Engine/Transmission (1994 - 1998) Auto Advice

[obert]

Well, due to a few unfortunate events involving dad's old 94, He just brought home a shiny new 97. It is much nicer than the old truck and he got a pretty fair deal. Now the question. It has an Auto trans. Niether of us has really ever drove an auto. I do know that added fuel and or (very) heavy towing can be certain death for the auto.

I got to see the truck today, And first saw the 4"exh/5" tip, heavily sooted. The governor seals have been cut off, And dad says it runs like a scalded dog, with noticeable smoke. So we have added fuel. Oh, and there is a pair of 30' goosenecks that alot of old iron likes to ride around on. So theres the towing part.



Im kind of worried about the trans, HOWEVER, I trid to check the stall speed and only spun the wheels (gravel drive). Dad says it shifts rather firm-- not slamming gears, but definately not the "slip-o-matic" feel. With the brakes crammed hard, tapping the throttle sort of lurches the truck, tach never over 1000. The wheels would spin at 1500-1600. Never got a solid stall speed in the gravel.



Based on this, can anyone tell me if this transmission may alredy have some helpful mods? The engine work(fueling) was done right, evrything is nice and clean, lots of attention to detail, and im talking under the truck. the guy was or had a good mechanic- well maintained. I suspect (hope) the trans will follow suit whith the other mods. It was supposed to have pulled a large 5er camper.



As a side note..... What turbo is stock on the 97/auto. This has the HX35, same as my 98 5 speed.

 

[bmoeller]

I hope it has gauges. Sounds like it was setup properly. If the truck had a stock transmission, it, shifts are really soft, not really firm. Although, the 47REs are able to learn how you drive and towing or driving hard will firm up the shifts some. Stock torque convertors are VERY loose. Their fluid coupling absolutely sucks. I really hated my stocker. This Goerends ROCKS! Oo.



The '97 does have the same HX-35 w/'gated 12cm2 turbine housing.

 

[obert]

no gauges... . Im very familiar with the engine, and think this was one of those "safe" up grades-- there is a boost elbow on the compresor outlet, but i didnt look hard enough to see if the gov. had been off for a cam plate. Stock injectors, but definatly a twist of the fuel screw. And when she broke the wheels loose, i jumped off the throttle ( I expeted to just sit there and rev with no mevement) and the turbo barked at me like a pro stock 1066 (or 4020 if you swing that way) at the 300 foot mark. You know that happy little sound of air bouncing around evrywhere... ...



I'm usualy the go-to guy for dad's diesel needs, and i hpoe he follows my advice (demand) that he imedeatly install boost/EGT/trans temp.



Sounds like hes got something here, and I think he'll get used to the auto, but he cant afford to be burning stuff up.

 

[RBratby]

you could take the inspection plate off the bottom of the trans and look to see what color the tc is. if the rpms drop a lot (200 rpm) when the tc goes into lock up then the tc is stock. if it is a aftermarket tc then the tc will only drop about 50-100 rpm. im comparing this to my 95 auto i had with a dtt trans.

 

[obert]

I wasnt ambitios enough to take the cover off. Told dad that next time he was under there to do just that, thinking of the bright purple TC's in the TDR ads.

 

[DBraunig]

Hey, any chance you could ask the guy you got it from for some specs? maybe he knows just what has been done, or can get you in touch with who ever did the bombs? might take the "guess work" out of it.

Dave.

 

[rrausch]

Sounds to me like it's had some transmission work. I agree, talk to the P. O. and see if you can find out.

 

[obert]

Well the truck came from a dealer, but dad's good with the salesman and and may be able to get further info. We do know the guy did pull the fifth wheel with this set up. As a diesel mechacich myself I am impressed with the cleanliness and sighns of maintinence. Thanks to you folks for supporting my hopefull suspicions that the driveline has been respected equaly as well as the rest of the truck. KDP is the only thing I'm unsure of, but this truck has like 120k on the dial, dads old 94 had 275k, and my service truck has now 300k even, and none of them have had that dreadded problem. Now all 3 will break tomorrow... .....



PS RRausch>> any relation in this part of the country? My brother-in-law, his dad, and his brother (and sister befor marrage) are all R. Rausch. Also another unrelated Rausch farm a few miles north of here.

 

[rrausch]

obert, you have a PM.

 

[Extreme1]

It could have a fuel plate and if it was a TST and the stock replacement screw was used, you can't tell without removing the cover. Since it has a boost elbow I'd assume it has a plate too. The boost elbows on 12 valves don't do anything unless the fuel was increased.



Not all the T/C vendors paint their parts pretty colors so a visual inspection may or may not give you info on that one. Like bmoeller said, the stockers on these are so loose that if this thing was bone stock it probably wouldn't spin the tires unless the gravel was loose.



The only was to see if the injectors have been changed is to pull one and check the part number on the tip.



Have fun, it sounds like your dad got a nice toy.

 

[obert]

There is engine paint on the Injector bodies, but the givaway is the virgin paint on the return line banjo fitting bolts and copper. Possible a guy could paint all that after the mod, but that so far to me is uncommon and unlikely.