So long story short I caught the distributor on fire and it burnt some vacuum lines and electrical things that I now have fixed so it has been sitting for about a month but I have it running again but it has a super high/ sticky idle but I am going to change the throttle cable to fix that but the truck acts like it is stuck in 3rd gear and it start in 3rd when you put it into drive wondering if anybody else has had this happen after sitting for a while. I think it has the C4 transmission 4X4 with the simple vacuum diagram. Any help is appreciated.


I took it out today and I figured out that when they towed it they put the transfer case in neutral and i kicked it into 2 high works like a dream

 

The 460 is considered a big block Ford. The c4 is a smaller transmission and was never offered behind a big block. If you have a 3 speed automatic, then it's pretty much guaranteed you have a c6 transmission.

First thing I would do is get someone in the cab to move the shifter back and forth while I got underneath and made sure the shifter and the linkage was working on the side of the tranny as they move the lever. If you had a big fire, they used plastic bushings in the linkage and maybe one of them melted and it fell apart.

 

Ok I wasn't sure which transmission it had. But the fire was right there in front of the carb and was mainly in that center portion I didn't know it there was any wiring or any thing right there on top of the intake manifold that could have caused the trans to act funny as before the fire happens it shifted and drove like a dream

 

The only wires to the transmission are for the neutral safety switch. If you can start the engine the wiring is fine.

What happens if you move the shifter to 1? Does it start in 1?

 

Yes took on road test after cleaning up my wiring and park and reverse work as normal. Put it in drive it is like a bat out of... Yeah but drop it dove into 2nd thinking that it was stuck in 1st and that sent the RPM higher same with 1st.
so 1st and 2 "manual" work as normal.

 

So the tranny is ok now? Couple other things that could make the trans shift funny. There should be a kick-down rod or linkage on the side of the carb mounted with the throttle. Make sure this moves freely and is not stuck. I have had this linkage get stuck and it makes the trans not shift correctly. The one other thing I can think of is the vacuum line to the trans. This controls shifting of the trans according to how much load is on the engine. It's hard metal line running up the backbone of the trans, and then at the firewall behind the carb it changes to a rubber line. This is usually hooked to a plastic manifold mounted on the firewall but sometimes it gets moved to a different place. It's supposed to go to intake manifold vacuum. If this line gets disconnected, the trans will want to wind up very high in rpms before it shifts. Just like it does when you press the throttle to the floor, but when this line is off it will do it all the time.

 

My guess is that the governor is stuck. It may free itself after some driving, or new fluid may help it. Otherwise, the transfer case has to come off, and then remove the extension housing from the end of the transmission. The governor is then exposed.

 

Okay, I gotta ask: How did the distributor catch fire? A fuel leak? Electrical short? Transmission fluid sucked up to the engine (failed modulator?) This might give us a clue as to the sudden start of the transmission problem, as you said previously it had been fine.

 

I was the cause of the fire the fuel vapor return part up by the carb I was bleeding it and stupidity cross threaded it and it was pouring fuel on the distributor and fire and spark are good in the engine, not on the engine. But I looked over the fact that the transfer case got thrown into neutral when it got towed home. And that was the cause of it being stuck in 3rd.