I have a 69 Camaro I just bought out of a 10+ year storage. I am now driving the car as found but have a trans. problem. The powerglide is original with 45k miles. It will not shift for about 4-5 miles every time it cools down. Once the first shift is made the car shifts perfectly until parked for an hour or more than the cycle repeats. The fluid is full and clean. The kick down linkage is free with no binding. There is sufficient vacuum to the new vac. modulator. I feel it is a sticky governor but why once heated up it works perfect. Has anyone ever experienced this? Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks, Don

Could be as simple as needing a BraKleen cleaning of the gov assembly. This can be done on the car. ATF does become gummy and jells with age from sitting.

Remove the driveshaft, unbolt the ext housing, remove the ext housing, and optional to loosen the setscrew and slide out the gov body and spray it down.

Just be sure to reset the gov body back onto its dimpled place on the shaft for the setscrew. Reassemble.

I've yet to see governor issues as being common. They are pretty foolproof compared to the TH governors and issues with governor bores in cases that are prevelant. I have seen burred/sticky shift valves though. You may end up dropping the valve body to clean things up. It does not take much to cause grief with a valve body as clearances are pretty snug. If you get in there and need help let me know.

Sounds like you have hard lipseals in the front clutch drum. Try a bottle of Lucas Transmission treatment.

I appreciate everyones opinion on this matter. I think the key to this whole thing is the warm up factor. If the governor in fact was gummed up don't you think after all the recent miles I have driven the car (about 400) it would clean itself up. Like I said once it achieves the first shift you can drive it all day without a problem. Oldani, as far as the valve body I feel the same way unless due to the tolerences the heat is just enough to free a stuck valve. If I choose to remove the valve body, do you have any pointers? Check ball location etc. I know parts willl fall out and I won't know where they came from. Any diagrams or manuals I can get to see a exploded view? Now for the hard lip seals, would'nt that cause a slipping problem. I want to open this thing up but just not sure what I'm looking for. Thanks again, Don :confused:

There are NO checkballs to fall out, but some Glides had a couple of checkvalves for the rear pump. But you won't get to them until you take the two halves of the valve body apart. They're easy to work on. Undo the guide plate bolts (2 of them) for the shift arm, and the other 2 up front on the valve body, as well as the 4 across the rear that also hold it to the case. I'd first remove the modulator valve stuff, and also then pull the bolt that holds the tab for the shift arm tension spring on the valve body. Once that stuff is gone you may need to gently pry the tube from the valve body to the low servo bore to get the valve body to drop out. Don't drop/bend/ding the manual valve (the one that the shift arm moves to select each gear) as you pull it. Then, just undo all the bolts holding the halves together. Remove the separator plate/gaskets/check valves (if equipped) and rinse it all off. Then use snap ring pliers of the correct size, and remove/clean ALL of the valves. Lay them out on a clean newspaper or something that has NO lint or debris on it, and make sure all go back in exactly as they came apart. As to lip seals... if you had leaking/torn high piston seals it would buzz the motor up at the 1-2 shift point. And, I've yet to see a lip seal problem get better on it's own. Good luck, and if you need help once it is apart let me know...

Thanks again Oldani. There is no flare up at all between shifts. It shifts crisp and smooth. You seem confident that the problem is in the valve body and not the governor. If you feel the valve body is the way to go, I'll drop it and inspect from there. I probably won't do it until next week once a lift is freed up. I'll keep you posted. Don

Don, shoot me an email if you get in there and want help. I'm usually home and can talk on the phone around 8pm our time.

Thank You!:)

I may be hard to reach this weekend as we have lots of things going on. I know for sure I'll be available later Sunday afternoon/evening if need be. Looks like you guys do some awfully nice resto stuff!

Thanks for the compliment Steve. Looks like you guys have quite the reputation as well. We try to pride ourselves on the detail and true quality many restorations lack. As far as the Camaro, it's my daily driver that will probably get a full resto. next year if time permits. I'm sorry for the late reply. With all the summer parties lately I hav'nt had much computer time or a chance to drop that valve body yet. I'll be sure to contact you once inside that trans. Thanks again, Don