I'm going to be rather upfront about this: I'm a bit of a newbie when it comes to working on my Buick, but I'm trying to learn! With that said, I've run into a transmission problem. It's the stock 2-speed auto transmission (Super Turbine, was it?) on a 1965 Buick Skylark with a 355 Wildcat motor. Recently, what's been happening is a tendency to shift back into neutral when I accelerated, but after I slowed down to be specific. For example, I'm turning into a parking lot. I slow down the car, and when I accelerate into the turn, sometimes the car kicks into neutral. Or when I accelerate from a traffic light or stop sign. It's never done it when the car is already at speed, such as when I accelerate to pass someone on the freeway. There used to be a similar problem where the transmission would shift into neutral, shift knob and all, but have since had that fixed. Now, the transmission will shift, but the shifter will stay in place, so I suspect it's something different. Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!
The st 300 goes to high stall mode at idle and or when you are accellerating according to throttle position -read article below . Your torque converter is a variable pitch design in that transmission. Are you sure you are not confusing high stall with going into neutral ? A few other things to check would be is the tranny and linkage securely mounted. I.e. is the tranny lifting because of a broken transmission mount or broken engine mount causing it to shift out of gear momentarily then when (torque) is removed (slowing down) it slips back down into drive . Also check your fluid level...maybe when accelerating or hard cornering the pickup is becoming unsubmerged momentarily - causing your slippage....what caused it to physically come out of gear before that you said you fixed it? St300 also has a switch located behind your carb that controls that stall mode - give it a once over and make sure everything looks ok with that too.....John "from wikipedia" The ST300 had a three-element torque converter, a front and rear multiple-disc clutch pack, and a compound planetary gearset with a front band and a clutch pack for reverse and manual low gear. The unit was cooled with a small auxiliary oil cooler located beneath the engine radiator. It had a die cast aluminum case, and weighed 152 lb (69 kg). It was programmed to start in low gear, providing a gear ratio of 1.765:1 plus the additional low-speed multiplication of the torque converter. The shift pattern was Park-Reverse-Neutral-Drive-Low. In Drive at full throttle, it would upshift from first to second at 60-65 mph (99-104 km/h). From 1964 to 1967 Buick and Oldsmobile versions of this transmission used a torque converter with a variable-pitch stator called Switch-Pitch by Buick and Variable Vane by Olds. The stator blades moved from high to low position by an electrical solenoid and a stator valve, controlled by a switch on the throttle linkage. At light to medium throttle, the stator blades were at 32°, providing a torque multiplication of 1.8:1 and a converter stall speed of approximately 1800 rpm. At two-thirds to full throttle, the blades switched to the 51° high position, giving torque multiplication of 2.45:1 and a stall speed of approximately 2300 rpm. The blades were also set to the high position at idle to limit creep when stopped in Drive. The variable-pitch torque converter was also used with the early Turbo Hydramatic 400s in Buicks, Cadillacs and Oldsmobiles. The variable-pitch stator was dropped after 1967. Pontiac transmissions did not use this feature
Originally thinking it was a fluid problem, I did go ahead and check the fluid about a week ago. It was low at the time, but I refilled it and the problem is persisting. I suspect there is a transmission fluid leak, but it's very slow. I'm guessing the leak shouldn't affect how it shifts right after I put more fluid in there. But the problem is still there... As for the older problem, it was a bad motor mount that we replaced.
That's a possibility. Hm. Shouldn't be too difficult. I noticed it still kicked in and out after I refilled the fluid, but I did notice it was a bit "smoother," if you will. That could very well be the problem. If it is, that's a very simple issue, and I now feel dumb... Thanks for the help.
Hi. I'm a "noob" too. I just joined this site a day or two ago. anyway. I was just reading about your problem a while ago in the garage. So I went and got the old manual and brought it in. In trouble symptoms it defines what you're having is "Slippage or flare coasting to stop or cornering". (I believeo No It says to check: Engine idle(doubtful) /Clogged filter or suction pipe leak /Low band adjustment /Modulator and/or line / or the low servo. I hope this helps. I'm not a tranny guy, so I don't know. Good luck. (If you haven't fixed/replaced it already.)
