200 4R Won’t go into gear

[Dodge73dart]

Take a real good look at the shift shaft where the lever is on the transmission.
While having someone shift it with engine off. Check to see if the lever linkage is actually moving the shaft or spinning on the shaft.?
Could be that simple.
If you’ve never ran that transmission yourself you really have no idea what the problem is.
So when shifted from Drive and reverse no movement at all?

 

[SamJam05]

Take a real good look at the shift shaft where the lever is on the transmission.
While having someone shift it with engine off. Check to see if the lever linkage is actually moving the shaft or spinning on the shaft.?
Could be that simple.
If you’ve never ran that transmission yourself you really have no idea what the problem is.
So when shifted from Drive and reverse no movement at all?

I bought the car this way, but it did allow me to talk him down quite a bit. I figured it may not be simple but transmissions don’t just simply not go into gear generally, slippage and other things occur from what I understood, so I figured I could possibly self diagnose with a little assistance. I will do that this week though it’s supposed to be warmer up here. I’m going to follow the advice from the others members as well for sure.

 

[Jim Rockford]

I bought the car this way, but it did allow me to talk him down quite a bit. I figured it may not be simple but transmissions don’t just simply not go into gear generally, slippage and other things occur from what I understood, so I figured I could possibly self diagnose with a little assistance. I will do that this week though it’s supposed to be warmer up here. I’m going to follow the advice from the others members as well for sure.

I bought my 86 bonnie with the same issue, guy parked it in 03 because the trans stopped pulling in any gear. I removed the trans to rebuild it and sure as sh*t the input splined in the convertor where stripped clean out . I went through the trans anyway while I had it out, No bad chunks anywhere in the trans itself.

 

[Jim Rockford]

If you dont have access to a pressure gauge a good way to tell it the pump is moving fluid is the check the trans level cold engine off, it should be higher than the full mark. take note of what the level is, start the car and then check the level again, if its dropped to either the full mark, or below, you know the pump is working. If the pump is working you should be able to jack up the car(Support it on jack stands ) start the engine and have someone put in in gear while its running, If you listen close while you are underneath you might be able to hear the trans apply the clutches, it will sound like a slight whine and some creaking as it puts pressure on the piston return springs and the wave plate starts to flatten it out, If you hear that then the convertor has sh*t the bed as the pic above.

 

[Jim Rockford]

Other than the pump and the input shaft., reverse and drive have nothing in common that could fail and leave you without any movement.

 

[SamJam05]

Other than the pump and the input shaft., reverse and drive have nothing in common that could fail and leave you without any movement.

Thank you Jim, sorry for late response been working crazy hours as has everyone due to this pandemic. Everyone in this group has been unbelievably helpful so far

 

[oldsmobile joe]

Other than the pump and the input shaft., reverse and drive have nothing in common that could fail and leave you without any movement.

Broken torque converter stator will act the same way. Been there, done that.

 

[SamJam05]

Broken torque converter stator will act the same way. Been there, done that.

The gentleman I bought it from said it went into gear briefly one more time before it was parked. Like they put a little RPM to it and it seemed to kick into gear before they ended up parking it to be sold. Not sure if that information helps diagnose it at all.

 

[Jim Rockford]

Well no matter what, the trans needs to come out.

 

[oldsmobile joe]

before dropping the pan, i would rent or buy a transmission fluid pressure gauge and a service manual. service manual will have trouble shooting flow charts to follow and will tell you what your pressure readings mean and give you a direction to go.

pulling the pan could be inconclusive. unless there is severe fluid contamination or chunks of bearing material, what are going to do next? by taking some pressure readings you will know if your oil pump is working, what your line pressure is, what your in gear pressure readings are, what your stall pressure is. do yourself a favor and follow the service manual and not the magic 8 ball.

See post 18 again