TH400 drive off and shift problems/weird acting

Hi guys and girls,

my TH400 is showing a strange behavior, since 2 days when i come to a stop at a for eg. traffic light and i want to go i hit the gas like always and there is a 50:50 chance that it wont instantly go forward, takes a few seconds and little more RPM than it will move, its not always

secondly since yesterday this problem also occurs in reverse gear and additionaly (thank god it just happend two times until now) the trans can´t decide between 2. and 3. gear and jumps 4 or 5 times through the gears until it stays in gear.

i asked Doc. Google but there was no similar thing to find.

How many miles on the trans? Any recent work done to it?

Delayed engagements, "hunting" usually indicates burnt clutch packs...Sounds like it needs an overhaul.

First check fluid level if you haven't already and smell it. If it smells burnt, drop the pan to see what's at the bottom. Lots of burnt clutch material and dark/black fluid will confirm what you may already be suspecting.

Had similar symptoms on a th400. It was in an 84 1 ton. Truck sat a few years till I got it. Right away knew something was up with the transmission. I Kept doing burnouts and fried it. When changing transmission and flushing lines for replacement transmission I realized the cooler lines were clogged. Right then I realized that the transmission was probably okay when i got it and it was simply a clogged line.

squaredeal91 said:

Had similar symptoms on a th400. It was in an 84 1 ton. Truck sat a few years till I got it. Right away knew something was up with the transmission. I Kept doing burnouts and fried it. When changing transmission and flushing lines for replacement transmission I realized the cooler lines were clogged. Right then I realized that the transmission was probably okay when i got it and it was simply a clogged line.

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Good callout on the line and cooler flushing - both must be flushed before reinstalling the trans after overhaul.

I always advise doing burnouts in manual low to ensure you have as many applied elements involved to spread the stress out so no one clutch pack or band suffers.

I was younger and having fun but was pretty mean to it. Next trans was out of an 81 diesel with that Warm 454 it would pull good 1st to 2nd gear burnouts often. And would
tow anything but Got 14mpg no matter what period. ?? Lol. Loved that 3+3 and miss it.

Update:
since then there wasn't any issue with the trans anymore BUT yesterday i was driving down to a stop sign, when hitting the gas again the engine was revving up but there was a lack of about 1 sec till the truck gave me a noticeable push and and startet to accelerate.
afterwards there everything was fine again.
today in the morning i jumped into the car started the engine and went into Reverse but nothing... tried D no problem there. after trying a few times nothing so i went under it and wiggled the linkage and suddendly the R was working again. went for a drive and had to stop at a railway crossing so i put it to P after going into D again the car was slowly going forward and after 1 second of pushing the gas the trans gave a kick and went as normal.... shifting to 2nd and 3rd there is no issue.
oil level is checked... i would suggest it is something wrong with the linkage, please correct me when i am wrong and if you have any ideas how to adjust that advices are welcome.... by the way noticed that the indicartor in the dash isn't really showing correct... it is more like in between the selected gear and the one next to it.

Initially Sounds to me like lower fluid symptoms. sure fluid level is correct! Is there any
Reason to think you may have incorrect dipstick?
If it's your linkage it must be really sloppy?

Dave15 said:

i would suggest it is something wrong with the linkage

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What linkage are you referring to?

squaredeal91 said:

Initially Sounds to me like lower fluid symptoms. sure fluid level is correct! Is there any reason to think you may have incorrect dipstick?

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This ^^^

well, fluid was changed last year and there is no leack or puddle under the car, also the dipstick seems to be right.
what causes me to think about the linkage (the one from the cockpit down to the trans) is the fact that after i wiggled around on that thing the reverse worked again.
i will check the oil level again today cause i moved the car yesterday to an absolute even surface.

Dave15 said:

well, fluid was changed last year and there is no leack or puddle under the car, also the dipstick seems to be right.
what causes me to think about the linkage (the one from the cockpit down to the trans) is the fact that after i wiggled around on that thing the reverse worked again.
i will check the oil level again today cause i moved the car yesterday to an absolute even surface.

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Then you may have a dirty filter, or a seal failure- the filter into the trans.

checked in the evening again, oil level is ok....no reverse after starting, so i got under it and wiggled on the linkage bracket (see pic) while my girl sitting in the car and holding the brakes, after a few pushes the car went into reverse and worked as usual.
Edit: Filter was cheanged about 200 miles ago last summer