Something is not right! 86 Lebaron Transmission Help

[bobbynjodi]

My daughter's 1986 Chrysler Lebaron Convertible 2.2 Turbo blew the head gasket and this resulted in us taking the engine out of the car. The automatic transmission did not have any real issues other than it shifted a little late and hard into second gear.
We decided to get a pick and pull motor. We pulled the transmission off and while I was deployed for several months, my daughter mated the transmission with the P&P motor. She did not get it together correctly so she took it to the automotive class she is taking in high school. Her teacher "observed" her and the students mate the transmission. Today as we were preparing to cycle the engine, it would not turn over. I had her make sure it was in park and it was, but I noticed the wheels still rotated. (obviously not in park) I had her move the shift lever into reverse and when she did it bent the arm that attaches to the shifting post on the transmission. I pulled off the arm, and used a tool to manually position the post until the tires seemed to NOT spin. I was rotating the wheel back and fourth to assist me with the gear change. We attempted to start it again and....no joy. I bypassed the neutral/park switch and was able to turn the motor over.
Bottomline...I don't think the transmission is properly configured. I don't think the transmission linkage post is correct.
Can this get out of alignment or sequence?
What kind of troubleshooting can I do?
I'm not well verses at all on transmissions.
History:
When we had the CV joints out when the motor was removed.
The CV joints went in easily. We replaced one because it was worn.
The kick down stud on top of the transmission post, is not tall enough to all the linkage arm to be installed.
I had to use a tool to pull the transmission post up high enough to put the shift linkage on properly.
We've not put transmission fluid in yet.

Any help on this topic would be appreciated.

Bobby

[raccoon]

just disconnect your linkage and push the leaver all the way forward, this should be park, reconnect your safety switch. see if it starts.

The kick down stud on top of the transmission post, is not tall enough to all the linkage arm to be installed.


could you elaborate on this? sounds like the C clip from the top of the linkage/kick down thingy let go or is missing, without this the shaft falls into the transmission, this part has a big leaver on it that moves the safety switch and backup lamp switch, i think its the same thing, anyway without the clip the part falls down and the leaver wont go anywhere near the switch.

[A.J.]

When you say "it won't turn over" do you mean with the starter or at all? Can you turn the engine over by hand? If not it sounds like the torque converter fell out a little and didn't get engaged into the front pump correctly. If that's the case and the engine and transmission were bolted up, there is probably damage to the torque converter ears and the pump. If the engine won't turn over by hand it's because the t.c. and pump are smashed together.

A.J.

[raccoon]

if he bypasses the safety switch it turns over.

[A.J.]

I read that thing 3 times to see if I could answer my own question. Fail.

Unhook he shifter cable from the trans. With your hand, pull the shifter towards the radiator, that's park. Now push it towards the firewall one gear at a time to make sure nothing in the trans is binding up. After that with the shifter cable still not attached, pull it towards the radiator back to park and try to start it. If it still doesn't start, you either have a bad neutral safety switch, or the lever in the trans isn't pressing it in properly. Take the switch out, plug it in to the harness, turn the key and manually press the switch in to see if the car starts. If it starts, you might have to drop the pan and inspect the lever that presses on the switch. That's about all the help I can give without having the car in front of me.

A.J.

[bobbynjodi]

I did not notice a "C" clip. The plunger looking (kick down thingy) was flush with the top of the main linkage post. I'm able to pull the plunger up with a pair of pliers. It stays up for the most part but seems like it should be taller to ensure the lever attaches properly. The engine does turn over when I bypass the switch. NOTE: I've not topped off the transmission fluid yet. Maybe this is a factor.

[JDIZZ]

Like Raccoon posted, It sounds like the C clip fell off the throttle valve lever assembly. Under the C clip should be a washer and a seal. When the clip falls off and the shaft falls down, it allows the kick down valve and guide and maybe the spring to pop out of it's bore in the valve body. Pull the pan and put it back together. Then all should be good.

[bobbynjodi]

We now have the engine running and we are ready to work this problem. I found an A404 manual but it really doesn't go into detail on this topic.
Currently the pan has not been removed and the shafts has not been pushed back up (all the way?) as Joe told us to.
We were able to pull the levers up but it is not quite high enough to install a c-clip on the kick-down lever.
The car will not shift unless the shift-lever is removed and a pair of pliers are used to shift it, while pulling up on the shaft.
Even shifting it like this is does not seem to be in park and the car won't start without by-passing the safety switch.

We are considering putting the front wheels in the air and while the engine is running attempt to shift the gears. Our thought process behind this...is we feel since the transmission did not have fluid in it, doing this would help it to circulate fluid around the transmission to get everything sync'd up and back to shifting normally. Is this foolish?

Should we pull the pan off like the previous post say and make sure the shaft is up all the way before we do anything?

With these shafts seeming to be not all the way up make it nearly impossible to shift the transmission?

AJ...I reread your by-pass switch post and will we do that as well...but I think I will wait for an answer on this first.

As you can see by this post...I'm not versed at all on transmissions and do not have an understanding of how they operate.

Thanks for helping me while I'm in over my head.

Bobby

[JDIZZ]

It appears you have a lot of time. So when you are done fooling around, pull the pan and follow the above posts. You are not the first person to have this problem and you have known what I believe to be the fix for five months now. It is not hard to remove the pan and re-assemble the parts. Please let us know what you find when you pull the pan.

[bobbynjodi]

Thanks again for the refocus. Time is something I don't always have. I deployed for several months and work was overwhelming when I came back. That ate up several months. I made my daughter pay for her own parts and while going to school and working she really didn't make much money. I'm now recovering from shoulder surgery and her male mechanic friends are helping her move forward while I watch from a drug induced state of consciousnesses. It sounds like her friends are going to be able to drop the pan next week. I will be so glad when this beast is on the road.
Once the transmission is done....she will need to replace the back window in her convertible.

This forum has been great!

[bobbynjodi]

I'm on the rebound. The kids took off the transmission oil pan and pushed up the kickdown rod. They attempted to reassemble the pan and everything but it didn't seem to go together all that well. They had to pull out the by pass safety switch to make everything line up and close nicely. They ran it through the gears and everything seemed to work. They put it all together. They had the front end on jacks, started the car and watched the wheels turn. The wheels only seemed to drive forward, no matter what gear it was in. Is that normal, when it is on jacks? They are still working a few more issues so they didn't check it on the ground. Should this be a concern? Thanks again.... Bobby

[turbovanman²]

Well I would say that's a problem, reverse means reverse, lol, so if its not reversing, you have more issues. You should grab an ATSG book on the A413, its a huge help and you won't be so blind.

[JDIZZ]

I'm on the rebound. The kids took off the transmission oil pan and pushed up the kickdown rod. They attempted to reassemble the pan and everything but it didn't seem to go together all that well. They had to pull out the by pass safety switch to make everything line up and close nicely. They ran it through the gears and everything seemed to work. They put it all together. They had the front end on jacks, started the car and watched the wheels turn. The wheels only seemed to drive forward, no matter what gear it was in. Is that normal, when it is on jacks? They are still working a few more issues so they didn't check it on the ground. Should this be a concern? Thanks again.... Bobby

Did they find parts in the pan? Like the kick down valve and guide and maybe the spring? The transmission will not work unless they are properly assembled back in the valve body. In drive, 2nd, and 1st, the wheels should rotate in a forward direction. And opposite in reverse.
Although it appears I am late with this information, the attached pdf files may help you.

Let me know if you need more information.