[89cummins]

I was parked on the side of the road, and started the truck, put it in drive, and held the brake and gave it 1/4 pedal to see some balck smoke, then i tried to drive away and the rpms went real high and the truck didn't move. Then cycled through the gears again and it went. then @ a stop sign it did it again. made it home and the tranny was a qt low, so filled it. Could the tranny be near the end of it days and its time for a rebuild?

Thanks

 

[Richie O]

When they get low it will act like that. Also I had a dodge diplomat that did the same thing and I put in a new filter and fluid. Worked fine after that.

 

[89cummins]

so a qt could do that?, Because on sunday i roasted the crap out of my "tire" and it was fine. then a small power brake to see some smoke crippled my truck

 

[921stgen]

I did the same thing (nice big burnout) in my 2000 Silverado with 37" nitto graplers and 480le and there was a trail of trans fluid for 6 miles all the way home to my driveway trans was rebuilt the next week. Maybe too much alcohol or to long on the throttle. You could not even see my truck through all the white smoke from tires!

 

[acousticrawk]

at least its easier to to burn out than with my getrag. i mean, its decently easy, but in second i cant get enough RPMS to really get them spinning. at redline it just smokes a little. and my truck doesnt have the nachos to roast the in third, unless its wet out. my moms tranny emptied itself 3 times and never needed a rebuild. as long as the tranny gets low enough fast enough, nothing will happen. just put soem good fluid in it and a new filter. cheapest easiest place to start and may just fix it.

 

[Captain Dean]

During my automatic woes I found out the torque converter can drain back into the pan when the seal wears out. It allows air into the TC which allows the fluid to drain back into the pan.

The symptoms are exactly as you stated. Run the engine for half a minute and the TC fills back up again. If you have a bad leak then the TC never really fills up. Bad news for a fluid drive system.

You or a transmission shop can replace the seal and get you back on the road again. This could be a good opportunity to upgrade the TC.

Check with some of the true experts here to select a good torque converter.

 

[89cummins]

thanks for the help, gonna bring it up to a shop and make sure its the problem but what people are saying makes sense with the torque converter. looking for a torque converter
now. thanks

 

[Captain Dean]

The stock TC is close to a 2000 RPM stall TC which is good for economy and an easy driving vehicle. I stupidly put a 900 RPM TC in one of mine (1990) and that was a bad idea. Shoot for something high enough to let the turbo spool up but low enough that you're not already at top end.

900 RPM TC was already pulling at idle which made the whole truck shudder. You need something higher than that. 1200 - 1500 RPM is the lowest I recommend for our TCDs.

Study-up on torque converters and make a good choice. One specification to research is the lock-up ratio. (Sorry, I've forgotten the correct term -- I'll call it 'engagement'.) The stock TCs are as bad as 70% [engagement]. That means you're wasting 30% of your torque -- it never gets to the rear wheels.

The highest [engagement] spec I saw claimed 92% !! If that's true, it's great. A 100% [engagement] TC is one that locks with an internal clutch.

The amount of loss above [engagement] only makes heat, which is bad for an automatic transmission.

Have fun researching this project. And again, I'm not the true expert here. There is plenty of very good knowledge in this forum.