Automatic slipping

I want to give thanks in advance to the poster. I have saved a ton of cash working on my own 525 for years. Now to the new problem..

A couple of weeks ago I was out of town and my son was driving the 525 around and said it was acting funny. When I got home the transmission had gone from strong to limp in just 2 days of short driving. All I can tell you is it is acting just like a slipping clutch in a 5 speed, But its a automatic?

I read up from some previous posters and I changed the filter and fluid. There wasn't many particles in the pan at all, but the fluid was nasty brown but not burnt. I do not know a ton about transmissions but the next thing I would guess is the Torque converter is bad. The only thing that makes me leary of that is the fact I can drive about 30 mph in reverse with plenty of torque. In drive It will only creep along at idle. When I accelerate at all is when it does nothing. It progressed this far within a day or two and slight slippage at full acceleration to total slipping above idle.

Any advice would be helpfull. I have already been searching for a used tranny but I would think 134k on this one is a bit premature.

How old is your son? Is he a teenager, and likely to have been revving it in neutral and slapping it into gear, doing brakestands, etc.?

Once upon a time, a buddy of mine borrowed my '81 Z28 4spd while I was away for a couple of weeks. It was okay when I drove it home (though getting into 2nd seemed a bit rougher than usual), but a few days later the tranny disassembled itself. He'd spent the two weeks in my car teaching himself to power shift, of course... :( I replaced it with a Muncie "Rock Crusher" tranny and then blew the engine. But that's another story...

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Originally Posted by DaveVoorhis

How old is your son? Is he a teenager, and likely to have been revving it in neutral and slapping it into gear, doing brakestands, etc.?

Once upon a time, a buddy of mine borrowed my '81 Z28 4spd while I was away for a couple of weeks. It was okay when I drove it home (though getting into 2nd seemed a bit rougher than usual), but a few days later the tranny disassembled itself. He'd spent the two weeks in my car teaching himself to power shift, of course... :( I replaced it with a Muncie "Rock Crusher" tranny and then blew the engine. But that's another story...

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Anyone under 30 is an irresponsible moron. He obviously purposely runined the transmission by performing rowdy and harmful manuevers.

The point here is, it doesnt matter how it happened.

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Originally Posted by Alexlind123

Anyone under 30 is an irresponsible moron. He obviously purposely runined the transmission by performing rowdy and harmful manuevers.

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Absolutely. The little **** should be grounded until he's fifty, and then only allowed to drive a Morris Minor running on three cylinders. Teenagers shouldn't be allowed to drive cars until they're twenty-five, and then they should be limited to bright pink 900cc Diahatsu Charades until they can demonstrate vehicular responsibility.

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Originally Posted by Alexlind123

The point here is, it doesnt matter how it happened.

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Actually, it does.

First of all, it's a good lesson to never loan a car to anyone unless you want to get it back in pieces. Because I'm a condescending ass, I feel it entirely appropriate to use someone else's misery as an opportunity to make an obvious point.

Second, a 4HP22 ain't exactly a Powerglide competition tranny. If the offspring is going to drive it again, it might be worth advising him that this is definitely not the car in which to do brakestands and rev in neutral.

Well I did not find a pair of pannies plugging up the filter and that was surprising. Does that answer your question?


He is 17 and a jock. I am almost positive he screwed it up but how bad is my question. I found a few used trannies for $650 but to take the time with no lift and crawl under that car will push me to killing him so for his sake this better be a light repair.

Its kinda like the movie with Tony Danza and the Jaguar. He has respect for the car but lets the kid drive it in the race to gain alittle insight and bonding with the kid. Well the car gets destroyed in the end, so I should have heeded that warning.

The forward clutch is probably roasted. See http://member.rivernet.com.au/btaylo...oxZF4HP22.html

I would recommend this as an excellent opportunity for a lesson and father/son bonding time, in which Junior gets to do all the heavy lifting...

20 lashes at the town hall!

Any suggestion on where to shop a rebuild kit? I say his punishment is waiting for me to bench the tranny and learn what makes it tick :D

Or about a month with no car this summer.


I found a kit for $160 with clutches and seals but Bav auto's kit is somewhere near $340. Hardly worth it if you ask me, better off getting a good used one.

http://www.dialaclutch.com/DAC-DEMO/dotsearch.asp

Not sure on this one but its a start.

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Originally Posted by DaveVoorhis

The little **** should be grounded until he's fifty, and then only allowed to drive a Morris Minor running on three cylinders.
l.

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Or a Trabant 601.

I found a salvage tranny with converter in Dallas for 425 shipped so I jumped on it. They claim the tranny only had 74k on it and it should be a easy fit.

Anything I should go buy first before I get into this project? New mounts etc..