Pinto Car Club of America

Hey guys,

My 77 Pinto is my daily driver & on the way home from work I noticed the transmission acting up a bit at the 2-3 shift. This morning all was well with the car but when I was going home I noticed the RPMs jump a bit at the 2-3 shift point. I drove the car for a bit & checked the transmission fluid & noticed it is ok. No metal or signs of clutch dust in it that I could notice.  It only seems to act up at the shift point & is fine before & after shifting.

The car has a 2.3 4 cylinder with a c-3 transmission. It is not the original transmission, as the original went out back in 2007.

Is it possible there is just an adjustment that needs to be made?

I would do a forward band adjustment about a half turn in and see if it improves. If not, try another half turn in. If that doesn't do it I would suspect clutches going out.

Hmmmmm.... Sounds like I'll be trying that out some this weekend. Fingers crossed!

It just got worse. This morning I noticed it was a little sluggish shifting into 2nd & won't shift into 3rd. I think it just failed on me.

When I got home from work I went ahead & checked the fluid to see if there was any signs of metal or clutch dust. The fluid is a little dirty but isn't looking too bad. It's still got a reddish color to it & when up to temp the fluid level is good.

I went ahead & put the shifter through the gears & noticed a couple different issues. It seems like it is making a little more noise than it should when shifting. When I shift through the gears there is a loud noise metallic noise when shifting from park to drive & when shifting to reverse as well.

Any ideas??

Sounds like end play has gone out. Possibly a warped sun gear, or a bad thrust washer. Sounds like its time for a tear down and rebuild. If you were closer I would give you the spare c4 I have. It just needs a bell and torque converter. Just rebuilt it a few months ago.

Quote from: dave1987 on September 07, 2012, 11:26:00 PM
Sounds like end play has gone out. Possibly a warped sun gear, or a bad thrust washer. Sounds like its time for a tear down and rebuild. If you were closer I would give you the spare c4 I have. It just needs a bell and torque converter. Just rebuilt it a few months ago.

I was afraid it was something serious like needing a total rebuild. Looks like I might be going to Circleville Ohio to pick up another C3 for $75 & rebuild this one.

Looks like it is just shot. Only got first & it slips a little bit. Good thing I only paid $20 for it a few years back. Bad thing that I gotta do the job all over again. Oh well