200r4 problem

dceresa · Jul 12, 2003

I just recently installed an Art Carr 200R4 with a lock up convertor. It seems to be unable to "hold" itself in first gear. It shifts itself out of first at 3000 or so unless i am on it, then it shifts out at 6000 or so. Problem is that my shift point is probablly around 6300-6600 (still need to dial that in). Are these tranny's internally governed? I will talk to tech support but i wanted to get real world expierience also from the members here. The lock up feature is great the temp drives pretty quick when you lock it up.
Thanks,Dave

Brian Lewis · Jul 12, 2003

I know with a BowTie Overdrive 200R4 you need to adjust the TV cable correctly while measuring vacuum. Sounds like this procedure needs to be redone on your tranny to get the TV cable adjusted properly.

BPOS · Jul 12, 2003

I went 'round and 'round with trying to get my 2004R to shift where I wanted it to. Regardless of what you might hear, the governor controls part throttle shift points as well as WOT shift points. Mine would either shift way too soon or way too late depending on which governor I used.

Another thing to realize - the valve bodies on these things also plays a part. The good valve bodies for these trannys are getting hard to find. They are from the Buick GN, Monte SS, and I believe the Hurst/Olds valve bodies. Mine has one out of some turd Olds Cutlass and it's less than ideal.

I have had the best luck with the governor with the small weights. The 2-3 shift is too late for me, but I have learned to live with it. I can get it to shift if I back off of the throttle a bit.

You need to remove the pan to get at the gov. It is toward the rear, underneath a cover that is held on by four (I think!) bolts. I have considered modifying a governor by grinding some material from the wights to get the ideal shift points, but it's a big pain to drop the pan every time to work on it.

In my opinion, if you want to drive it hard, you should shift it manually.

paulm · Jul 12, 2003

That's what I had to do on my 2004R. Mine was out of a caddy and I just ground material off until it was at least decent. I lost interest though and decided that I'd shift it manually if I wanted to wind it out. I think that there's a spring in there too that plays a role....

It's funny 5 years ago I would have remembered every detail of the swap that I did last year, now I can just barely remember doing it!

dceresa · Jul 13, 2003

Thanks for pointing me in a direction, i will look into governor and be talking to the manufacturer about dialing in the T.V. I sure hope i'm not going to have to dig into the valve body. Almost makes me wish i picked the manual valve body.

BPOS · Jul 13, 2003

I bought my 200 from Bowtie Overdrives. I have since discovered that while they may build a sturdy trans, they are probably not the ultimate authority on them. It took me awhile to figure out that the valve body itself plays an important role in shift timing. When I shared that info with BTOD, I got the feeling that it was news to them.

IMO, the dude who knows these things better than anyone is Bruce Toelle from Performance Transmissions in Sacramento. He has pioneered some very stout pieces for these trannies and knows his stuff.

http://www.ptsxtreme.com/index.asp

PaulM - please share with us which governor you started with, and which of the two weights on that governor you ground down a bit. Thanks!

-Al

paulm · Jul 14, 2003

Sorry BPOS, didn't see this....

I am no tranny expert, but I will share what little I know. There is a primary and secondary weight in that assembly and springs on each one. The caddy that I got my tranny out of probably had some high rear gear ratio like 2.73 and heavy governor weights, so it would shift around 3800??? Mine is a 3.73 and I wanted it to shift higher, so I ground material from the primary weight and tried a lighter spring which raised the shift point to around 4800. I did this a couple of times and got it to shift around 5200 and then I got tired of messing with it and figured that I would shift manually.

I suppose I could have kept messing with it, but it gets old taking the crossmember out, dropping the pan, grinding, reinstalling, going out for a test drive, letting it cool down, repeat.

Bruce down at performance trans is the man if you need 2004R info. He probably knows the exact weights of what the governor should be to accomplish the desired shift points.....I don't know if he'll share that info though.

Maybe it's possible to buy a new governor assembly like from a GN that is setup to shift higher???

BPOS · Jul 14, 2003

Thanks, Paul. I assume by "primary" weight you mean the bigger of the two? How did this affect your part throttle shift points? Sorry for all the ?'s. I want to take my pan off ONCE and only once more! I agree - it's a PITA.

It's my understanding that the GN governor won't work right unless you use it with the GN valve body.

paulm · Jul 14, 2003

Yes, the bigger one. How did it affect the part throttle shifts? I didn't really pay attention.....On my test drives it was basically mash the pedal and see when it shifts.

By all means DO NOT undertake this project based on what I have said. Call Bruce and see if he'll give you some tips....I don't know squat about these trannys, so I really think that you should talk to someone who does before you try and make changes. I talked to Bruce when I was putting mine in and he said that he uses a "trial and error" method of grinding on the governor weight to get the right shift points.....but he has done so many that I'm sure he knows very closely what weight shifts where and it's less "trial and error" for him than it was for me.

dceresa · Jul 14, 2003

I wanted to clear up something the tranny shifts out a little earlier than i like when i mash the pedal, but the real problem is when i have the tranny held in first it will randomly shift out to second while the linkage is still in first

has anyone heard of this before?

BPOS · Jul 15, 2003

I'd contact your trans builder. This sounds like a valve body/shift kit issue to me, assuming your shifter linkage is properly adjusted.

dceresa · Jul 15, 2003

Thanks BPOS (is it BP for short!) that is where the builder said to check first but then again I don;t know if they would jump right out and say "we screwed up"

. Thanks for the help I'll check back after I give the linkage a shot.

200r4 problem

dceresa

Brian Lewis

BPOS

paulm

dceresa

BPOS

paulm

BPOS

paulm

dceresa

BPOS

dceresa

Top Contributors this Month

Recommended Communities