Transmission slip?

ScumRat

HELP! Just got done doing all the body work and prep for paint (nothing to do with symptoms) and suddenly have a major loss in power coming out of 1st gear (automatic) the engine will rev up but doesn’t make any power, sometimes with a hard shudder. If I baby the gas on take off it’s not so bad and clears up/ runs fine once I get into second gear. Dreading that it’s the transmission, thinking it’s my torque converter. I would love to hear others thoughts and attempts I might try before I rip this tranny apart, any input welcome and thanks in advance.

MazdaMitch

I have little experience with the AUTOS in these trucks. I have a new truck with AUTO and will be having fun with that soon, but for now, not a lot of experience. Maybe someone else will chime in.

ScumRat

MazdaMitch I’m hoping so! Not much luck so far. The only shop that’ll touch it quoted me 2800 for a full rebuild.

kz6fittycent

I'm sure you've already done some research, but they're not terribly hard to rebuild. I saw a guy w/ ZERO experience rebuild one on his workbench for a project. He had a transmission tech come and check his work every so often and it passed muster.

I had the benefit of a good friend who built transmissions for drag racing in his garage. He didn't have any real specialty tools (maybe a couple) but it was all very basic.

My guess based on the slippage in first gear is that you've got some broken/worn bands or a servo/solenoid is stuck. It could be the converter, but that usually impacts all points of the driving range. Meaning, everything is slushy.

You could try some Lucas Transmission Fix . I have had great success with that stuff in milking an old transmission along. I had a rear seal in a transmission completely gone. It would slip and carry on, but I put this stuff in and I ran that way for 2-3 years! It's cheap enough to try it out, IMO.

You'll definitely want to take a look at rebuilding that transmission though. It's telling you it's upset lol.