mt2224

So I just rebuilt the transmission in my 94 del sol, I believe it's an S24A tranny. It's all back together installed, everything is hooked up, but the car won't go into gear. I can move the shifter through all the gears while in the car, but nothing in the tranny seems to engage and the car won't move. Does the torque converter buddy need to build up pressure since I just refilled the trannny with fluid, or I'd the something else that could be causing this issue. In addition I have multiple codes on now, where as before, I had none. Prior to taking it apart the vehicle would only shift at 5k rpms, and only once I got it high enough and then let off the gas. Send your expert thoughts please.

tony_2018

torque converter, what you do with it?

mt2224

Just emptied it and set it to the side until it was time to put it back in.

TomCat39

You drained it, did you put transmission fluid back in it before you put it back into the bell housing? Or did you put it in emptied?

tony_2018

great answer...great answer..

TomCat39

Just so you know, the pump of the automatic transmission is in the torque converter, no fluid prevents the pump from priming and then you have no fluid flow through the transmission. This in turn prevents any of the valve bodies and pressure valves from operating, which in turn means, doesn't shift gears.

I do not know if running the car without fluid in the torque converter causes damage. At the bare minimum, it means dropping the tranny to fix the problem.

mt2224

yeah it was empty, I figured that was the issue. I didn't preload the torque converter. Hir I don't have to do the tranny to get it working. I would think things just need to circulate and and allow the pump to do its job of pushing fluid where it is supposed to go.

tony_2018

oh lord...bro please do some research next time before you start on a project like this. refilling the torque converter is a must. Now you gotta take everything apart again just to get to the torque converter.

I had to do a drain and fill on my little sis 05 crv. Had a shudder for some reason and when I check the fluids that **** was filled passed the line, was ****** pissed and found out my damn old man did that ****. Ever since I filled it up properly it hasn't had that shudder at all. CHRIST ALMIGHTY the **** I gotta fix ever since coming back to New Orleans.

mt2224

Yeah that sucks, live and learn. Bought it not running and rebuilt the engine and the trans. Sucks but I'll probably just have to keep figuring it out, and drop the trans

tony_2018

If you haven't filled it you will have to take it back out, no way around it.

mt2224

Lol yep, you're right. Thanks for the advice.

mt2224

So I dropped the tranny and pulled the torque converter and it had filled since being run. The car still doesn't move in any gear, looking for any advice in what would cause this. Thur car will also not rev about 2500 rpms. No it's what to do from here.

tony_2018

I would've topped off the converter, stuck it back it, lift and bolt the transmission up, bolt the converter to the flex plate, install axles, install wheels, put car on all 4 wheels, warm up car, shift through all gears, turn off car, check fluid level.

TomCat39

I highly doubt it filled up. More like more of the fluid came to the center. I was able to put at least a quarter quart into my wife's torque converter before putting it back on. It had slid off enough to drip a bit on the floor before I noticed it a few days later. With a little swirling action I was able to put a fair amount of fluid in it. Hopefully enough to make up for all that has come out the axle holes while I worked on bolting up the flex plate.

muellersfan

You killed your rebuilt transmission.

mt2224

Yeah dude it was full, completely full. Not sure why you would doubt it. There's no benefit to making things up on here when one is looking for answers. Besides the problem wasn't the Torque converter

mt2224

Maybe. I found another tranny, transferred some of the parts off of my old one and put them on the one I bought. it runs and moves now. Still shifts at high RPMs, but is a very smooth shift. I'm wondering if someone had the ECU flashed at some point. Since the car is a 94 and the ECU has 95 civic written on it in red marker. Possible a previous owner bought it separate.

TomCat39

I doubt it being the pump is in the torque converter. Following basic logic there.... But this also assumed you actually drained the torque converter significantly which by the sounds isn't the case.

As for flashing the ECU, if it's not chipped, it's highly unlikely as it would take the 900 USD HIM unit and another 900 USD dollar subscription to get access to the Stock OBD1 ECU settings for programming.

Also, it's my understanding the ECU's TCM only controls 4th gear and torque converter lockout. 1st through 3rd is all mechanically controlled inside the transmission.

mk378

My guess is that something was put together wrong, so the transmission was mechanically jammed. You could rev to 2500 because that's about the stall point of the torque converter.

The mechanical cable from the throttle to the transmission controls the shift points. When the driver floors the gas, the transmission will stay in lower gears to let the engine wind up to a higher rpm before shifting. If the cable is not working, it would also stay in a too low gear at light throttle, which is not good.

As noted, shifting up through 1-3 is mechanically controlled. The two solenoids on top of the transmission let the ECU decide when to engage the 4th gear and lock the torque converter, which the ECU will only do at highway speed.

tony_2018

the valve body has to be put back together properly, adjustments also need to be made, sonnex sells the tool you need to adjust as well as make sure your valve body doesn't get stuck. :thinkinghat:

mt2224

There is absolutely a chance That something is wrong with the rebuild.

mt2224

that's a lot of good info, thank you. I have swapped the transmissions and am still having the issue that I had with the previous tran. Prior to rebuild. It will only shift at very high RPMs.

tony_2018

check fluids...

tony_2018

on level ground...

mt2224

************UPDATE************

So car is shifting properly now, turns out I need to replace the spring that connects to the throttle cable at the transmission. It was worn and not returning to the right position. As for the transmission that I rebuilt, I put something in the wrong order and chewed up my bearings. As for putting the torque converter in empty, I took my broken trans to a shop and they said that would cause zero issue and in fact that is how they install. The torque converter does turn the pump that pushes the flow of fluid through the transmission.