Transmission woes again!!! Help!!!

[flightmedic]

Alright guys. Any input from guys who have knowledge of these autos. would be greatly appreciated. I am setting up for a fight with the shop that rebuilt mine last year. Here's the deali'o:



Trans. was rebuilt last year by a shop to the tune of $1800. 00 big ones w/ the promise that I would see over 100,000 miles of "hard duty" w/ it as this guy had "been there, done that" with the 727 over his 30 years of being in business. He even took me through his work area where he did the trans. rebuilds and it was meticulous. He showed me the difference between hard parts and soft stuff and showed me what more than likely had failed on mine at the time. It was a great interview and he got the job.



The fun begins!



Wife picks it up and immediately tells me something is not right but she hasn't driven her all that much. I get home and sure enough the torque converter is bad. Call the guy and he is not entirely enthused about having to re-do it but once again has it done the following week with a new torque converter in it.



Around Sept. or so, I pull the dipstick after pulling a light load (4000#) w/ my trailer and the fluid is burned! I change it and there is alot of metal in the pan. Mistake one took place at this time; I was in the middle of our wedding plans and the ole' girl was the furthest thing from my mind.



After the wedding, the truck started to have more problems: When pulling a load (4000#), the truck started bucking as if it were a manual and I was engaging/disengaging the clutch; when first driving the thing in the morning, occasionaly, when I would place the truck in gear I would have nothing for about five seconds and then it would engage drive, (very intermitent though); and finally, the truck continued to be straining against itself at speed.



Truck went back in. All the above explained to shop. When I got the truck back it was a week before my warranty expired. He said the truck was fixed. I noticed it had new fluid and he has changed the shift points.



Well, two weeks ago I had to drive the truck on a four hundred mile trip. Again I experienced problems with engagement of drive and she started to slip in low, but intermitently.



I got home and wrote a very nice but firm letter to the guy stating that I wanted the trans. pulled again as I sure that something is broke again inside. I am outside of his warranty period on time, but not mileage.



What I am looking for is any insight your collective thoughts can give as I know nothing about automatics. To me it seems as though I either have a TQ that is failing again; or, possibly a internal pump that is failing and letting line pressures fluctuate? I seem to remember hearing something about there being a pump in automatics?



I am just insanely frustrated guys. I have about 10,000 miles on the rebuild and was very gentle on the transmission: never pulled it in O. D. , always put it in neutral for at least two minutes prior to placing it in drive, and drove the thing sanely.



And just when I want to give up hope on the old girl and sell her for a ridiculously low price, I drive her on an errand and listen to that sweet purr of the cummins... ...



Thanks for the time guys. Look forward to any thoughts.

 

[cerberusiam]

Sorry to hear of your troubles. Unfortunately the cold hard truth is the trans is screwed up and it will never be right until it is rebuilt correctly. Burned fluid and lots of metal in the pan are not good. Once that has happened something has gone wrong and just changing fluid is not going to effect it. The transmission needs to be completely tore down and cleaned thoroughly to remove any small pieces of metal and/or clutch material that could be in the many small passages. A small amount of shiny metal or aluminum pieces in the pan after a rebuild is not unusual. Lots of shiny metal or more than a few flecks of brass colored metal and there is a serious problem.



There are a lot of shops and people I would trust to rebuild a transmission for a gasser and very, very few I would even let look at a diesel transmission. Just because they have 30 years experience with 727's doesn't mean they know squat about a 518, its weaknesses, and the fixes for said problems. Too many won't even touch the transmission because they won't make money on it because the hard parts required to build correctly will eat up their profits. If they try to use the gasser parts and used pieces they will forever be fixing the transmission. I suspect this may be what has happened in your case. The price of $1800 would be the first flag some thing is too cheap. I expect to pay in the neighborhood of $2500 for a good rebuild and a non-stock converter to stand up to the cummins. Any more specialty and hard parts the price goes up. I had the same experience with a person I initially thought would be able to handle the job, however, when it came down to exactly what he would do and what parts he would use it became apparent he was not up to speed with the problems the Cummins can cause an auto.



If it was me I would make him redo the transmission and do it right or take him to small claims court. If that doesn't work then look for a reseller or a authorized rebuilder for one of the big boys.



Once again I am truly sorry for your troubles and problems. Been there, done that.

 

[bgilbert]

I wasn't aware that they had a 727/518 behind a Cummins for 30 years . This is what we get with having a diesel 518 rebuilt by gasser people. Did he think you only had a big block ? BTW the 518 is basically a 727 with an overdrive bolted to the rear of the transmission. You really have to stress to the 'local' rebuilder that this is a modified diesel 727 not a gasser auto, no gasser simple fixes. Sounds like if he promised a 100k mile HD transmission and you only have 10k miles worth of troubles, I would diffently take it back to them and say hey this transmission is NOT right. This doesn't sound like a TPS problem cause you say it feels like its slipping in drive and low. Alot of trannies get rebuilt and rebuilt so on and so forth because of a bad or dirty TPS- throttle position sensor, that the been there done that shop owner wasn't aware of or did and since the owner didn't have any clue of it, he charge him with the full rebuild instead of the cheap fix of a new TPS. Sounds like this shop hasn't done many Cummins auto rebuilds or you wouldn't be having so many problems or like cerberusiam said many shops won't even touch the Cummins auto rebuild because they 'been there done that' and know what can happen. I hope you get this corrected though.

 

[flightmedic]

Thnaks guys!



When I was initially talking w/ the guy, I specified that it was a diesel equipped vehicle. In fact I made that very clear to him.



I appreciate the input and thoughts on this. I am waiting to hear from him as to what he wants to do on it. I don't feel like there is a option in my book. My letter was very clear and concise that I wanted the trans. torn apart.



In light of what you guys have pointed out, I may request a refund of my monies from him and look for someone else in the area. We'll see? I will post a update.

 

[CDegner]

A 727 transmission set up correctly will handle anything these engines can throw at them. Don't forget, it is the 727 that sat behind the 426 hemi. There aren't too many of our 1st gens that can put out what a modified hemi did and some of the guys ran them hard (i. e. racing). Yes, our OD unit is a little weak but that can be improved as well.



Since your problem arose under warranty, he should be held to getting it right, even thought the warranty has since expired. If he gets beligerent, I'm sure most any amall claims court judge would agree.



Carl

 

[TKingsbury]

The problem with diesels is torsional vibration. It will hammer anything you bolt behind one. Diesels don't make smooth power like gassers do. So while I'll agree the 727 is a fantastic trans, it too can be hammered by a diesel.

Travis. .

 

[BushWakr - RIP]

Flightmedic, maybe you could contact Bill at DTT... . if he is available he may be able to give you some ideas as to were to look for you problem and how to go about getting the shop to fix the right part(s)

In the past, he has been a big help to nearly all of us who have problems with the stock auto's and made suggestions on fixing or getting the most out of them till you have to replace it. .

You can ususally contact Bill Kondolay at:



http://www.dieseltrans.com/

Phone# 1-866-540-4002



Give that a try before going in for the transmission scrap ... .



pb...

 

[nvmy74]

Hey flightmedic, I know of a great trans shop in Dekalb. Matter of fact they gave me a free rebuild with my transfercase rebuild... ... ..... hahahahaha... ..... Sorry to laugh, you could always sell it to me for parts. Just kidding bro, I know how you feel. I just want your front bumper... ... ... .....