1956 car surges and dies when putting into gear | Ford Thunderbird forum club group 1955-2005 models

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1956 car surges and dies when putting into gear

thehobbylady

thehobbylady

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Thunderbird Year
1956
Car idles great. Engine running fine. Idle is about 700 RPM. When I put into Drive it wants to " surge" and dies.
After it warms up allot it is better and I can get it to go, but whenever I stop it wants to surge and die.
Car sits allot, could it be transmission filter or maybe a vacuum line or band adjustments?
I have very little mechanical knowledge, and local shops will not work on it.
I put some Lucas Transmission Lube in, and it seemed to help.
New to this forum, and any suggestions will be appreciated. Love the Thunderbirds!

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thehobbylady said:
Car idles great. Engine running fine. Idle is about 700 RPM. When I put into Drive it wants to " surge" and dies.
After it warms up allot it is better and I can get it to go, but whenever I stop it wants to surge and die.
Car sits allot, could it be transmission filter or maybe a vacuum line or band adjustments?
I have very little mechanical knowledge, and local shops will not work on it.
I put some Lucas Transmission Lube in, and it seemed to help.
New to this forum, and any suggestions will be appreciated. Love the Thunderbirds!
Click to expand...

There are people who have cars which idle at 500 in gear and 700 out of gear. I have never been one of those people. Even with a rebuilt carb by professional I have to set it to idle at about 650 in gear (which is about 1000 out of gear) or it will do exactly what yours is doing. I don't think you will solve your problem with transmission adjustments. There is, of course, a possibility that you have a vacuum leak but from what you describe it doesn't really sound like that to me, just the way most old cars I've had always seem to run. One place you can get vacuum leaks is on the throttle shafts when they get worn. No way to fix it except to have someone redo the carburetor and put in bushings, if that's the problem. You could also try disconnecting all the vacuum lines except the one to the distributor and see if that changes anything. You have to cap wherever you disconnect a line from of course.
 
Thank you, Tom, for the information.
I installed a new carb and adjusted.
I am going to lower the idle speed when in gear and check all vacuum lines and cap the open ones.
I may change transmission fluid and filter.
 
If you decide to replace the transmission filter, make sure you purchase a Thunderbird filter and not a passenger car filter. The Ford-O-Matic Thunderbird filter is 6 1/2" in length and the Ford-O-Matic passenger car filter is 6 1/4" in length.

doug7740
1955 Thunderbird Blue

Transmission Filters.jpg
 
doug7740 said:
If you decide to replace the transmission filter, make sure you purchase a Thunderbird filter and not a passenger car filter. The Ford-O-Matic Thunderbird filter is 6 1/2" in length and the Ford-O-Matic passenger car filter is 6 1/4" in length.

doug7740
1955 Thunderbird Blue

View attachment 33132
Click to expand...

Doug, do you know the reason for this difference?
 
I ran into the same problem at NPD. They sent one that was too short although it was ordered in the Thunderbird section from them. I ended up cleaning old one, which took a while and 3 cans of carb cleaner but it solved my [problem of surging.
 
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