I am leaving on a long trip. I took my trailer out of mothballs and towed it to my house. Halfway to house the truck starts loosing power. Got it home, checked the trans fluid. Found air bubbles in it. No burned smell or anything funky, just bubbles. I figure the tranny is slipping. I changed trans filter and gasket. (no little rubber gasket in any packages for trans filters) Re-filled with atf+4 like I always do. Still getting bubbles. Checked all lines. No leaks. No front or rear seal leaks either. What could cause this problem? I have let it idle in neutral and shifted through all gears. I am checking the fluid level in neutral and idling. Is at safe level. Help please. I am leaving tomorrow. Or maybe not at all.

 

Maybe its sucking air in somewere?

 

The usual cause of foaming is overfilling. Are you checking it in Neutral or in Park?

 

in neutral. The truck is only pulling a 5900 pound travel trailer. It feels very sluggish. before I was towing a heavy equipment trailer with a bobcat. The hardest part is to get it going and keeo it up to speed. I rechecked several times in park to see if there was a chance I overfilled it. It is right on the money. But with the foam I may need to add more. I am not seeing as much foam since I had it flushed earlier. (funny what you can get done when you are willing to pay top dollar. Only seems to do this under load. The cooler is clean and flowing air. no leaks anywhere. engine spins up to tach out just to get the trailer moving. I would say bands are smoked but I smell no burn. No metal in the pan when I pulled it. I am going to have to cancel my trip. I am going through the mtns. I may need to trash this tranny and look for a standard.

 

i can't be of any help but be sure to post back if you find your solution. i too have the same problem. my trans hates pulling my 5500# camper. the engine wants to run but the trans does not.

 

I changed the fluid one final time. The foaming stopped. I dont know why it did that. I am reading the same level as before. So the chance that I overfilled it is null. Archer, I think we need to abandon these autos and get standards. I had this weak tranny condition before on a 92' ext. cab smoker. I didnt have the bubbles though. I asked a tranny shop this morning and they believe my line pressure is weak and not sending enough pressure. Their fix is to drop the tranny and have it rebuilt. $2,000.00 with new torque convertor. Which could also be the problem. At that price I can get a decent standard and clutch setup. I will actually be posting on the board for such a beast. I am gonna go on my trip anyways. I am having a buddy drive a chase truck behind me in case I break down or smoke the tranny. So screw it. Cant dodge it ram it.

 

Has anybody with an automatic transmission problem ever gotten a different answer from any transmission shop?

I think the first day of auto transmission repair training must be "Sell the customer a complete rebuild or nothing at all".

 

Can't say I blame them, comebacks are expensive.

 

Quick way to check your line pressure ---
At the trans is a spring that pulls the TV linkage toward the front of the truck.
Pull that spring where it's connected to the engine and run it to the REAR of the truck.

That will apply full line pressure all the time. Your shift points will go up and so will the shift itself.

IF 1st - 2nd shift snaps your head back at close to full throttle your line pressure is probably ok and the clutches are slipping at lower pressures.
You know - got to make the shift EASY for the wimps out there that don't like solid shifting trannys.

 

I had my A-727 rebuilt for $1,200.00 complete from the Trans Shop, recommended by Banks about 2 years later it started to slip if any of you remember and I found the shop had closed down because the owner had gone to Afghanistan to work on the Hummers.

I found the guy who had built my Guaranteed Bulletproof 700R-4 @ The Toy Shop from my 6.2. I had before.

I went out to see him and he charged my $100.00 to put the truck on the lift and drop the pan and replace the filter and fluids and take a lot of pictures.

$100.00 is completely worth it for me not to spill the transmission fluid on myself
and then have to clean the driveway when I am done.

The slipping went away as quickly as it came.

He said when it comes time he will rebuild it complete for around $1,200.00, of course any custom parts would be extra.

Whoever you take it to stay away from anything that starts with an AA%%O.
Check out the shop with the BBB or Consumer Affairs for any class action lawsuits.

And be sure they are familiar with diesel transmissions. I had a shop install a gasser torque converter on my 700R-4 and blamed me for ripping the lugs off from the torque converter.
Jim

 

I ran a new thread, but can tell everyone here. The tv cable was not hooked up. when I got it back on it shifted ok. but still slipped. My buddy adjusted the cable, and it goes fine now. I am never taking my truck back to that tranny shop. I do believe that the best way to make money for them is to do a major rebuild. Not alot of money in troubleshooting and cable checking. I guess I understand it, but dont have to like the economics of it.

 

I had mine rebuilt by phoenix race transmissions in dallas, it didnt need it but after my mods i didnt want take chances. People may preferr a stick or an auto but fact is, correctly build a auto is just as strong and has just as long of a life as a stick. And for 2400 bucks and a 3 year warranty i couldnt have converted to a stick any cheaper. Plus rowing thru gears is for the younger ones.

 

so if I move this spring is that any kind of fix or just to test pressure? Because wide open the thing shifts hard from first to second. But in the higher rpm it seems to hang in that higher rpm longer before shifting to 3rd and same shifting to overdrive.

 

Welcome to the forum! You have posted in a 12 year old thread and many, if not all of these folks no longer post here. It is much better to post your question in a new thread, there are many automatic transmission experts here and they will chime in, good luck...Mark

 

Sounds to me like a throttle cable adjustment is needed.