1989 Chevy Caprice No power

BENJAMIB

MEMBER
1989 CHEVROLET CAPRICE
V8
2WD
AUTOMATIC
116,550 MILES

I have an '89 Caprice 9c1 police car, that I swapped with my mechanic last summer (it was a lender car). It has an LO5 350 with a 700R4 tranny. I step on the gas, and it feels very loose, strained and not responsive. It shifts too early, is slow off the block, but is fine in 4th gear. Unless I'm in 4th, I really have to gas it pretty hard going up hills, and have to shift into overdrive or even 2nd sometimes on hills. It should feel much tighter and put you in your seat more.

The car has no other problems & is very reliable. I thought it might be the throttle valve, and it seems a little loose. I ran a fuel injector cleaner. Could it also be the fuel filter or torque converter? Tranny fluid has been changed. Please help! I don't wan't to risk damage to my tranny or anything.

3 Replies

JAMES W.

MECHANIC
2,394 POSTS

A couple questions;
When accelerating in lower gears, does it seem like a clutch is slipping? Like the motor rev's but the car doesn't go? If yes, it may a bad torque converter. In 4th gear, overdrive, the converter locks up so it can't slip. Please advise.

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Sunday, March 8th, 2009 AT 9:26 PM

BENJAMIB

MEMBER
3 POSTS

Yeah. The rpm gets high in lower gears, but it feels like the car isn't moving. Then in overdrive, the rpm drops down nice. But If I accelerate too much on an incline, it will shift down into 3rd & rpm goes up as I loose speed. Here are my shift pts: 7mph, 17, 31. I heard they should be more like 15, 26, 40 which is why I thought of the throttle valve cable.

Thanks.

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Monday, March 9th, 2009 AT 12:43 AM

JAMES W.