Comrades:

The latest episode finds our hero attempting to take his 78 dodge D100 for a spin around Ephrata, WA.

I'd filled the transmission with fluid a few weeks earlier, so was not expecting any trouble. Of course, about a mile out from the storage yard, the truck began surging and I noticed a lot of smoke coming out the back.

The engine kept dying, but that's probably because my neighbors siphoned out all my gasoline. I bought more gas, that seemed to help, but the surging/quitting action continued all the way back to the yard.

The drip pan is covered in tranny fluid. Ideas?

bruddaluke

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"Guy Thing" 1978 Dodge D-100 pickup

rusted,leaking trans cooler lines?

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V8?? We don't need no stink'n V8!!

rusted lines are possible, but there's really not a lot of rust on this unit. Central Washington State is known for being dry. For example, storage is a big business in Ephrata - RV's and boats from all over the state winter there.

My current theory is a blown seal between the tranny and the engine - I think that would account for the smoke.

The engine surging is probably a combination of things - somebody sucked out all my gasoline and the filter is probably clogged again from the work done to swap in a new fuel tank.

There's a legendary transmission shop (Dean Transmission) here in Seattle. I'd like to drop the transmission, haul it back over the mountains and have Dean check it out.

How hard is it to drop an automatic transmission out of a 78 Dodge truck?

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"Guy Thing" 1978 Dodge D-100 pickup

not to hard to remove ....

degrease and clean the outside of the trans and take it for another short ride so you can see where it's leaking from.If your trans lines are good,the "O"ring for the dipstick tube is the next likely culprit,followed by the seals for the shifter shaft.You can easly fix the O ring yourself,and the shifter shaft seals can be fixed by a trans shop w/o removing the trans.Of course,if your sure it's leaking from the converter seal,then out with the trans.

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V8?? We don't need no stink'n V8!!

I recently had a similar problem with my brother's van. White smoke, bucking, barely moving. Turns out that a previous owner had cut the metal lines for the tranny cooler and bridged the gap in each line with a section of rubber hose and some hose clamps. The rubber eventually got dried out and split while my brother was driving up I-5. The fluid sprayed directly onto the exhaust pipe, making a big white cloud. Eventually, the tranny got so low on fluid that the van would barely move.

My point is you should check for a similar problem on your cooling lines and also check and make sure the fittings aren't loose.

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Casually looking for a Clifford hyperpak intake for cheap.

OK then, now we're getting somewhere...

Thanks for the great advice guys! Any suggestion on where to pick up a seal kit? Lucky for me there's a NAPA store just down the street. I'll let you know how things turn out.

bruddaluke

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"Guy Thing" 1978 Dodge D-100 pickup

Comrades:

I loaded the tranny with Plus Four ATF and drove down to The Mechanic, fabled Ephrata wrench.

His crew looked it over and concluded that the pan gasket was rotted out. New gasket, filter and a hundred bucks later we're on the road. We'll see how things go with longer trips around the area.

Luke

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"Guy Thing" 1978 Dodge D-100 pickup