1993 chev dully auto trans woo's<(".)>

JOHN JAY · 09-19-2008, 11:38 PM

I have a 1993 1 ton dully with a brand new GM pperformance crate motor. when I pulled the mtr I nigelected to block the trans up. The torque converter fell off the trans and the trans and the converter spued out a mess of trans fluid. No biggy cleaning up the mess. I filled the converter a bit spun it back on the trans blocked the trans up got the new motor in now the transmission is slipping? Someone had stripped two wires on the driver side top of the trans and twisted them together that go to a modual?? Please lend me your advice. No clue thought I was going to have a like new truck

75K30 · 09-20-2008, 01:45 AM

Welcome to the site;
Which transmission do you have? Does 93 have a 4L80E? You should ahve several wires that attach to the transmission, and it could possibly be the cause of your problem, though I would think that it would be a shifting problem, and not a slipping problem.
When you re-installed the converter, were you sure that you spun the converter enough to engage the converter completely?
If some wires were split, and re-connected prior to this incident, then it would appear that the only thing that would have changed is the problem with the converter falling out.
I am thinking that it did not get installed quite all the way.

Case 7230 · 09-20-2008, 10:58 AM

I agree with 75K30, I don`t think an electrical problem would cause slip. I would have thought that had the TC not been properly seated you would not have been able to fully bolt up the engine and trans or if you were, the engine and trans would have been seized tight. Usually a TC will hold around maybe 8qts of fluid. When yours fell off you were bound to loose most of it. When you had everything bolted up did you have to add something like that amount of fluid?
How many miles on the trans? What was the reason for the engine change? Could it be that the original motor was down on power and masking a trans fault? With the new engine you are bound to have a large increase in both horsepower and torque (congrats. on that by the way).
This is just my two pennies. Maybe some electronic trans expert will chime in.

JOHN JAY · 09-20-2008, 11:27 AM

This is all GREAT advice Thank you. The motor and the converter were locked up! At that time I thought it was the trans mount misalignment I had to unbolt thr mid drive shaft bearing holder and the front u joint to get the pressure off of the ring gear to get to bolt up. It did take 6qts oil trans fluid also. I had spun the converter to were it slipped onto the input shaft enough ( not ever doing this before I had no clue what it should feel like. At first I did not know that the tc was fed oil from the trans? I was happy to find that out. At first I had to add four qts atf ran it and added two more. It revs up to about 4000rpm then burns rubber all the sudden??? As far as shifting I do not know yet. It was also makeing a grining noise from behind the inspection cover I thought that I bent the ring gear. Probably did but that noise went a way soon

Case 7230 · 09-20-2008, 01:33 PM

It does not sound good. There are normally two wide "lugs" on the TC which have to engage with two slots on the front pump as the TC is slid into place. If these were not aligned and the bellhousing bolts were pulled up tight then there is every chance that the front pump or the TC was damaged or both. Have you got any error lights on in the dash? If so you should pull any stored transmission error codes.

JOHN JAY · 09-20-2008, 04:03 PM

I do believe it to be the 4L80e trans mission. When I installed the TC I puhed it as I spun it a couple of turns then it fell back further towards the trans ? I felt at that time I had engaged the lugs that you are refering to. I borrowed a haynes manual from a friend today . I read thru it once . It says to take it to a perfessional. after ckg the fluid I hate Phelps Chevrolets service department though. They charged my wife 85. to take apart the passenger door (they say they took it apart) on the 00 suburban then they put it back together without fixing it. the door latch would not work. They wanted 200. more to fix it? They screwed with me when the AC compressor decidergrated. and didnt want to service the rear condensor it went out 1200 mi ltr and I had to go to the western div mgr to get them to take responibilty

JOHN JAY · 09-20-2008, 04:04 PM

Now how do I pull error codes?

75K30 · 09-20-2008, 06:47 PM

I still feel that the problem is in the converter engagement.
When installing the torque converter, make sure it engages fully. There will be 3 "clicks" - the first one is going onto the (inner) lock up shaft. The 2nd is the (outer) input shaft. The 3rd is the front pump. You'll notice the 2 square cutouts on the torque converter. These engage to matching pins on the front pump. To verify that you are all the way in, you shouldn't be able to put your fingers between the torque converter and the tranny where the pan bolts up to.

Now I have also thought that this problem could be compounded by the flexplate being installed backwards.
How certain are you that this is correctly installed?
The converter should be capable of moving, or rotating after the transmission is all bolted up. There should be about 1/8" to 3/16" clearance between the converter and the flexplate after the trans is bolted up.
You should always have to move the converter towards the flexplate after the transmission is bolted up. If there is not any room, then you have a problem and the converter is not engaged.
If the converter is in a bind, it will not have engaged the input shaft, and will make a terrible noise as it tears up the splines, or even breaks the tangs off of the pump.

When you mentioned that the trans was "locked up" was this thing all bound up after you installed the transmission to the engine?
I think we are getting somewhere now.

JOHN JAY · 09-20-2008, 11:15 PM

Yes sir I think to be safe I will drop the drive shaft jack the trans take out the cross member supporting the trans this time chk the converter for sure. seems the dimentions that you have provided will give a look see before I get into all that. I am real sure that the flex plate installed correctly for I marked it to the TC before pulling the motor. report bact tomarrow. should not take to long...

75K30 · 09-20-2008, 11:47 PM

Why are you pulling the driveshaft and the x-member JOHN JAY?
The converter should have nothing to do with the output shaft, and the crossmember will also have nothing to do with this.
This is a concern, and I cant actually visualize why this would be necessary.
All you have to do is remove the dust shield from the lower portion of the bellhousing, and loosten the converter. Once the converter is free, it should spin, and it should move back towards the transmission and provide that clearance we discussed above.
If it does not move back, and the converter is all bound up, chances are that it has not completely engaged all of the required components.
Now, if this is true, you will then have to remove the x-member and d-shaft to move the trans back far enough to re0engage the converter properly. Only problem here is that damage could have already been done, and it might require further action.
Provided that all is still usable, you may be able to just engage the converter and still be alright.
I am still concerned about the description of the trans being "locked up" and not too sure what this means exactly, but from the description, it still leads me to believe that the converter is not all the way in.
When you bolted up the transmission, did the bellhousing rest flat against the engine block, or did you have to use the bolts to draw the two pieces together?
Having to draw the transmission to the engine block would also indicate a problem with the converter installation, and this would bind everything up. Trans damage would be the result.
For now, just remove the inspection cover (dust cover) and turn the engine and remove the converter bolts so you can verify that the converter is installed correctly. No reason to yank everything apart yet, especially the x-member and d-shaft.

09-19-2008, 11:38 PM	#1
JOHN JAY Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2008 Posts: 196	1993 chev dully auto trans woo's<(".)> I have a 1993 1 ton dully with a brand new GM pperformance crate motor. when I pulled the mtr I nigelected to block the trans up. The torque converter fell off the trans and the trans and the converter spued out a mess of trans fluid. No biggy cleaning up the mess. I filled the converter a bit spun it back on the trans blocked the trans up got the new motor in now the transmission is slipping? Someone had stripped two wires on the driver side top of the trans and twisted them together that go to a modual?? Please lend me your advice. No clue thought I was going to have a like new truck

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09-20-2008, 01:45 AM	#2
75K30 Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2006 Posts: 2,992	Welcome to the site; Which transmission do you have? Does 93 have a 4L80E? You should ahve several wires that attach to the transmission, and it could possibly be the cause of your problem, though I would think that it would be a shifting problem, and not a slipping problem. When you re-installed the converter, were you sure that you spun the converter enough to engage the converter completely? If some wires were split, and re-connected prior to this incident, then it would appear that the only thing that would have changed is the problem with the converter falling out. I am thinking that it did not get installed quite all the way.

09-20-2008, 10:58 AM	#3
Case 7230 Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2007 Posts: 547	I agree with 75K30, I don`t think an electrical problem would cause slip. I would have thought that had the TC not been properly seated you would not have been able to fully bolt up the engine and trans or if you were, the engine and trans would have been seized tight. Usually a TC will hold around maybe 8qts of fluid. When yours fell off you were bound to loose most of it. When you had everything bolted up did you have to add something like that amount of fluid? How many miles on the trans? What was the reason for the engine change? Could it be that the original motor was down on power and masking a trans fault? With the new engine you are bound to have a large increase in both horsepower and torque (congrats. on that by the way). This is just my two pennies. Maybe some electronic trans expert will chime in.

09-20-2008, 11:27 AM	#4
JOHN JAY Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2008 Posts: 196	This is all GREAT advice Thank you. The motor and the converter were locked up! At that time I thought it was the trans mount misalignment I had to unbolt thr mid drive shaft bearing holder and the front u joint to get the pressure off of the ring gear to get to bolt up. It did take 6qts oil trans fluid also. I had spun the converter to were it slipped onto the input shaft enough ( not ever doing this before I had no clue what it should feel like. At first I did not know that the tc was fed oil from the trans? I was happy to find that out. At first I had to add four qts atf ran it and added two more. It revs up to about 4000rpm then burns rubber all the sudden??? As far as shifting I do not know yet. It was also makeing a grining noise from behind the inspection cover I thought that I bent the ring gear. Probably did but that noise went a way soon

09-20-2008, 01:33 PM	#5
Case 7230 Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2007 Posts: 547	It does not sound good. There are normally two wide "lugs" on the TC which have to engage with two slots on the front pump as the TC is slid into place. If these were not aligned and the bellhousing bolts were pulled up tight then there is every chance that the front pump or the TC was damaged or both. Have you got any error lights on in the dash? If so you should pull any stored transmission error codes.

09-20-2008, 04:03 PM	#6
JOHN JAY Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2008 Posts: 196	I do believe it to be the 4L80e trans mission. When I installed the TC I puhed it as I spun it a couple of turns then it fell back further towards the trans ? I felt at that time I had engaged the lugs that you are refering to. I borrowed a haynes manual from a friend today . I read thru it once . It says to take it to a perfessional. after ckg the fluid I hate Phelps Chevrolets service department though. They charged my wife 85. to take apart the passenger door (they say they took it apart) on the 00 suburban then they put it back together without fixing it. the door latch would not work. They wanted 200. more to fix it? They screwed with me when the AC compressor decidergrated. and didnt want to service the rear condensor it went out 1200 mi ltr and I had to go to the western div mgr to get them to take responibilty

09-20-2008, 04:04 PM	#7
JOHN JAY Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2008 Posts: 196	Now how do I pull error codes?

09-20-2008, 06:47 PM	#8
75K30 Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2006 Posts: 2,992	I still feel that the problem is in the converter engagement. When installing the torque converter, make sure it engages fully. There will be 3 "clicks" - the first one is going onto the (inner) lock up shaft. The 2nd is the (outer) input shaft. The 3rd is the front pump. You'll notice the 2 square cutouts on the torque converter. These engage to matching pins on the front pump. To verify that you are all the way in, you shouldn't be able to put your fingers between the torque converter and the tranny where the pan bolts up to. Now I have also thought that this problem could be compounded by the flexplate being installed backwards. How certain are you that this is correctly installed? The converter should be capable of moving, or rotating after the transmission is all bolted up. There should be about 1/8" to 3/16" clearance between the converter and the flexplate after the trans is bolted up. You should always have to move the converter towards the flexplate after the transmission is bolted up. If there is not any room, then you have a problem and the converter is not engaged. If the converter is in a bind, it will not have engaged the input shaft, and will make a terrible noise as it tears up the splines, or even breaks the tangs off of the pump. When you mentioned that the trans was "locked up" was this thing all bound up after you installed the transmission to the engine? I think we are getting somewhere now.

09-20-2008, 11:15 PM	#9
JOHN JAY Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2008 Posts: 196	Yes sir I think to be safe I will drop the drive shaft jack the trans take out the cross member supporting the trans this time chk the converter for sure. seems the dimentions that you have provided will give a look see before I get into all that. I am real sure that the flex plate installed correctly for I marked it to the TC before pulling the motor. report bact tomarrow. should not take to long...

09-20-2008, 11:47 PM	#10
75K30 Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2006 Posts: 2,992	Why are you pulling the driveshaft and the x-member JOHN JAY? The converter should have nothing to do with the output shaft, and the crossmember will also have nothing to do with this. This is a concern, and I cant actually visualize why this would be necessary. All you have to do is remove the dust shield from the lower portion of the bellhousing, and loosten the converter. Once the converter is free, it should spin, and it should move back towards the transmission and provide that clearance we discussed above. If it does not move back, and the converter is all bound up, chances are that it has not completely engaged all of the required components. Now, if this is true, you will then have to remove the x-member and d-shaft to move the trans back far enough to re0engage the converter properly. Only problem here is that damage could have already been done, and it might require further action. Provided that all is still usable, you may be able to just engage the converter and still be alright. I am still concerned about the description of the trans being "locked up" and not too sure what this means exactly, but from the description, it still leads me to believe that the converter is not all the way in. When you bolted up the transmission, did the bellhousing rest flat against the engine block, or did you have to use the bolts to draw the two pieces together? Having to draw the transmission to the engine block would also indicate a problem with the converter installation, and this would bind everything up. Trans damage would be the result. For now, just remove the inspection cover (dust cover) and turn the engine and remove the converter bolts so you can verify that the converter is installed correctly. No reason to yank everything apart yet, especially the x-member and d-shaft.