C-4 No Reverse

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Sep 15, 2017 | 09:37 PM

Dads79

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More Turbo

Joined: Feb 2004

Posts: 572

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From: Spring Hill, TN

C-4 No Reverse

Hello all. I have 78 F-100 Barn find I'm trying to put back on the road. It has sat forever. It has 302 V-8 and C-4 transmission. I got it running and went though brake system. The transmission had almost no fluid in it ,and was leaking at around pan. I pulled the pan last Sunday,drained about a quart of fluid. I changed the filter and refilled the fluid Type F . I was able to drive it around the yard and it shifted up though the gears. But I have nothing in Reverse. I'm not a master mechanic,and have never opened a tranny until now. Could it just be as simple as an adjustment to a band ? Any ideas would be helpful. Hopefully the transmission wont have to be rebuild . Thanks for time

Sep 16, 2017 | 12:23 AM

olblue77

Senior User

Joined: Nov 2012

Posts: 240

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From: Nashville, Tennessee

To be honest, You should probably take it to a shop and have them diagnose the issue. I'll tell you from my experience (I've pretty much blown up my C4 3 times so I've learned a little from the shop I take it to) It's probably the reverse clutch band. My main drive band went out last time I had problems with it. I am not positive but I'm not sure if you can just buy a single clutch band but I could be wrong (there's a reason I stay away from transmissions) if you're set on doing it yourself, study up. Youtube, ask people in the transmission section of this forum. It's under Mis. and then you will see the transmission section. Make sure you know what you're doing or else you could set yourself up for a nice shop bill to actually fix what you tried to and what you accidentally also messed up trying to fix the original issue.

P.S. automatic transmissions suck. Hope I helped,

-Caleb

Sep 16, 2017 | 08:04 AM

dlburch

Cargo Master

Joined: Jul 2005

Posts: 2,311

Likes: 367

From: Kansas

not sure how deep you want to get into it, but I've attached the troubleshooting section of an old transmission manual I have...the manual includes c4 (and c6) rebuild procedures, but it is too large to attach here...

Attached Images

c4diag.pdf (3.05 MB, 171 views)

Sep 17, 2017 | 05:32 PM

offroadbronco

Senior User

Joined: May 2003

Posts: 153

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From: Columbia, SC

I had the reverse/low band break in my c4 but I couldn't go forward or reverse in that situation. I have found that reverse is the first to go when the fluid is low. Double check fluid level.

You can also try and adjust the tension to see if that may help.

The c4 is pretty stuid simple to rebuild (as transmissions go).

You can just buy the bands, but you will have to disassemble the trans to get that far so being you don't know the condition, I'd rebuild it. Buy the book and read through it a couple of times.