TH 350 Trans broke today...... I have a TH350 with a B&M star shifter.... I was taking a drive and car was running fine. I come up to a light and down shifted to second then to first and came to the stop. When light turned green i started off agian and upshifted to second and noticed a sound, it sounded like the fan hitting the shroud. I then pulled over to check and everything looked ok. But i then noticed that in park when i rev it up when it got to 1500rpm the sound came back. With the door open i could now tell the sound was coming from under the car and not by the motor. So since i wasnt far from home i turned around and took it slow. Seemed to shift fine but i could still hear the sound... (fan hitting something, or at least thats what it sounded like) As i went a few miles everything was going good and then car just reved up and i lost all gears. Came to a stop and no Rev. no 1st. no 2nd. no 3rd. Had to call a flat bed and have it towed home.
My brother used to work at a trans shop and has rebult many, but he wont be able to come over and look at it till the end of the week. I dont know anything about them but its killing me not knowing what happen....
Any idea's on what my problem is?

On a better note... I used my Hagerty Towing program and i have to say they made it easy... I just called the number, they took my info and dispached a truck. They said it could be 45 min to an hour, but the truck was there in 30min. and since i was less then 10 miles from home it was free! Thanks Hagerty!

So, im sorry for this long post, and just rambling on but this all just happen and im still a little upset my car broke....
You guys got any ideas as to what happen?

Jack it up, and take the inspection cover off between the engine and tranny.
Check the bolts between the flex plate and converter. You might get lucky and it might be those bolts came out, otherwise its inside. It's worth looking at.

Jack it up, and take the inspection cover off between the engine and tranny.
Check the bolts between the flex plate and converter. You might get lucky and it might be those bolts came out, otherwise its inside. It's worth looking at.
Or a broken flexplate.

Or a broken flexplate.

Thats what my brother said on the phone when I explained it to him. Ill take a look at it tonight. Only problem is my Jack Stands are under my brothers Buick Turbo-T.:(

Hey i was thinking more about this.. if the flexplate broke wouldnt you hear a grinding sound when trying to start the car?:confused:
The car starts and it sound find. Also the sound that i heard yesterday is gone. (Sounded like a fan blade hitting something.) So it starts fine and sounds fine when i rev it up to 1500 where the sound started yesterday.
Tonight ill take the dust cover off and check what i can.

Jack it up, and take the inspection cover off between the engine and tranny.
Check the bolts between the flex plate and converter. You might get lucky and it might be those bolts came out, otherwise its inside. It's worth looking at.

checked the bolts and they are all in. flexplate looks ok. Looks like this weekend we be pullin the tranns out.:sad:

I'll bet it's the converter, the sprag or the stator failed (although they usually just go away and are done), but the downshift may have started the process and it did it in after starting back up. Pretty much the converter or the pump failing are going to make the tranny stop working altogether. How's the fluid look?

I'll bet it's the converter, the sprag or the stator failed (although they usually just go away and are done), but the downshift may have started the process and it did it in after starting back up. Pretty much the converter or the pump failing are going to make the tranny stop working altogether. How's the fluid look?

I didnt drop the pan yet, but the fluid on the dip stick looks fine. Im going to try and get a car trailer tomorrow so i can take it over to my brothers and put it up on his lift. He wants to drop the pan and see how it looks and then we will go from there.
I did some searches on converters, there is a lot to read.... its just a little beyond me... i just dont get the whole stall speed thing. :( But im going to keep reading up and try to figure this stuff out.

If the fluids not all cooked, and the way it sounds like it went south I'm betting on a converter issue, or possibly the pump. How long has the trans/ converter been in the car?
I'm definately no converter or trans expert but have researched them and messed with automatics in drag racing enought to get the general idea, converters are actually pretty simple, very few parts to them. The pitch of the vanes on the "turbine" and the stator (the part in the middle that looks like a wheel) create the stall. The tranny input shaft fits into the sprag inside the hub of the converter and this part will fail sometimes, when it does it's lights out, no forward no reverse nada. The thing that makes me wonder is how yours started making noise first, maybe it was just broken enough to work but make noise, until it finally quit shortly after.
I still have an expert build my trannys and converters but like to know the way stuf works. I'll be curious to hear whats up with yours, good luck with it.

How long has the trans/ converter been in the car?.

Im not sure how long the trans has been in the car. I bought the car about a year ago from a dealer. I did find the guy that sold it to the dealer. He didnt have much info on the car. He bought it from a guy that said the guy before him did all the work to the car. He did get his number and called the guy but never got any calls back.

thats the one bad part.. it sucks not knowing whats in the car when you need to. Its got a small block 350 that runs good. Seems like it has a nice cam in it. Its snappy, and sounds great at idle! I Have put close to 3000 miles on it since i got it and it runs good.
just need to fix this trans problem.
Hopefully my brother will know more when we pull the trans out... maybe tonight...

UPDATE--- Just got home from my brothers... we took the trans out and pulled it all apart. The fluid seemed ok, when we dropped the pan there was a little (not much) metal in it. (and some sludge on the bottom) We did find that the pump looks to be the problem.
I am not a trans expert and really had no idea what i was looking at.. so ill just try and say what i saw. There was two gears inside the pump. The smaller one was broke into three pieces.
So my brother is going to get a new pump and also and overhaul kit.

Any ideas as to what would break the gear in the pump?

No idea, sometimes an improperly installed converter will damage the pump, thats why I asked about how long it had been in there, but usually they don't last long.
Maybe just a simple failure? Just make sure it goes back together right and check the converter for proper clearance to the flywheel before you bolt it up, about 1/8" to 3/16", or less than a 1/4".
Maybe just one of those things...?

I will lay 100% odds the converter has sucked a kumura....
If u cut it open, u will find the bearing in the center has collaspes and possible a few vanes broken off...which happened 1st would be debateable...
Trowing a new converter in u will be moble again.

Now the down side...the chances are som of this scrap metal has got into the trans...thi will destory bushes and bearings in the trans very quick, only a couple miles will do it..
So pull the trans, lay everything out check clean and if ok replace...thu it would be good practice to at least replace all bushes, bearings, filter anyway.

Been there done that..hence how I know.

I will lay 100% odds the converter has sucked a kumura....
If u cut it open, u will find the bearing in the center has collaspes and possible a few vanes broken off...which happened 1st would be debateable...
Trowing a new converter in u will be moble again.

Now the down side...the chances are som of this scrap metal has got into the trans...thi will destory bushes and bearings in the trans very quick, only a couple miles will do it..
So pull the trans, lay everything out check clean and if ok replace...thu it would be good practice to at least replace all bushes, bearings, filter anyway.

Been there done that..hence how I know.

My brother took it all apart last night. He had me get a new converter and a overhaul kit for the trans. So hopefully it will be in tomorrow and we can start rebuilding it tomorrow night.

Think about the converter at the same time..if do round town and highway use
I had a 2500 stall, and the engine all for bottom end...slipped like hell around town and wa only just in at 60mph..posted here a couple weeks ago..
Took the guys advice and when to a real ow stock...
Still blips accidentlly taking off, round town slipping dropped about 400 rpm and on the highway doest sound if it needs another gear any more, and chops down a bit easier
Round town and highway milage has increased markedly. Far far nicer car to dive now thu from a standing start not quite as quick, but still respectable.

Noise is one of two things; cracked flexplate-doesnt explain loss of gears so,
pump gear(s) are gone. You had to get in it pretty good for that tho...

EDIT: just read pump gears toast. My bad.

:) Update: :)
Its been some long nights this past week. (but good bonding and beer drinking):D Last night we finished up the re-build of the trans and got it back up in the car. Today I bolted up the crossmember and hooked up the tranny cooler lines, ran the kickdown cable (didnt have one before) and ran a new vacuum line to the modulator.
Filled it up with fluid and took the test trive..... and it worked!!!! :hurray: All the gears are there and it shifts much better then it did before.
Didnt hook the Kick down cable up yet.. got to late. Might work on that tomorrow. Also i have a external cooler im going to add for the tranny fluid.