In the rare chances I've got my '69 3500 Auto out this summer, I've had a couple of odd noises I think from the gearbox.
The first time it happened was parking up on a moderately steep incline. I was backing the car up when I got a loud noise from what I think was the gearbox. It sounded like something was fouling, a loud "click-click-click" sound. It was certainly jarring enough to panic me and I'm not easily flapped.
I backed the car up in the neutral, parked it. When I got back, I very gingerly nursed the car home at first and it was absolutely fine. I put it down to one of those things. I checked fluids, cables, etc, etc - all fine.
I've used it a fair bit since, mainly several 15 mile round trips to collect stuff rather than use my daily car. Not a problem with it. The kickdown works perfectly, it selects gears more or less in the right places. I admit the gearbox has never been right on the money ever but I've put this down to the fact it leaks, it needs topping up, it needs a little kickdown adjustment here and there. It's 43 years old. In colder weather, it does have habit of not making the jump from '2' to '3' requiring me to manually intervene. It's always been something of an 'odd' box.
Anyway, I had it out for a good run on Friday and I was quite some way from home and the noise happened again, this time combined with a definite loss of power. Luckily the road was quiet and I pulled over. I figured as it was D3, I would start by locking the gearbox in '2' and nurse it home. It was a good 10+ miles home and it made it fine.
I got it home and took a warm reading and it wasn't low on fluid (the dipstick though is a habitual liar). The fluid didn't smell burnt but it wasn't quite its usual colour, although further readings did see an improvement in the colour. I popped it back in D3 and did a mile or so circuit around home, including some inclines and it was fine.
So I am stumped. Truth be told, if it had only done this whilst driving, I would have thought it was a binding caliper but it made this noise stationary too.
As for the model of gearbox, it's definitely a 35 (I had the filter gun and seal replaced) but I'm not sure on spec. The selector is 1, 2, D3, N, R, P. There is no D2 available, 1 and 2 are single selections. There's a full throttle kickdown which works just fine but I've had to make a couple of adjustments in recent years.
It's possible the fluid has been allowed to get too low (I have no faith in that dipstick) but I admit I wouldn't be surprised if the box is on the way out, I had a chemical test done on the fluid last year and it came back fine but I've never had much confidence in it ever since I've owned it.
Could anyone shed any light on this one? I admit a new gearbox would hurt financially but it's getting to the point where peace of mind counts for more.
The first time it happened was parking up on a moderately steep incline. I was backing the car up when I got a loud noise from what I think was the gearbox. It sounded like something was fouling, a loud "click-click-click" sound. It was certainly jarring enough to panic me and I'm not easily flapped.
I backed the car up in the neutral, parked it. When I got back, I very gingerly nursed the car home at first and it was absolutely fine. I put it down to one of those things. I checked fluids, cables, etc, etc - all fine.
I've used it a fair bit since, mainly several 15 mile round trips to collect stuff rather than use my daily car. Not a problem with it. The kickdown works perfectly, it selects gears more or less in the right places. I admit the gearbox has never been right on the money ever but I've put this down to the fact it leaks, it needs topping up, it needs a little kickdown adjustment here and there. It's 43 years old. In colder weather, it does have habit of not making the jump from '2' to '3' requiring me to manually intervene. It's always been something of an 'odd' box.
Anyway, I had it out for a good run on Friday and I was quite some way from home and the noise happened again, this time combined with a definite loss of power. Luckily the road was quiet and I pulled over. I figured as it was D3, I would start by locking the gearbox in '2' and nurse it home. It was a good 10+ miles home and it made it fine.
I got it home and took a warm reading and it wasn't low on fluid (the dipstick though is a habitual liar). The fluid didn't smell burnt but it wasn't quite its usual colour, although further readings did see an improvement in the colour. I popped it back in D3 and did a mile or so circuit around home, including some inclines and it was fine.
So I am stumped. Truth be told, if it had only done this whilst driving, I would have thought it was a binding caliper but it made this noise stationary too.
As for the model of gearbox, it's definitely a 35 (I had the filter gun and seal replaced) but I'm not sure on spec. The selector is 1, 2, D3, N, R, P. There is no D2 available, 1 and 2 are single selections. There's a full throttle kickdown which works just fine but I've had to make a couple of adjustments in recent years.
It's possible the fluid has been allowed to get too low (I have no faith in that dipstick) but I admit I wouldn't be surprised if the box is on the way out, I had a chemical test done on the fluid last year and it came back fine but I've never had much confidence in it ever since I've owned it.
Could anyone shed any light on this one? I admit a new gearbox would hurt financially but it's getting to the point where peace of mind counts for more.