Powerglide damage from 'clicking' engine off in lights

[Kevin Panzino]

Jody, thank you very much for the reply and info. Yes,I tend to agree with you, but Im grasping at this point... Line pressure is 150 Psi. 5 cutches in high pack, 3 in reverse pack. Std Red lining Band, and yes aluminum drum. Fluid started getting a bit burnt smelling, and then I noticed a bit of flare on the shift on the last pass. So then I pulled it out and found the burnt frictions and steels... I went all through it this weekend and took the two valve body halves apart and cleaned it all out. Found a fair amount of friction material and debris in some passages... Havent had the valve body apart in ages, so this debris may have been part of it....

I also took a very close look at the low band servo piston rings, and did an air test on it, since leakage past these will bleed into the high clutch apply, and cause drag/heat/losses. There was some leakage, but not terrible. I drilled an .070" hole through the high apply piston (similar to what you do to the reverse piston when installing the t-brake), to 'bleed' off any slight leakage past the servo rings while in low. Right now, I am learning towards that as being the problem all along. The car is down almost a full tenth in 60 ft, and at least .2 in 1/4 but its not slipping (RPMs jive with speed and known converter slip)... I think the high clutch pack might have been dragging a bit all along in low gear... Also thinking about switching to an o-ring style servo piston instead of twin cast iron rings....

[Adger Smith]

Have you ever tried one of the solid teflon "O" rings. I would bump the line pressure to 170. I have always had difficulties with lower pressures.I fixed up a fixture to put my leakdown tester on the servo and tried a bunch of different servo's and ring combinations.You do get rid of the cushion spring?? Which way do you space the servo when you get rid of the cushion spring? The double "O" ring will seal, but won't release as clean as a single ring. If you are going to use the twin ring try putting two of the stock Alum rings with the coated face on that servo. Seals and moves well.

[Jody Lang]

How fast is your car and what does it weigh? I found with mine 10.80s 3400 lbs that 150 wasn't enough. It would burn up high gear clutches in 50 runs or so.