Packard Forum Index » V-8 (1955-56)

On my 55 400, whenever I put the transmission into gear the first time after starting, it stalls the engine out unless I rev the engine pretty high. Doesn't matter whether I put in in either Drive, or Reverse. However once the car is going, it works just fine. I can stop it and change gears at idle perfectly normally, even after only a few seconds of driving. Likewise I can put it back in Park/Neutral and not encounter the same problem.

I've tried to let the engine warm up for a few minutes first, but that didn't seem to make a difference. I've looked in the troubleshooting section of the service manual but there's not anything I see that matches this problem.

I'm using type FA transmission fluid (that was the bottles of fluid that were with the car when I bought it, and I topped it off a while ago using an unopened one, measuring the level with the procedure in the service manual).

Anyone have a guess what is going on?

The Ultramatic experts can answer better but sounds like perhaps the governor is starting to stick. I once drove my 1953 Patrician about 100 miles, some of it in traffic, with a completely stuck governor so I had to shift to neutral to stop, then rev and drop into gear to get moving agin. On the older Ultramatics at least, it turned out to be very easy to fix as the governor was accessible under a stamped steel cover on the side where I was able to remove it, free it up and reinstall it. Had I known I could have done it along the road as I had tools with me! I suspect it might be a little harder to do on a Twin Ultramatic, though.

There is some comfort now because I've made all of these mistakes and at least know the cause....

IF when installing a new direct drive clutch disc the reliner or the mechanic did not cut the little chamfers on the facings, the disc will stick to the pressure plate by some hydrodynamic phenomena I've not quite understood. And the car stall when you put in gear when it is cold.

So twenty-plus years ago I had to take the trans and convertor back out so I could spend about 73 seconds with a razor blade cutting the chamfers. That is why I remember it now.

I'd say just live with it.

Thanks Ross and Don. Mainly wanted to make sure that that wasn't going to hurt anything driving like that. I took it out for a few miles today just to get lunch and back and it seemed to drive fine.

If I ever need to drop the transmission in the future I'll try to take care of that. But for now definitely not.

Do you mean these little grooves or is it something on the edges?

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On the edges. I believe there is even a service bulletin about it shortly after they changed to the 9 inch clutch. It is only done on the edges of two slots, but both front and rear.

Looks like you're probably talking about Service Counselor V.28 #10?

https://packardinfo.com/xoops/html/modules/archive/content.php?op=&catID=11&ContentID=79

To me it's not really clear what they are actually saying to do.