My 72 350/350 delays when shifting into drive after sitting for a day or two. It starts right up, idles perfect, It will immediately shift into reverse and I can back up, but there is a delay when I shift to drive.


Is there something relatively simple, or am I looking at a rebuild in my future. Recent fluid and filter change and the fluid is red and does not smell burnt. One the initial shift into drive occurs, it then engages without issue. It is only on the first shift into drive, and never into reverse.

 

a lot of things take place in the valve body to make it shift properly, sounds like pressure is good u joints tight and vacuum line good, maybe a check ball is sticking when fluid is cold or an o ring is a little shrunken its a tough thing for me any way to figure. i dont think its vacuum related. if this just started after a fluid change that could be the reason because that gray film circulating around the tranny keeps everything in order, i never like to change trans fluid unless absolutely necessary. if it were me i would just keep an eye on it for awhile to put some miles on the fact that it is fine when warmed up is a relief, it may just settle in after a while but if it starts slipping then you will know where you stand,

and of course triple check the fluid level

 

It has been doing it for a while, and didn't start after a fluid change. I just thought if it was something simple that I hadn't thought about, I might try to fix it. As I said, once the first shift into drive the first time, it performs as it should with no issues.

 

there are limited things you can do externally to correct trans issues... fluid level, vacuum connection,elec connections...other than that problems are internal which means rebuild sometimes swapping out just the valve body will fix some things and that can be done with the trans still in the car. if you have a lot of miles on your car it just may need a rebuild. i dont think any trans medic products will work and will just accelerate the problem. maybe someone has recently had this exact issue and has other clues