727 cooked on fresh good fluids? Rebuild or swap?

[wes473]

Well I joined the local cruise before the show and it was a slow parking fleet of overheating big blocks... 

The "cruise" was stop and go 5 mph, I barely made it 1/2 a lap and temp gauge was already high. I did one more gueling block of hot temps  so the kiddos saw her cruising, then pulled right over to park and puked out coolant. I let her sit hours until cool to drive home. The 50 year old trans did great I just pushed the car in the heat 

So any thoughts? Fluids were new and good. Now I haven't gotten under yet but she hunts for gears up and down and slips under load. Before ran and shifted great. I did do new fluids and trans lines before the cruise but it drove fine for an hour before the overheating cruise. I check trans warm in neutral several times. Could overheated trans fluid expand enough to make a overfill scenario on top of burning up stuff?

[chargerdon]

you can yank her out, and rebuild it yourself !!   Its not that difficult...   probably all it needs is a new set of clutches and seals, so a rebuild kit has all of that for about $125...   

There are youtube videos that you can watch and learn from step by step.   

Only special tools you will need is a slide hammer to pull out the pump, and clip pliers...   Also you will need a clutch pack compressor which you can make yourself with some allthread and two pieces of steel.  The 727 is a fabulous tranny and one of the easiest to rebuild.    I have done my 904 first with complete success, and then tackled my A518...  a bit harder but still doable...tho you will need a press for the back clutch pack on that one...   

[Bullitt-]

    Are you absolutely positive the fluid level is correct?

Seen many posts through the years of folks not knowing to check with engine running at operating temperature in Neutral

[anlauto]

Did you have your kick down linkage hooked up and adjusted properly ?

[JonH]

Did you have your kick down linkage hooked up and adjusted properly ?

This!

[Jay Bee]

    Are you absolutely positive the fluid level is correct?

Seen many posts through the years of folks not knowing to check with engine running at operating temperature in Neutral

In your Cda Idaho car show thread you said "...line issues I got fluids back in...", makes me agree with Bullitt. I have one of my kids put it in drive (of course pressing the brake) while hot and running as I check the level.

[Chryco Psycho]

Yes you can rebuild it yourself to a point , it can be a bitch to get the drums apart without a press .
So this is what happened to me , a mechanic friend convinced me I should start building 727 trans as they are easy & we needed someone to build them right , so as always you want something done right you do it yourself !
I rebuilt 2 & they worked very well, not perfect but good [governor shift points could have been better]  , so along comes #3 I rebuild it , I find nothing wrong , replace the soft parts & install it , it lasts 5 miles & burns up , so I honor warranty & rebuild it again , I even hired a trans mechanic to go through it with me so I could learn what I missed so now I am working for free & install it again , 5 more miles it is toast .
I got lucky , the car owner was very understanding & paid to have it rebuilt by a pro or I would have been upside down badly & still no clue what I was doing wrong , turns out the pump was faulty & not able to make the needed pressure , I had no way to test the pump pressure . You Must have all the tools to play this game !
I never touched another Auto trans & I have no clue how to drive an auto anyway .

[wes473]

Sorry for the short story to start of the poll, its been a busy weekend. I'll update the OP story.
Rebuilding these doesn't sound that bad or expensive, Also TCI street-fighter's aren't too spendy. I just don't think I have the time to learn that trade on top of tackling floors n interior. On the other hand, why invest in the auto if I plan to manual swap anyways, i was just budgeting that for later...

    Are you absolutely positive the fluid level is correct?

Seen many posts through the years of folks not knowing to check with engine running at operating temperature in Neutral

Yup, I religiously check it(in neutral) until I'm confident its good, then check it again lol.

Did you have your kick down linkage hooked up and adjusted properly ?

Good question, I didn't check since it shifted ok before I did fluids and ok after fluids. Now after I overheated it has issues, but probobly could use band adjustments too from what I've read.

[gzig5]

Doesn't look like that Nova in the background fared much better. 

If it were me, I'd drain it, change the filter and fluid and based off what I found there would determine next steps.  If it doesn't look bad, fill it up and go.  I have always liked to have a good aux trans cooler to take some of the load off the cooling system, which should help the engine cooling a little.  How your timing is adjusted can affect how hot the car will run, but I'm not sure if it makes a difference at idle speed.

[Cratos]

I have a small aux cooler with a fan set to 180 deg some times you get stuck in traffic I don't like to see 200 deg on the gauge.