Long story short -but still long, I bought a 2004r trans from a local vendor about 2 years ago to replace my PG. I got it installed and it worked very well but, it leaked. My car went in for Upholstery a few months back. We trailered the car to the upholstery shop and decided to drive the car home. (about 75 miles) We were about 5 miles from home when the front pump seal and bushing blew out. The shop fixed it and I installed it but the trans still leaked (looked like it was coming from the pan gasket). Turned out the case was cracked. The shop got a new case and I have installed the trans back in the car --it shifts like CRAP! My car has been in their shop for over a week now and he said he has tried everything. New valve body, seperater plate and govenor. He thinks the problem is in the T.V. system adjustment -I have tried adjusting it all the way in, all the way out and all points in between! It STILL shifts bad (really delayed upshifts) and it seems to freewheel between gears unless I pull it into that gear. It won't upshift till I get about 3,500 RPM's in it. I am thinking of just ditching the 2004r and going with a THM350 -Either that or just eating the cost and going with a Bowtie Overdrive trans. (should have gone with them in the first place!!) Thanks for letting me vent a bit.
Anyone got any advice? Should I go to a 350? Will my Bowtie crossmember work with that?

Sorry to hear of your problems, don't know what to tell you, other than the cross member from bowtie for the 2004r won't work for a 350.

For starters do not use the TV cable to adjust shift points as you will end up damaging the transmission. The shift points are determined by the valve body and govenor, which you said the shop changed. What VB & governor did they use? It would be listed on the transmission ID tag located on the passenger side of the output tailshaft. Out of curiousity how much HP/TQ are you pushing? What kind of stall speed? Is the torque converter a lock-up or non-lockup? You may also want to do some searches on Bowtie Overdrive before spending any more $$$.

Sounds like the shop is willing to make this work for you and have not left you out in the cold by changing the case etc. Maybe you could ask him to change the trans out to the 350, or another 200r4. You said it worked well, but the cracked case and other problems. Before you spend money on a complete changeout give the guy a chance to make this right. Also maybe let him do all of the adjusting, he is susposed to be the pro, right? Also, if you decide a change of trans is in order, he probally has one on the shelf. I would just work with this guy, he sounds decent to me.

The trans shop that built it is pretty much a one man operation. He had a shop downtown at one point but sold out and just does transmissions on the side. (His main business now is motocross racing -he has run the Baja 500 a couple times and now owns and operates his own track.) In other words he doesn't remove or replace transmissions from vehicles anymore. He just builds them. He has been real good about working with me but this thing just isn't right. I know a little about how a trans works but it has been a few years since I tore into one. The TV cable seems to have no effect on where the trans shifts. It seems to want to shift at 3,000 rpm's whether you are doing part throttle or WOT. It shifts from first to second and second to third (when I hit 3,000 rpm's) but I have no fourth gear and I have no "kick down". If I do a part throttle up to 3,000 rpm it will shift but then if I immediatly floor it after it shifts, it won't shift back down. (This is one of the tests from Bowtie) I have a very mild 327 with about 9.5:1 compression, 4 barrel edelbrock, manifold and Dart iron eagle heads with headers. Maybe pushing 300 horse. I have an open rear with 3.08 gears (or somewhere close to that) -I built it for cruising, not racing. The trans does have a lockup converter but at 80 my little 327 was below 2,000 rpm's so I don't use it. The converter must be just a stock converter -guessing the stall speed is less than 2000.
I took my car to his shop over a week ago for him to adjust it but he has had no luck with it. He told me to take it and "play" with the TV adjustment as he feels that is where the problem is. So far, all the way in or all the way out -same difference -this is not right. He said he did a pressure test and the trans has good line pressure with good line rise when the cable is pulled. Something else is wrong. My pressure guage got into my headers a long time ago or I would run my own pressure tests.

Rocketrod -I have NO idea what valve body or govenor it has in it. He said it put in a completly different valve body, govenor and seperator plate. I know for a fact that he just took everything from the cracked case and put it in this case -It should work.
Is there some springs I can change out on the govenor to change the shift points? Why don't I have "kick down" when I floor the car?

Thanks everyon!

You would be wasting your time trying to adjust the valve body & governor combo you have IF you don't know what it is to begin with and your results will probably less than desirable unless your very familiar with these transmissions. If you know he took the VB & governor out of the old trans find out what model it is especially if you intend on fixing the trans.

As for the shifting at 3,000 RPMs....as you have proven its not the TV cable adjustment. Sounds like something got overlooked, reassembled incorrectly, when the parts were swapped over to the new case, and to be honest I am not an expert on these trans. You may want to post over on www.turbobuick.com as these guys will definitely being able to help you diagnose your problem.

Thanks for your reply Rocketrod! I sent an email to Bowtie -they have been really great to work with so I am hoping for a response from them. Looks like cold weather is setting in so I probably won't be able to "tinker" with it for a while anyway. (plus the wife has plans already for the weekend)

From what you described it sounds like you may have too much slack in the cable. the 2004r trans works off of throttle pressure. It is critical that it is in adjustment. You wrote that no matter where you put the cable it shifts late with no passing gear. That tells me it is out of adjustment. The way to adjust the cable is to push the cable all the way in and then push your foot to the floor (with the car off of course) The cable should ratchet out, if it does not you may have to modify the cable. One way to do it is to put a couple of tie straps between the end of the cable and the tear drop at the end of the cable where it connects to the carb. This will shorten the cable and put more pressure on the valve. There should not be any slack in the cable. remember this is not just a kick down cable. Keep putting on tie straps until it starts to ratchet out. You should be in the ballpark then. Hope this helps Good luck!

I have been messing with the TV adjustment quite a bit and driving the car. I read carefully through Bowties website and set the cable back to the way they describe (like lbss396 also says). It now shifts relatively normal! I don't know if there was some dirt plugging a port or what but one min. it wasn't shifing right and now it is -I still have no fourth gear and the shifts are rather firm but they are there and it will "kick down" from an upper to a lower gear.