An insect nearly burned down my 67 stepside.

[Steeveedee]

Originally Posted by VetteVet

Yeah I worried about that too. If it's bad I will probably get my 700r4 rebuilt or buy a newer one. Mine is an 84 but it was beefed up. I went to the turbo 350 because the front pump seal was leaking on the 700r4 and the PO had had it replaced twice and it still leaked. I had a shop replace the seal and bushing and flush the converter for $100, and when I picked it up they told me it wasn't going to last long because the clutches were bad, and the converter bearing was worn. After they took my $100 of course.

A reputable shop would have called you and told you about the converter bearing, and you could have had it installed before they put in the front seal. If all they did was replace the front seal, how did they know about all the "burnt clutches"? Did they take the pan off? The modern day version of that is like when I took a computer in many years ago to get a card that could give me a USB port (new tech, at the time); the shop showed me that it came up with the "Blue Screen of Death". I told them to hook it up to better equipment and reboot, which worked. I got an estimate for $50 on the phone, and $100 when I got there for the installation. I don't think they liked me much after pointing out the difference in price, so went with the other problem so that I would have to pay for a reinstall of the system. Every business has these people.

[AussieinNC]

700R4 transmissions will leak from the front seal when the cooler circuit is plugged or restricted...also if the cooler bypass valve is jammed with crud....

As far as flushing the convertor...if they did it correctly they would have been able to show you the metallic content from inside the convertor...the system I use has a pleated coffee filter style element that catches the contaminants for easy identification.

As an aside, any metal fragments in the filter from the flushing means the convertor MUST be cut open and repaired or replaced.

Perhaps they have a similar system...

As far as "burnt clutches"...700R4's, even after they have been "beefed up" all suffer from clutch burn ups, band failures, sun shell failures...great for trans shops...not so great for end clients.

Anyone looking for a decent auto trans...go straight to a 4L80e...yes you will need a trans controller...but you will have a much stronger drive train...

[VetteVet]

Originally Posted by Steeveedee

A reputable shop would have called you and told you about the converter bearing, and you could have had it installed before they put in the front seal. If all they did was replace the front seal, how did they know about all the "burnt clutches"? Did they take the pan off? The modern day version of that is like when I took a computer in many years ago to get a card that could give me a USB port (new tech, at the time); the shop showed me that it came up with the "Blue Screen of Death". I told them to hook it up to better equipment and reboot, which worked. I got an estimate for $50 on the phone, and $100 when I got there for the installation. I don't think they liked me much after pointing out the difference in price, so went with the other problem so that I would have to pay for a reinstall of the system. Every business has these people.

Thanks Steeve I had them rebuild the front pump so they had to take off the pan to pull the lockup solenoid before they could pull the pump. he didn't really say the clutches were burnt and I wouldn't have believed him if he had because the fluid was bright red and I know the smell of burnt clutches, who don't right? You probably guessed it but they didn't get anymore of my business.

Originally Posted by AussieinNC

700R4 transmissions will leak from the front seal when the cooler circuit is plugged or restricted...also if the cooler bypass valve is jammed with crud.... That's what was wrong with mine that caused it to overheat the fluid, but I never noticed any front seal leaks. Of course I was too busy fighting the fire to notice. Also the one that caught fire was my TH 350 I never got a chance to run the 700 except to drive it home from the POs about 15 miles and it had a six inch puddle of fluid on the floor the next morning.

As far as flushing the convertor...if they did it correctly they would have been able to show you the metallic content from inside the convertor...the system I use has a pleated coffee filter style element that catches the contaminants for easy identification.

As an aside, any metal fragments in the filter from the flushing means the convertor MUST be cut open and repaired or replaced.

Perhaps they have a similar system...

As far as "burnt clutches"...700R4's, even after they have been "beefed up" all suffer from clutch burn ups, band failures, sun shell failures...great for trans shops...not so great for end clients.

Anyone looking for a decent auto trans...go straight to a 4L80e...yes you will need a trans controller...but you will have a much stronger drive train...

I totally agree with you.

[AussieinNC]

So they "rebuilt the pump" and didnt replace the pump bushing in the pump housing..aka known as "convertor bearing".....UGH !!!

There are torrington bearings inside the convertor between the stator and impeller...but any metal particles in the flush output should have meant a convertor cut and repair...as I said above...

Cant stand shops that work like that...

Maybe I am just gettin too old...

[Steeveedee]

Originally Posted by AussieinNC

So they "rebuilt the pump" and didnt replace the pump bushing in the pump housing..aka known as "convertor bearing".....UGH !!!

There are torrington bearings inside the convertor between the stator and impeller...but any metal particles in the flush output should have meant a convertor cut and repair...as I said above...

Cant stand shops that work like that...

Maybe I am just gettin too old...

Guess I'm getting too old, myself. There is enough money to be made as a shop that they don't need to be stealing it from the customers. In California, the Bureau of Automotive Repair estimated that 1/2 of all repairs were unnecessary, in '84 (when I last worked as a mechanic). Not much will have changed, I'm sure.

[71CHEVYSHORTBED402]

Originally Posted by VetteVet

Boy I bet I get a lot of views with this one.

I've had my share of problems with the engine in this truck. It started with when I bought it and discovered it had flat lobes on the camshaft. I got a completely rebuilt engine along with the truck, so I simply installed it in place of the bad cam engine.

Here's why the engine flat lobed the cam. At least I think so.

Attachment 1843670

Notice the oil pump pickup screen is missing. It was laying in the oil pan when I took it off.

So I decide to just install the rebuilt engine and start fresh. Get it all in and add water to the radiator. It keeps going down every day for a few days, no leaks on the floor so I check the oil, aw shucks ( epithets deleted). Water in the oil and up on the lifters when I primed the oil pump.

It turns out that the block is cracked in the intake valley and it was small enough that I didn't notice it when I installed the lifters and the intake.

After due consideration, I decided to boil out the flat lobe engine and use it.
It only had 5,000 miles on it and no wear on the bores and the heads were in great shape.

Both these engines had been bored to .030 over so I swapped all the new stuff from the cracked block engine over to the flat lobe engine while taking all the necessary measuring precautions.

Fast forward to engine install and new cam wear in for 20 minutes.
I'd preset the distributor, all the valve tappets, and the timing so it was ready to go.

I decided to start the engine from the engine bay instead of in the cab, so I could monitor everything. I also jacked up the rear end so she couldn't take off on me in case the tranny linkage was adjusted wrong.

So here we go, it rolls over about twice and fires right up, speeds up to the required 2 grand, and sounds strong, pumping 75 psi oil pressure running as smooth as silk, with that nice rumbling sound that only the dual Flowmasters can make. So I'm patting myself on the back and about to feel great and I notice the water temp gauge is climbing fast.

About this same time I noticed that there was some hot red fluid boiling up out of the transmission dip stick all over the place. It made a huge mess so I let it cool down and decided that the 16 inch electric fan wasn't cutting it.

I pulled that thing off and replaced it with the original shroud, and a seven blade fan off the original engine. I wanted to be sure it would cool properly.
Now after draining and replacing the burnt trans fluid ( yeah it got that hot) I was ready for round two.

Now here's where it gets real interesting.

I top off the radiator, no leak downs this time, checked all the fluids after the fresh oil change, and hit the remote starter button. She fires right up and sounds great, temperature comes up to 180 and levels off and holds at 175 to 180, so far so good. So I figure the overheating engine caused the trans fluid to get too hot and up it comes.

WRONG!

I notice a leak under the oil pan and a small drip of oil on the floor so I investigate and the pan gasket was leaking. All the time my temperature gauge is reading 175 to 180. Got that fixed or so I thought.

So I shut it down again to replace the gasket and all off a sudden here comes the trans oil up out of the dipstick again. EXCEPT THAT this time it got on the hot exhaust pipe and HOLY HELL there are flames coming up in my engine compartment. PANIC! PANIC! PANIC!

Luckily I had the fire extinguisher handy and was able to put out the flames quickly. I singed the spark plug wires otherwise no real damage except to my underwear.

Now i'm really puzzled. What had caused the transmission fluid to boil over if it wasn't the engine overheating? I'm really thinking hard on this one and decided, if it wasn't the engine overheating then it must be the oil cooler lines plugged, or the transmission pump wasn't working.

Then it hit me.
While I was cleaning the fuel tank and re-installing the lines, I pressure checked the system for flow, and the tank bowed when I hit it with a low pressure charge. I knew the tank was not plugged so it must be a line. I was right, one of the line sections that had hung on the wall was plugged. It was brand new so how could that be?

Are you getting it yet. That's right, when I checked the line and ran a small rod through it, a bunch of dirt came out and the line cleared. AHA! it was a dirt dobber (mud wasp) that had gotten into that 3/8ths line and plugged it up.

Could it be that the transmission cooler line had suffered the same fate. I yanked them off and sure enough the output line from the transmission was plugged about three inches in.

The end result was that the transmission oil was just circulating in the trans and building up enough heat to cause it to boil over when I shut the engine down. If i'm really lucky, I didn't burn up the clutches in the trans.

So that my friends is how an insect almost burned down my truck.

What A loss that would have been.


Attachment 1843664

Wholly flame wasps. I think I'll buy that fire extinguisher I saw at Costco today. Glad you had it, wow, that could have been real bad. I'm paranoid of plugged up lines, so I keep everything capped and blow out each line as I build. I'll bet you're on board with that

[El Dorado Jim]

well that was a close one! glad it didnt burn , have you figured out if the trans is good or not?

[custom10nut]

I find those buggers EVERYWHERE! On my tractor and both trucks. They make a mess of stuff, but at least they don’t sting, which leads to the other more painful cousin, the Paper Wasp. Dislike them both.

[VetteVet]

Originally Posted by 71CHEVYSHORTBED402

Wholly flame wasps. I think I'll buy that fire extinguisher I saw at Costco today. Glad you had it, wow, that could have been real bad. I'm paranoid of plugged up lines, so I keep everything capped and blow out each line as I build. I'll bet you're on board with that

I'm am now for sure. I usually check but they were brand new so I didn't think about it.

Originally Posted by El Dorado Jim

well that was a close one! glad it didnt burn , have you figured out if the trans is good or not?

I have slowed down since the tractor arrived but it's back in the dealers getting the backhoe installed so I might get to find out soon. I've been wondering myself.

Originally Posted by custom10nut

I find those buggers EVERYWHERE! On my tractor and both trucks. They make a mess of stuff, but at least they don’t sting, which leads to the other more painful cousin, the Paper Wasp. Dislike them both.

I hate the yellow jackets the most

[AussieinNC]

Yellow jackets, wasps and even stink bugs all try and invade my work space....

Lil ol can of BrakeKleen works wonders.....

Buy the el cheapo brand and you will be good to go...