66 C4 won't go into gear???

[kyudizky]

We finally got the my motor rebuilt and back in the car. While the engine was out we also replaced the neutral safety switch and transmission filter. Now the transmission won't go into any gear when the shifter is moved. Although changing the neutral safety switch wasn't as easy as everyone here said it would be, I was finally able to get the small drill all the way in by adjusting the shifter. I think it's correct now since it will only crank in park or neutral but why won't it go in any gear? I understand that the C4 holds 4-5 qts of ATF but isn't that torque converter and all? If all we did was drop the pan we probably only drained about a qt., right? What am I doing wrong? Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[thexrcist68]

i beleive it holds 9 qts but don't quote me on that, if you dropped the pan you should add at least 2 1/2 or more qts to it, whats the level on the dipstick?

 

[kyudizky]

We only added less than a quart to show get the dipstick reading were it should. I know your supposed to check the dipstick after the car has been driven, but like i said, it won't go into any gear. Any idea why???

 

[woodsnake]

Linkage adjusted properly? What I mean is it sounds like the bottom of the shifter is not moving the rod that selects the gears in the side of the transmission.

 

[lord_cobra]

You should try jacking up the rearend so that the tires are touching. Then see if you can turn the driveshaft at all. I had a similar problem with my 69 after we had the engine out and back in. I was at wits end and then I decided to try that for some reason and after turning it a bit something in the tranny clicked into place and problem solved. I don't know for sure if the torque converter was not in all the way or if something else was going on for sure.

Good luck.

 

[Iamdiffrnt]

I'd try putting the axle up on stands (rear tires off the ground and front tires chocked) and cycling the shifter through all gears at idle, while trying to keep an eye on the fluid level. This sort of burps the air out of the valve body, but doesn't stress the trans too much. You probably know this already but just trying to cover bases. The older ford transmissions use "Type F" trans fluid (which is NOT compatible with mercon/dextron) and the fluid level should be checked with the engine running in park or neutral.

Hope this helped