WTF? Need Help.

[1998ta__1991rs]

this started happening yesterday.....first off the car have a RMVB th400 with a brake and a 3500 nitrous converter. it drives fine when its cold, after i get down on it one good time the car seems like it wont rev past 3000rpm and it just wont pull. 3rd gear seems just like 1st gear, if i get some speed going it still feels like its very strained. did i balloon the converter by chance?

[Matts94Z28]

Either that, or the transmission is toast. Can you see the converter from under the car? If so, take a look and see if it turned blue or anything. That last pull was pretty strong...

[1998ta__1991rs]

Originally Posted by Matts94Z28

Either that, or the transmission is toast. Can you see the converter from under the car? If so, take a look and see if it turned blue or anything. That last pull was pretty strong...

its painted blue

[Matts94Z28]

Originally Posted by 1998ta__1991rs

its painted blue

Well shit.

[WTFWSAT]

Paint it red....then check!

[WWhittle]

Is your shifter adjusted correctly? Might have burnt up the clutches.

[BigdaddyDupree]

yea it didnt feel right yesterday if it turns to it im sure its a converter and not a trans problem

[Jackie5_0]

Your converter dosent have lock up rite? If so it's prob not in the converter, could be a bad drum in the tranny. Check your fluid, if its bad enough your fluid will be toasty.

[1998ta__1991rs]

shifters fine and fluid isn't burnt. I'm leaning toward a front pump problem.

[BAD BOB]

maybe the motor aint big enough to spin that big turbo?

[gearmesh, inc.]

A stator one way clutch in the converter that is locked up and won't freewheel at high speed can cause what you describe. Taking off will be feel normal, but as the revs climb, the converter keeps trying to multiply torque when it isn't needed.

A stator one way that doesn't hold either direction will have a sluggish start and run fine at high revs. Just the opposite of the above failure.

What IS weird in your situation is that it runs fine cold, but if you stab it hard one time, your problem shows up and hangs around for a while. Usually when a converter has a stator one way clutch problem, it doesn't matter if it is hot or cold. Broke is broke in this situation.

Something else for you to check is to see if your transbrake solenoid armature springs back out when the trans is warm. Typically, but not with all transbrakes, the valve that the solenoid strokes to engage the transbrake has a spring that normally pushes the valve and the solenoid armature outward in released mode. If yours doesn't have a return spring under the valve, then you may have to check this with the car running so that fluid pressure can push the valve outward against the solenoid armature.

[1998ta__1991rs]

how would i go about checking that Gerald?

[gearmesh, inc.]

Originally Posted by 1998ta__1991rs

how would i go about checking that Gerald?

Assuming you have already eliminated your transbrake solenoid and the transbrake valve underneath it, then it is time to check the converter.

Step 1 - R&R trans and drain converter........ I know, this step sucks!

Step 2 - With the converter neck up on the bench, you can use retaining ring pliers or needlenose pliers spread out to grab the stator splines (the ones that are larger than the input shaft splines). Turning one direction should be easier than the other. The easy direction is the stator one-way freewheel direction, and the other is the grab direction.

If the converter feels fine, and since you got the trans out anyway, it's time to dig deeper into the trans....... I know, this step sucks even more than step 1 !