[KA67_72]

The C4 in my turbo 302 ranger has problems finding third. After finishing the truck, I quickly smoked the trans. I rebuilt it myself with stock internals and it lasted 200 miles before eating the frictions and grenading the pump. I had it professionaly rebuilt with high performance frictions. It now has 1600 miles on it. It has always had trouble getting into third after it has set for a while. It will act like it's in nuetral when I shift into third. If I build some boost in second, slam the throttle shut and stick it in third it will shift and then work fine for the rest of the day. Today I had to drive the ranger and was running late so I took it on the interstate for the first time(19 miles). I had a blast. With 12 psi, 60-100 happens in what seems like less than the length of a tractor trailer and I was smoking the tailgators who thought it had a four cyl in it. Basically I was being a jerk After getting off the interstate, when I tried to stick it in third, it stayed in second. I had to shift into nuetral a couple of times before it would go into third. It kept going straight to second. After work It was very difficult to get out of second, but after that it ran like normal. I've thought about a billet servo, but I'm not real familiar with autos. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks
Kevin

[briscoe]

The clue here was your description of the pump failure.

So if the pump ate it self up,generating a lot of metal in this unit,no doubt it found it's way to the valve body.

This valve body can't tolerate much metal,the shift valves are prone to sticking. So if the valves get scored from metal they tend to,get draggy in the bores. Once the trans warms up,and the vb expands,[aluminum vb-steel valves] then the valves [2-3 shift valve in this case]can stroke,giving you 3rd gear.

We use a buffing wheel to polish the scratches from the shift valves.

You can mix up some ajax,or comet,with some trans fluid-to a paste.

With vb off trans,remove the plate that retains the shift valves.

Spread the paste on the valves and work them in and out of vb bore.

This should remove most of the scratches from the valves and vb.

Good luck!

[KA67_72]

Thanks for the info. Would this also be the cause for it sticking in second after the abuse yesterday because it's never stayed in second before. It usually acts like it's in nuetral when I go for third.

Thanks for the help,
Kevin

[briscoe]

I think so Kevin,the sticky valve thing is classic with c-4s.

Back in the "day" when we were doing a lot of these units,we pulled our share of valve bodies back off,to free up valves.

The buffing wheel was a god send for us. Another trick was to slam the vb down on the bench,to free up valves.

This served two good purposes. Unstuck valves,and got some frustation out as well!

One more thing,when you get vb off remember,you may not feel much drag,with valves,but,it does not take much to create this problem. Let me Know what you find.