ScottMHoffman

Have a 200r4 in my 72 Cutlass. Last 3 times I went our have had shifting issued. First time worked fine for the first have of the drive and then on the 2nd half would not shift into overdrive. Got home and seemed to be able to fix and took a ride that started fine. But I stopped for a miniute and then would not shift into overdrive. After a few miles starting working fine but would intermittanly stop shifting into overdrive.

Last drive was the worse. Shifit 1-2 was very hard and at a high rpm. It would shift 2-3 again hard at high rpm but would downshift to 2nd if went under 50mph. Would not shift into overdrive.

Major or minor issue? If minor any ideas what I should do?

joe_padavano

Check the adjustment of the throttle valve cable for starters. It might have slipped.

ScottMHoffman

Ok. Not sure exactly what I need to do. Am I looking to make it tighter or looser?

Lady72nRob71

IF installed correctly, the TV cable will be in a little plastic retainer fitting in a bracket connected to the manifold. Inner cable will be connected to the carb. The little plastic retainer has a release clip of some sort which allows you to pull the cable backwards. Pull it back quite a ways, then in the car (engine off), mash the gas pedal to the floor. The TV cable retainer will slip (ratchet) into the correct position.
If it keeps moving backwards, then the retainer may be broke.

Its been a while since I did this so I hope I am remembering correctly...

442scotty

How long has the tranny been in the car and has it worked fine before ? Again..adjusted is the key to most problems..

ScottMHoffman

It has been in the car for about 5000 miles and worked fine until recently.

Redog

Could be possible that the bracket is broken

ScottMHoffman

I fiddled with the TV cable, pulling all the way out and making sure it would return by itself, it did. Motor off, full throttled the carb serveral times. Never actually made an adjustment. Went for a 20 mile highway city ride and everything was fine again. Can something be getting caught up keeping the TV cable from properly returning?

Redog

It's possible, follow the cable

bccan

Your governor spring may have spit itself out. Not 100% sure but if no changes were made & no mishaps, that has relation to the symptoms & is easy to check.

If you haven't been through one of these units, you need to drop the pan, unbolt the governor housing cover - 4 bolts into the case above the small rear sump in pan. See if you find a spring laying in there and/or spring(s) present on the gov weight(s). The higher rpm govs use only one spring on the smaller secondary weight. Lower rpm govs also use a very light spring on the larger primary weight.

The fix for this situation (if this is the case) is to thread a nylon screw into the hole or nub where the spring seats against the weight. Make sure the length allows the weight full travel. Trim the length by cutting if necesary. IIRC screw size is 8 or 10, 32tpi, length maybe 3/8 or so. Screw will then run up
through the spring & prevent it from dislodging.

While you are there, again, if you need to go down this path, or if you just want to do it as long as the gov is out is to compensate for the weight of the
screw. Weigh it on a digital scale, probably less than gram & then remove the same amount off the metal secondary (small) weight to maintain previous "normal" WOT shift points. If they
needed to be lowered a tad, leave the
weight alone, if it needs to be raised, remove a few tenths of a gram off the
weight. Body shops use these scales, not sure who else if you don't have access to one off hand.

442scotty

If you are not familiar or comfortable with these transmissions I would take it into a shop for an estimate..then you can decide where to go from there..

ScottMHoffman

I took the pan off to see if I would find anything. Found many chunks of something and a lot grit. Looks like it is off to the shop.

540 Olds

Hello,

I see it's been a while since last post on this one, but I had same problem. Got a built 200R and after about 150 miles it would not go into OD. Turned out to be a worn out "O" ring( I think) in the converter. Drove us nuts trying to figure it out, but that was it. The fluid was slipping by the O-ring. If you can, try another converter...

I hope it solves your problem.

Bob

ScottMHoffman

Ended up having the tranny rebuilt for the 2nd time. The metal bits clogged the valve body and made for the poor shifting. The clucth plates, band and gears where a mess and all had to be replaced