1986 Dodge Ram 350. I got this van recently, 86,000 original miles. I am 2000 miles into my road trip, this trip being the reason I bought the van. Ran like a champ for most of the trip thus far but recently I've started to run into problems.
This is the first automatic vehicle that I've owned and I may have gotten a little too comfortable with not caring about gears. Van was strong for many miles but after a few hot days on some long steady inclines in Northern California problems have shown themselves. I should have probably been in low gears for some of these stretches of road. After one such stretch I noticed a bad transmission fluid smell. I checked the fluid and it was a little low but not alarmingly so.
After that instance the van has felt noticeably weaker on acceleration, it shifts harder, and still gets smelly on hills. After another 300 mile stretch it's still going but I am now staying at a friends house and driving it around town and not just the freeway. A loud clickity-clack sound is now present on low rpm; high load. Like pulling away from a stoplight. Once at speed it still goes fine but this sound sounds pretty bad. The fluid level is good, it doesn't happen in neutral
Is this click-clack sound foreshadowing the end of my transmission? I was told it's a Chrysler 727, I know they are pretty common. Assuming I have to get a new one, is there certain version/years to look for? What are the prices like?
Have you been pulling a trailer or is the van very heavily loaded? How low is "a little low but not alarmingly so"?
The three main things that will hurt a 727 transmission are "kick-down" (throttle pressure) linkage adjustment, low fluid, and heat. If you were able to smell the burnt trans fluid while driving or without pulling the dipstick, that is pretty bad, and you may have boiled the fluid, causing it to come out of the vent behind the converter. What fluid are you using in it?
I would have to see the trans to be sure, but in a one ton, you are likely running a short tailshaft LoadFlite. This is basically am automotive 727 TorqueFlite, but beefier internally.
As for the clicking, I would pull the inspection cover off the front of the trans, and see if you have a cracked flex plate, loose torque converter bolt, or if the torque converter has been ballooning and causing interference with the cover.
ShawnG
MegaDork
8/31/22 8:44 a.m.
I had the clack clack noise from a Ford C6.
Turned out to be a broken flex plate.
I would imagine the fluid is pretty well done at this point. Pulling the pan and checking the filter and pan magnet (if it has one) will be informative.
On a road trip I would try to find a good transmission shop, stat, and tell them what you've been experiencing.
Bands are another failing point. They are supposed to be adjusted every 30k but nobody does it.
Mopar rwd transmissions also don't have a conventional vent tube location, it's internal to the bellhousing on top of the pump vs an external. So if the torque converter gets hot enough to boil the fluid out it comes out and splashes on the hot converter and then you have that smell.
Im going to hazard the guess the torque converter is fried.
