A604 Problem 89 Chrysler New Yorker

Your have a fractured Sun gear, it's a known weak point with this age of A604. If the computer is removed from the tranny, the tranny will still go into reverse. The only thing that will cause that transmission to not operate in reverse, if it does operate in any other gear, is a broken gear.

There's a pic of a broken gear in the following pictorial:

Your going to have a problem fixing this because the 1989 A604 was one of the early, early generation A604s. It differs significantly from the later ones because it uses a mechanical speedometer takeoff, the later ones all use electronic speedos. You can't just go to a wrecker and find another A604 unless it has come out of an 89 vehicle, and all of those are probably blown up like yours.

If you really want to run this car, find a transmission rebuilder who has had experience with this transmission. A rebuild will run you around $1400 at least. Many internal parts in the 1989 A604 will need to be replaced. The transmission manual from Chrysler has at least 30 key strength updates that need to be added to that year transmission.

Ted

Thanks Ted.

I was hoping for some better news but not surprized by your response.

I did notice that when the trany was pulling in ODrive that when torque was applied that a poping sound came from the trany area, possibly a further indication of what you have described.

Before I bought the car, I priced at a local auto parts store a rebuilt trany. It was quoted at $1K, which will probably be the way I will go. Taking a trany in for a rebuild, experience has taught me, is writing a blank check to the shop doing the work. The final price and the estimate never seem to match, I hate surprizes.

Thanks Again for your help

EBates

Ted Mittelstaedt wrote:

That is probably not going to be a good way to go, I must warn you.

First of all, since you have broken gears your valve body is contaminated with metal particles and MUST be replaced, these auto parts store rebuilds may not be quoting that. Secondly, your torque converter must be replaced for the same reason, that quote probably also does not include that. Last, your transmission computer MUST be updated to part# 4796121 because the original computer has a bug in it that greatly shortens the life of the transmission, once again, that may not be in the quote.

There are several companies out there which "remanufacture" transmissions (rather than rebuild them) and sell them through auto parts stores. Generally only the common versions of the transmissions are on the shelf. Such as the 1991-1995 A604/41Te and the 1996-onward 41TE. Your special one with the mechanical speedo takeoff will most likely NOT be available over the counter - or they will substitute a later model, which won't work for you.

The quotes on these remanufactured transmissions usually include the core credit. However in the fine print they will say the core must not have "any hard parts broken" Since your core already has broken gears what will happen is the auto part store will ship back your transmission and then inform you a couple weeks later that they cannot refund your core deposit since the transmission has broken parts.

The warranties on these trans will NOT include labor to R&R the transmission - so if your brand new transmission doesen't work, you will pay to pull it out and give it back to them for warranty claim then pay again to put it back in. Of course you lose all the money put into trans fluid and such.

Also, since you have a broken gear your fluid system is contaminated with metal particles, so they may deny any warranty claim once they get your core back and take it apart and find a broken gear, by claiming you did not properly flush out your transmission cooler.

Your methodology for picking them is flawed. For starters, forget any chain store transmission shops like AAMCO.

There are a few simple tests when picking a transmission rebuilder. A very simple test is when calling around, ask what kind of transmission fluid they use to fill the transmission. A shop that does not rebuild many of these transmissions will always say Dexron. Sometimes they will say Dexron with Lubeguard. If they say this, make sure to demand to talk to the chief rebuilder and ask him, don't just take the word of the dumb blonde that answers the phone. If they do not say ATF+4 then cross them off your list.

Once you have a couple shops in mind, ask them to give you names of previous customers that have used them who are happy with the result. If they give you any baloney about privacy then go down to the shop and sit in the waiting room and when the next person walks through the door just boldly ask them if they are happy with the shop.

Also, do not just assume the dealerships are all going to screw you. And don't forget the Jeep and Dodge dealers. Call around and when the service department answers, ask them if they have a guy on staff that rebuilds Chrysler transmissions or if they send them back to the factory for exchange for a reman unit. If they send them back, cross them off the list, if they do their own rebuilding, then tell them what you got and ask for a quote. There's not a lot of Chrysler techs in dealerships that are qualified to rebuild these and if a dealership is lucky enough to have one they really like to keep them busy doing transmission work.

There are some other things you should know. First of all, these transmissions are a lot simpler to rebuild than a fully hydraulic transmission, because the computer and valve body takes the place of the complex hydraulic control valve body. So, that helps with the labor cost, and it also helps in that if the guy is experienced there's less to go wrong in a rebuild.

Secondly, there's a 9 inch and a 10 inch torque converter. The smaller converter is typically speced for passenger cars, the larger for minivans. You want the larger converter, it is heavy duty and will last longer. It will fit where the 9 inch converter is.

Third, the radiator transmission cooler is inadequate, get an external supplemental trans cooler. This is really easy, just go to a wrecking yard and look for a minivan or car of that vintage with a trailer hitch, any of those will almost certainly have a supplemental cooler. I have seen many of those, even many Mopar supplemental coolers, in wrecking yards. Both my vans have them.

Last and most important are the gears. You need to understand that this transmission is one of the newer Energy Efficient models. Unlike older transmissions, it uses very thin, lightweight gears in it that have a very small mesh area. In order for these gears to withstand the power through them, they use special materials, and undergo special expensive heat treating. Unfortunately, there are many el-cheapo Chinese-made replacement gearsets for transmissions on the market and these transmissions are no exception. The aftermarket remanufacturers, like your auto parts place, save money by using the cheap Chinese gears. They do not buy replacement gears from Chrysler/Mopar which have all the expensive heat treating done.

In the URL I gave you is a pic of the broken weld on the gear that broke in my transmission. That gear is about the size of your hand. Image now 100 horsepower going through that small weld and gear in the center.

To be perfectly honest about this, your car uses that Mitsubishi 3.0 engine with the sinking valve guides and oil leak problem. If the engine in it is original, and has not had the updated heads put on it, your best off cutting any losses and towing it to the scrapyard. If your New Yorker had the 3.3L engine in it, it would be worth saving.

Ted

Thanks again for your response. The engine is a 3.0 (no history of engine work), and as we both know the trany is bad. My plan for getting it going again was/is apparently flawed. Yesterday I spent a few minutes calling trany shops (it was Saturday so most were closed) but did talk to one guy who gave some of the flavor of your message and a WAG of about $1400. Whether this guy knew a trany from a front bumper I don't know, but it did get my wheels turning toward the 'Cut and Run' suggestion that you offered.

If I understand what I've read about this trany, it is unique to the 89 Chry. They "Fixed" their design flaws in 90 and subsequent models. That being true there is no opportunity to upgrade to a later model trany, not even considering the trany computer issues. The option is to rebuild a flawed design and wait for it to quit, or the valve guide issue to kill the engine. The 'Money Pit' syndrom is definitely not what I had in mind.

Sounds like plan 'B', whatever that turns out to be, will be put into effect. The lesson learned here is, do the homework before buying a used car from a friend or otherwise.

One last question: Is there a good place on the Web to get historical info on problems such as with this car. My grandson apparently still needs a car.

Thanks aga>> Thanks Ted.