattling in the trans oil pan, from the driver's seat.

 

The service manager lived somewhat close, so I dropped by to see what he thought.  He was unconcerned, saying "It's under warranty".  So I drove it home and to work the next morning.  I also got a chance to see just how "restricted" the 305 2bbl/cat convertered combination was.  NOT VERY, as it turned out.  With about 3/4 throttle, the tach swung to 5000rpm without hesitation, and then it just started to flatten out at 6000rpm, but not much.  Restrictive bead cat converter?  Anyway, I digress.

 

What they found was that a check ball in the direct drum had fallen out, rather pushed through the ill-machined seat.  Lost pressure, of course.  That's what the rattling sound was.  So, warranty paid for new friction elements and a new direct drum.  No further issues past that, until at about 250K, after driving for about an hour on the freeway, it decided it wanted to run in "2", all by itself.  So, with the rear axle ratio, no big deal, just a ding on fuel economy.

 

Hopefully, a shift linkage interface came apart and that's all that happened.  IF so, the "gears" you felt were the shift detents in the steering column, not in the trans itself.  That would be the desired situation.  IF not, then a good HydraMatic rebuilder might be needed.

 

Glad y'all and the car are in a safe place now.  Please keep up posted.

 

NTX5467

Edited July 14, 2019 by NTX5467 (see edit history)

[Hans1965]

Hi, the linkage was good, everything tight and nice. Shifted the hand lever and it was delivered to the tranny. Just opened the pan of the tranny, nothing in the pan, looks good to me, but I do know similar to nothing about how it should look. 

 

 

[60FlatTop]

If it was an SU carburetor instead of a GM transmission, all you would need to do is put it back together and it would be fine.

 

Since you were traveling along in 4th and manually pulled it down into third, my first step would be to slide out the governor (if it has an access cover) and make sure it didn't exceed its normal speed and get stuck..

 

That's the quickie, then hook up a set of gauges and follow test procedures.

Bernie

[Hans1965]

Hi, no it shifted down to 3rd without me touching the lever. 

 

[60FlatTop]

Misunderstood, that's better.

[Hans1965]

Spent the evening watching videos of people dismantling hydramatics. The horror to do that is still there but it seems to be manageable - at least the dismantling part. 😂😂😂😂

I need to see it as a free of charge (hahaha) opportunity to learn. 🤣🤣🤣

 

[JohnD1956]

Good luck. 

[lancemb]

Reading the title, I thought you were going to say that you have no Buick, and that is the problem.  Having no Buick is an unfortunate problem, but one that is easily remedied.

[Hans1965]

To give you an update, the neutral clutch drum was totally broken in the hydramatic. Dramatic failure!