Greetings all,
I'm in serious need of advice regarding my 1991 Montero. Here's my tale of woe:
The truck starting have some strange shifting problems. Every shift was way late and would only shift after letting up on the gas. We just adjusted to driving it that way since a new trans was not in the budget. A few months later, the engine oil pump dies, and so the truck got parked. 3 years later, I rebuilt an engine for it and found a used transmission. In the process of pulling the old engine, I discovered what was wrong with the first trans: the throttle cable for the trans had pulled out of the mounting crimp causing it to change length at will. Ok. I decided to replace the trans anyway since the other unit had fewer miles. New engine in, trans bolted in, all is well. New engine runs great. The transmission, however, won't move the vehicle forward or backward. Crud. Checked everything I could think of with no joy. Decided to repair the cable on the first transmission and put it back in as it was a known good unit. Busted a** all weekend, fired it up, and SAME PROBLEM. No drive or reverse. Double crud. Any ideas what could possibly be wrong? I triple checked the torque converter to make sure it was seated properly, and it has a new front seal. The only common piece between the two is the oil cooler. I was extremely careful when removing the valve body to replace the shift cable. It acts like it's not sucking any fluid out of the pan. I put in 3 qts. and having spilled a some out of the torque converter and draining the cooler lines, the dipstick still shows full. It was the same with the first transmission.
I am WIDE open for suggestions as long as it doesn't involve pulling the trans back out. That is the WORST job ever. Thanks for your help!