32RH first gear holds way too long all of a sudden

[hear]

I think I found the problem. Fluid was quite clean, smelled lovely. It’s got less than 5k miles on it, and *maybe* 10 miles since the first sign of acting up. But I dropped the pan to just look at stuff and noticed a dark stain on the filter.

Then I fished around in the bottom of the pan and found a thing. Several things actually. Probably used to be part of one thing.

Lots of clutch material. But also more metal paste on the magnet than what I have seen before.

This is actually really good news. Instead of wondering what the deal is, now I know. I’ve lost one of my bands and maybe more. But I now *know* it needs an overhaul. Knowing is half the battle.

 

[RonnieS]

I think I found the problem. Fluid was quite clean, smelled lovely. It’s got less than 5k miles on it, and *maybe* 10 miles since the first sign of acting up. But I dropped the pan to just look at stuff and noticed a dark stain on the filter.
View attachment 337654

Then I fished around in the bottom of the pan and found a thing. Several things actually. Probably used to be part of one thing.

View attachment 337653

Lots of clutch material. But also more metal paste on the magnet than what I have seen before.

This is actually really good news. Instead of wondering what the deal is, now I know. I’ve lost one of my bands and maybe more. But I now *know* it needs an overhaul. Knowing is half the battle.

That looks terrible. I'm surprised it still even works half decent. When in doubt drop the pan.

 

[hear]

That looks terrible. I'm surprised it still even works half decent. When in doubt drop the pan.

I knew I was going to be dropping the pan, but I also knew I couldn't get to it for several days so I figured I'd collect theories. Props to A&A Transmission in Indiana (found them referenced in some Mopar forum where they were discussing 904 problems, dude was super helpful on the phone. He said "sounds like your kickdown band is gone. I haven't proved it's not the low-reverse band, but it's definitely from a band based on the curvature.

It does look like a horror show, but if the only issue is the band spit the bit, then the number of things that are affected is actually pretty low based on my EXPERT opinion.