BACKSTORY:
Around May of 2013 my dad drove the car with it low on fluid, and it stopped automatically shifting. However it was still drivable by starting in first then shifting manually to S and then D. We drove it like this for awhile, but decided at the end of summer against stepping up to a 4speed and instead rebuilt the TH350 and kept it numbers matching. Got it done at a small shop in Salinas for $1500 and they replaced the torque converter and bulked it up a little.
RECENTLY:
The car worked well for the last couple months. One issue was that it wouldn't always go into park, and sometimes rolled for feet until the transmission finally jerked into place. Another was that the shifter inside the car didn't click in properly with the letters on the tunnel, and was one space off. On my way back to Chico, two hours of highway driving in, it shifted out of third down to 2nd and spun the motor way up. I slowed down and tried to manually coax it back into third, but it wouldn't go.
I took back roads to the neared town, but couldn't find a single transmission shop that was open that day. Finally found a smog/oil change/ general mechanic open and asked if they could take a look. He adjusted the shifter so it went into place properly, and after staring at the car helplessly for awhile, we realized that my transmission fluid was WAY too full. He sucked a lot out, and finally got it down near the proper levels. I've come to believe that driving a lot with the fluid overfilled finally was just too much pressure and wrecked it all.
My dad traded me cars and slowly cruised the batmobile back home (definitely not willing to pay for a 2hr tow truck ride) where it sat in the garage for two weeks.
TODAY:
Called the guy who rebuilt the transmission and took it into him today. He's in town, maybe a ten minute drive, figured I could cruise it over there. Started it up and got onto the highway fine, it even was in third for awhile, but the we got into town and it started getting messy. At a stop light it was smoking a little but i figured it would make it a couple more miles. Then I thought I smelled a BBQ place.... it wasn't BBQ that was burning. Two stoplights later it starts going haywire: won't go into first, 5mph, sounds of grinding metal. I have no choice but to pull over and pop the hood. Smoke comes from the hose that goes from the lower motor to the air cleaner. I pull the transmission dipstick, and the fluid is BLACK. So... THAT was the BBQ smell. This thing is shot. I call a tow truck and they take me the last 3 miles to the shop.
HOPEFULLY:
I don't know why it stopped shifting to 3rd a couple weeks ago. The mechanic owes me at least for that. Granted, we definitely shouldn't have tried to drive it home or to the shop, but then again it already sucks enough money without hundred dollar tow truck rides! So that probably voided a lot of the warranty. We will get the TH350 rebuilt again, but if the mechanic can't figure out why it broke the first time, it's too risky to drive around in case of breaking it yet again.... We won't put in more than 800 or 1,000 dollars towards yet another rebuild, so hopefully it falls under that limit...
