700R4 broken shifter linkage?
Thread Starter
Racer
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 473
Likes: 8
From: Shreveport LA
700R4 broken shifter linkage?
I was backing my car off of the ramps when the movement of my shifter suddenly got real smooth. 
Now the car is stuck in reverse, and the shifter seems to have lost all communication with the tranny. Rather than clicking through the gears, it now just moves freely through its entire range of motion.
I'm presuming that the linkage has either broken, or something came loose somewhere. Right up until that final shift into reverse, everything felt 100% solid! I've never been a big transmission guy, so I have little clue what to look for to diagnose this problem. Has anyone here had similar trouble, and if so, what particular clues should I look for to identify the problem? Thanks!!
Rome
Now the car is stuck in reverse, and the shifter seems to have lost all communication with the tranny. Rather than clicking through the gears, it now just moves freely through its entire range of motion. I'm presuming that the linkage has either broken, or something came loose somewhere. Right up until that final shift into reverse, everything felt 100% solid! I've never been a big transmission guy, so I have little clue what to look for to diagnose this problem. Has anyone here had similar trouble, and if so, what particular clues should I look for to identify the problem? Thanks!!
Rome
Last edited by ROME; Sep 23, 2007 at 04:52 PM.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 2,384
Likes: 124
From: Reno/Sparks Nevada
Jack the car up and look at the linkage that attaches to the transmission with the shifter cable. Move the shifter lever from park to low and watch the lever on the side of the trans. If it doesn't move then you have a cable to shifter problem or the cable is broken. Maybe the shifter assembly bolts fell out. You'll see that right away. If the lever moves when you move your shifter then the problem is in the trans. You can double check this by moving the shifter lever on the side of the trans back and forth. It's supposed to ratchet if the connection inside the trans is good. You can drop the pan and inspect the connection inside. It's readily accessable and you might be able to fix it once you drop the pan. You'll be able to see how it connects. I fixed the one in my '82 that had the same problem. It was a 700-R4 trans too. I don't exactly recall what I fixed but it was pretty easy. You'll be dropping a lot of trans fluid if you do it yourself so make sure you read up on dropping the trans pan in a service manual.
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