Trimatic issues

[thatotherguy]

why would you use a vl trimatic ? are they different

[HK1837]

They are the last and the best and the youngest. VK V8 and late WB Statesman are OK too.

[thatotherguy]

and i was just about to get rid of one .....but this isnt helping agro

[Taily]

why would you use a vl trimatic ? are they different

A couple of design changes during its lifetime meant that apart from being the youngest of the type they have a few extra bits such as stronger round edged servo piston and a long skirted top gear hub amoung other things. The younger pumps and their plates are likely to last longer then the earlier ones.

Regards,

Dave

[agr071]

To answer your question, a couple of questions first....

1. Is there a real delay (I mean more than 2-3 seconds ) in between selecting reverse and the box actually going into reverse? We used to work on anything up to 3-4 seconds being tollerable/OK, but with your idle RPM it should be reasonably quick into reverse due higher oil pressure.

No, it's pretty much straight away.

2. When you say "clunks" into fwd or rev gear, do you mean it goes in hard (but is quiet) or just goes in normally but makes a noise? Standard torque converter fitted or a small stall? Any decent amount of stall built into the converter should have the effect of making going into gear almost un-noticeable.

It's as if the car was parked on a hill without the handbrake (with the load of the vehicle on it), and it gets taken out of park..That noise

3. Have you had a good look at your flexplate/bolts, your unis, and the front yoke for spline wear?

Flexplate bolts looked good when motor & box was removed from previous vehicle, Uni's felt good as well.

4. Apart from those things you've mentioned does it drive normally - ie, on a downshift does it thump back from 3rd to 2nd as well? - On later types there was a small plastic valve fitted to the valvebody called a dump valve that commonly breaks and causes this.

Haven't driven up the road yet, only the driveway, because there are too many different colours on it and i'd be embarassed to take it anywhere ATM.

5. The $64,000.00 question..... Starting on a hill.... Can you reverse up the hill at greater than about 1500rpm? That will tell you if the geverse clutch pack is OK or not. You'll know if it isn't....:nevreness:

Yes i can reverse at more then 1500 rpm.

[buck]

Agree. Plus there was no 1979 Holden fitted with a 308 and trimatic. The last would have beem an auto SLR5000 or LX SS 308 about 7/77. There wasn't another until about 11/81 (WB Statesman or VH).
Trimatics are great boxes if rebuilt properly and serviced. If I ever have an auto standard 308 HQ-WB tonner ever again for towing i'll use a VL trimatic unless the 308 is a TH pattern then i'd use a TH400. TH350 were a terrble box when first used by GMH, ask Dr Terry about them. In basically standard form a trimatic is actually a stronger box, and both can be built to handle decent hp too. The trimatic got its bad name in HT and HG when it was just an old cable kickdown TH180, GMH redesigned them for the HQ and LJ.

You are both right, spoke to the old man, he said it was a 77 kingswood sl with 253 and trimatic, blew the traumatic at 40,000klm towing a 19 foot caravan to queensland, he cant remeber what deal was struck with the holden dealer ie compensation(may have been out of warranty) but was swaped out for a full statemans 5.0 litre/ turbo 350 set up from a crashed one, very expensive at the time he remebers but, never had a problem again.

[HK1837]

I'll bet the KIngswood didn't have an external oil cooler on it, and a standard 2 row radiator! A HZ trimatic only 40,000kM old with an external oil cooler should tow all day!

[buck]

I'll bet the KIngswood didn't have an external oil cooler on it, and a standard 2 row radiator! A HZ trimatic only 40,000kM old with an external oil cooler should tow all day!

Dead right! no oil cooler, was also 2 core radiator. that was fixed when the 5.0 went in, have always run aftermarket trans cooler since then in every auto since, life savers when towing heavy loads.

[Taily]

No, it's pretty much straight away.

I was starting to think that the idle RPM might be too high (only just though...) for a standard torque converter.

It's as if the car was parked on a hill without the handbrake (with the load of the vehicle on it), and it gets taken out of park..That noise

Geebus... Any noise like that isn't normal at all. Any backlash in the auto driveline should be cushioned by the torque coverter, however what you're describing could be a number of things, without hearing/seeing/smelling the oil it is hard to diagnose - but it does sound like it will need someone to look at it. As long as you're sure there is nothing else loose in the driveline (yoke/unis/mounts etc) and the converter was spun in/seated properly then it does sound internal.



Flexplate bolts looked good when motor & box was removed from previous vehicle, Uni's felt good as well.

How much of the history of the box do you know? Serviced at all?

Haven't driven up the road yet, only the driveway, because there are too many different colours on it and i'd be embarassed to take it anywhere ATM.

Might be time for a night-time stealth run with cap and sunnies....

Yes i can reverse at more then 1500 rpm.

Any noise like what you describe isn't right and it could be a number of things, from too much backlash in the planetarys/worn or broken band/cracked drum/over adjusted servo piston etc etc etc.... A "warm" engine with a higher idle is likely to outgrow a standard torque converter also as they act as a clutch to cushion the driveline. does the noise etc settle down a bit if you drop the idle down?

Dave.

[agr071]

If i get the chance on Friday, i'll screw the idle down and see what happens.