1960 LeSabre 4drsd will NOT Reverse! What's wrong!!!

J

JTW

Active Member
Hello,

I'm new here, and in a quest to find out what can be wrong with my tranny and hopefully I can fix myself to save some money.

I have a 1960 LeSabre 4dr Sedan that I barely drove on the streets for the first time in 21 years. I pulled into a driveway to make a 2-point turn and heard a loud THUMP. It reversed fine when i hit the gas and headed home. Wanted to drive it again and the reverse didn't work anymore. The R feels and sounds like it's on Neutral and just idles.

Can anyone shed some light on this problem if they have encountered anything similar?

THANKS IN ADVANCE!!!
 
The strut for the reverse band feel out of place because of lack of maintenance/adjustment. If this is, & more than likely is, the only way to repair is to remove the trans. & disassemble. If you remove the trans. pan, it's kinda hard to see, you will most likely find what I say is true.
 
Thanks Tom!!!

Is this a ddificult job? Hard to find the band location? I mean, is it a type of job that must be done at a tranny shop? What's something like this run? A bench job with a full master kit put in and a converter should be it right?

Thanks again!
 
Very 1st. thing that needs to be done is to find a shop with an older rebuilder who has done DynaFlows. The most IMPORTANT part of the trans. is the torque converter. It is NOT like your normal converter. It comes apart in pieces & the tolerances/clearances MUST be adhered to or else it will be getting done again sooner than later. I would guess that it can run up to 2K. I could give you a phone number of someone, that has a shop in Ca., who may be able to suggest someone.
 
Hey Tom,
Thanks so much for the detailed information. Yes I would like your CA connect to see if he can recommend someone, I'm in San Diego.

Also, 2 more things:
1) Do you know where I can find a diagram of where ALL the vacuume hoses go? Like out the carburator and into temp switch and manifold? Seems like there's a vacuume leak somewhere. I have both shop books, can't find much.
2) My brake lights and turn signals sometimes work, I've followed the power everywhere and narrowed it down to a bad Turn Signal Switch from the steering column. Any idea where I can find that? 2 out of 3 auto stores said no so far.

Once again, Thank you.
Joseph
 
I've found that by spraying the vacuum lines (one atta time), with WD-40, and listening for a change in RPMS and watchng the exhaust, can help in finding a cracked vacuum line. Often, the crack is where the line makes a turn off the fitting; easy fix - cut off an inch of vacuum line.

Try "Buick Farm" for the turn signal pieces, or "oldparts.com"
:shield:
 
Thanks WildKitty!!

I actually did spray around for leaks and found all 8 bolts loose on the air intake manifold, I used carburator cleaner and the RPMs did react. They're tight and that's fixed now. Also all vacuume hoses are brand new, shouldn't be cracked. I want to know where the hoses go from the following:
1) The back of the carburator to...?
2) The side (left) of the carburator with the steel hose to...?
3) The temp switch to...?
4) The vacuume from behind the carburator by the distributer to...?
5) The heater or air blower assembly to...?
6) I believe some of these plug into the air intake manifold, which do?

Thanks so much for your help.

Also, if the nailhead is swallowing all my gas REALLY fast, does the carburator have to be adjusted? Its been dipped in acid and cleaned out. I know it gets a terrile 8 miles per gallon, but I put 5 gal at a time and a 5 miles joy ride around the blocks a few times and letting it sit and idle every day eats up the gas!! Ideas or suggestions?

Joseph
 
Hopefully the attached will help. This are from a '60 Electra with 401 so it may be slightly different. Feel free to ask if you can't work out where the lines go. Because of the limit on file size, it may be difficult to see some of them, so right click and save the image to your computer, them open and enlarge.
 

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Hi 60Electra225,

THANKS FOR THE PICTURES!!!!...So:

1) The back of the carburator to... the "T" on the air intake manifold?
2) The side (left) of the carburator with the steel hose to... somewhere down by the headers?
3) The temp switch to... the "T" on the air intake manifold?
4) The vacuume from behind the carburator by the distributer to... the heater assembly?
5) The heater or air blower assembly to... the vacuume switch by the distributor (same as #4)?
6) I believe some of these plug into the air intake manifold, which do... according to your pictures, that'd be 1) from behind the carburator. 2) from the temp switch. 3) That steel hose that goes to the right? What's that? Maybe for 401s only?

Again thank you for your time!!!
Joseph
 
1) The back of the carburator to... the "T" on the air intake manifold?
The line at the back of the carburetor goes to the vacuum canister on the ignition distributor.
2) The side (left) of the carburator with the steel hose to... somewhere down by the headers?
The steel line goes to the exhaust manifold. The pipe should have a 90 degree "hook" at the end, and it fits into a corresponding hole on the inside of the exhaust manifold.
3) The temp switch to... the "T" on the air intake manifold?
Correct.
4) The vacuume from behind the carburator by the distributer to... the heater assembly?
Refer to point 1.
5) The heater or air blower assembly to... the vacuume switch by the distributor (same as #4)?
The heater line goes to the other end of the T piece.
6) I believe some of these plug into the air intake manifold, which do... according to your pictures, that'd be 1) from behind the carburator. 2) from the temp switch. 3) That steel hose that goes to the right? What's that? Maybe for 401s only?
The steel hose goes to the brake booster.
 
Hi 60electra225,

Wow thanks a lot!!! That is clear as day and makes total sense, I'm glad someone finally helped me get all the vacuume lines to their correct places.

Would you know where I can find the Turn Signal Switch from the steering column? Mine "sometimes" work, but that's not good enough because that means my brake and turn signals sometimes work. I've taken it off and manually worked the switch lever on the bottom of the switch that turns the signals on, and it does not consistently work. I'm having a hard time finding it at auto parts stores. Anything I can try to make the "sometimes" working switch work "all the time"?

Thanks in advance,
Joseph
 
Hello again,

Actually that part from the link you sent me is located once the steering wheel is removed, that works fine and I have a spare. The one I'm referring to is down by the pedals and ON the steering column. Its a little black box that's bolted on and 2 harnesses get plugged in on the top, and on the bottom there's a small lever that connects to the lever on the steering wheel by a cable.

I hope that makes sense... I don't think buick farm has it. Darn!!!
 
Yes That's the switch!!! Oh boy $150? Wasn't expecting that, but it is an obselete part.

Tom, have you taken this switch apart and cleaned it yourself? When I took it off it seemed pretty sealed. Would you have any direction for me as to where to start or go about it? Besides being very careful and using extreme care of course. That'd save me $150!!

Thanks to everyone!!
 
If you look at the switch I'm pretty sure you'll find metal tabs bent over the plastic which holds it all together. Carefully bend up those tabs & the guts of the switch will be exposed. I honestly don't remember if there are any springs in there. Carefully lift up the plastic from the metal housing & you will find contacts. They need to be cleaned & if they have some black around them that means the contact is poor. Very SLIGHTLY bend those tabs to make better contact, grease & re-assemble. Plug on the wires to see if it works. If it does you've saved $150.00 & it just cost you some time. If it doesn't, well you were going to spend the $150.00 anyway & in reality how much is your time worth. If nothing else you may learn something to apply to a future project. Just take your time, don't rush, especially if you've never tackled something like this before. In reality it's pretty easy. That's the great thing about working on older vehicles, they are basic & simple.

Tom T.
 
THANKS GUYS!!!!!!!!

60electra225,
Thanks for that site and part number, I just sent an online form asking for that part, just waiting to hear back. Thanks for your research.

Tom,
THANKS so much for your detailed description on what to do. I will FOR SURE try that out, and will be very careful. I really hope it works, Hopefully it IS pretty straight forward and I will NOT have to be bugging you guys so much.

I APPRECIATE ALL THE INFORMATION YOU GUYS HAVE GIVEN ME, I'll report back with results.

-Joseph
 
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