Ok, so now I have done it. After getting my truck close to done I just got another project! Its a 1954 Pontiac Star Chief. I only wish there was a forum as informative as this one to help with issues and just general moral support. In case I have not said it enough, THANKS ALL! Just thought I would share my new member of the household. It has a straight 8 and a hydromatic transmission (that wont shift out of 1rst). If anyone here has expertise on these cars shoot me an email or private message as I would like to know more. Here are some pics:
As the daily driver of a Pontiac powered GMC truck with that same dual range Hydra-Matic all I can say is "welcome to the dark side". I have a bunch of Hydro troubleshooting info at home. I'll take a look tonight and see what it says about "won't shift out of 1st". Just for laughs, put the shift lever in L and see if it starts in 2nd like it should. Only time it should go into 1st with the lever in L is under full throttle. The best Hydra-Matic book for someone who is a fair shade tree mechanic can be found here: http://chevy.oldcarmanualproject.com/trans/4655hmt/index.html
Hydro won't shift out of 1st gear From: The Hydra-Matic Transmission Diagnosis - Adjustment - Repair prepared by the Lincoln Technical Institute Instructional Staff Mine has a NAPA cover on it. Here are the possibilities in order of most to least likely. Will not upshift. Will operate in 1st speed only (1954 Olds & all 1955) Caused by missing front servo anchor nut lock spring, allowing the front servo adjustment to back off. Remains in 1st speed due to loss of governor pressure or sticking governor weights. Will not upshift. Misses one or more speeds. Defective parking brake bracket (this is internal "park" mechanism) Will not upshift. Will operate in 1st speed only. Excessive oil leakage of front clutch apply/front band release oil. Will not upshift. Will operate in 1st speed only. Excessive oil leakage at the oil delivery sleve, due to loose bearing cap bolts or poor fit between oil delivery sleeve and case.
Wow... thanks Bill! That gives me a good start. I grabbed that manual and will tool around with it tonight or tomorrow. Thanks again!
Pontiac Congradulations ! . Many years ago (like 1971) I bought a one owner , little old lady from (where else ?) Pasadena's 1954 Pontiac Super Chief Coupe , it was fully loaded with the straight eight cylinder flathead and Dual Range Hydromatic tranny , skirts & sunvisor , factory diamond tuck two toned leather upholstery , what a BEAUTIFUL car ! I paid a whopping $150.00 for it and I wish I still had it As Bill told you , look at the various suggestions , there's scads of old Hydromatic books out there as no one remembers how to work on these and they were dropped in the early 1960's for the much cheaper two and three speed automatics you may well find that doing some long forgotten routine service gets it worokng O.K. again as often the old Typ 'A' ATF gets burned and stinky and holds a valve from moving or other simple thing so don't rip it al apart and don't give up hope as this is prolly the very best American made slushbox ever . Motors manuals have all the info you'll need and are cheap , I've never paid over $5.00 for one . Didja know ? reverse is the parking gear , once the engine stops and the internal pressure bleeds off , it locks up tight . _always_ park it in reverse or it'll roll away sooner or later You have a real classic there that'll easily keep up with to-day's traffic flows . Forklift batteries fit it too so don't panic .
The real fun begins when you are backing out of the driveway after a cold start and the engine dies. You have about a half second to either jam on the brakes or get it out of reverse before the locking pawl drops in and stops the driveshaft from turning. Ask me how I know. That said, I have a large collection of Hydra-Matic books if you need to borrow one. Also have a few of the adjustment tools necessary to tweak these beasts that I'd lend out if you (or anyone else on this forum) would leave a fully refundable BIG deposit. These things are getting hard to find. I'm still looking for the internal adjustment gauge for the rear servo after 5+ years. They pop up on ePay every now and then, but my cheap side just refuses to pay $70 (least expensive one I've seen) for a flat C shaped piece of metal shown here: http://chevy.oldcarmanualproject.com/trans/4655hmt/4655hmt42.html I'd recommend draining the fluid including draining the torus (torque converter to you non old Hydra-Matic people), dropping the pan and pulling off the screen. Clean the pan and the screen. If you are this far along you might consider removing the rear pump and governor given your "won't shift out of 1st" problem and clean up the governor (sounds like something South Carolina, Illinois and New Jersey should do - clean up their governors). I can send directions for doing this if you are interested. NAPA still carries the pan gasket. I have the number at home. Nate commented that the was the best slush box ever made. Many might argue that point, but I find it interesting that Rolls Royce kept building under license and using this transmission until 1966, even though GM quit using it in cars in 1956 and in trucks in 1962. It was used in WW II M24 tanks behind flathead Caddy V8s and in Army M114 APCs behind Chevy 283 V8s in the early '60s.
Thanks for the offer Bill, I will let you know if I need to use those tools you have. The directions you offer I could use for sure. I am real excited about this car. There is not much as far as body work is concerned. It should mostly getting the mechanics in order. The interior was just recently done. It looks like it leaks a bit too but I am not sure from where yet. Need to degrease the motor and tranny then find the leaks.
Yes Bill ; I know all about the reverse locking up suddenly ~ the reason I was able to buy the car was it only had 65 # per cylinder compression and it stalled a lot @ idle and was bugger-all difficult to start on cold mornings I used to roll it down the driveway to bump start it , gotta love those old trannies with rear pumps When it stalled and locked up the tires , it'd skid 2' or so to a dead stop , bias ply tires ya know , they didn't stick so good . My buddies ex Helms Bakery truck ('59 Chevy panel) had Hydromatic Drive and it never stalled after we rebuilt the (of course) 235 I6 engine but , if the idle dropped low enough in reverse , it would suddenly begin moving forward at a fairly fast clip IIRC , Lincoln used Hydromatics right until that disaterous fire that burned down the only factory that made them... I still think it's the hands down best slushbox tranny ever made . the 4 speed automatic on my old Mercedes' are nice but I'd rather have Hydromatic Drive . I *thought* my '59 Caddy had it too but that was so long ago .
Olds, Caddy, Pontiac, Chevy trucks, GMC, Lincoln, Hudson, Willys, Nash, Rolls Royce, Bentley, Austin, probably more that I can't think of right now. This was a different design with two fluid couplings. Caddy, Olds & Pontiac cars switched to this design in '56.
