Tranny?

[evo rider]

Well the other day when I put my truck into reverse it wouldnt quite engage right away. I had to give it a lot of throttle before it finally clunked into gear. Its a 700 R4 on an 88 blazer 6.2l. Could it be as simple as a clogged filter?. The truck sat for a long time before I bought it. ??

[Robyn]

Hi there.

You should drop the pan and have a look see at things in there.

If there is a lot of crud then it may be time for a freshen on the tranny.

Look for large amounts of flakey black stuff. Normal use will see a fine gray sooty looking stuff in the pan.

If the oil is yellow to brown then its definately time to flush the things and get all the old oil out. You can do this by pumping the stuff out of the cooler lines and then just as the flow stops shut down and add more fresh oil and run it again.

Do this until the oil comes clean then change the filter again.

This is not a pretty job and requires two filters and a bunch of oil.

Drop the pan first and have a peek.

The other issue can be that the lip seals in the servosm are getting hard and in the colder weather they are simply no able to seal.

If the tranny works fine once its warm then this is an indication of seals.
There is also the possibility that the converter is leaking down over night and then needs time to refill.

Try placing the trans in neutral for about 10 seconds or so after you have the engine running and may be rev it a bit then drop it in reverse Or drive and see if its better.
If it drops right in then its a drain back issue and the flush and new filter May help.

There is a check ball that keeps the fluid from draining back out of the converter and if it leaks due to dirty oil the engagement on a first start will be slugish.

My advice is to allow things to run in neutral for a few to make sure you can engage quickly and dont rev it in gear until it locks in.
Allowing it to slip can and will hasten its demise if there is a problem

Robyn

[john8662]

Check the fluid level with the engine running and the transmission in PARK, possibly just really low.

J

[evo rider]

I know its got fluid in it. The fluid on the dipstick looks fine but there could be krud on the inside. Ill go out and try popping it from neutral into reverse to see what happens. Thanks for the suggestions

[evo rider]

So I went out and tried dropping it into reverse from neutral and it went right into gear. I think Ill do the filter tomorrow.