The 904 in my dart has been causing me much grief the past couple months.

I swapped converters last spring and it seemed fine at first but after about a 50 mile cruise it was obvious something wasnt right.

Eventually we pulled to stop sign near the house and it stalled. I was able nurse it home but it stalled in the driveway and at that point would not go forward any longer.

I pulled and rebuilt the transmission. The band lining was gone, dragging and the high gear clutches were totally vaporized but everything else looked good so I assumed that was the problem but once I put it back together it still dies in gear.

It has a manual valve body with all new clutches/steels set to spec.

It will move in reverse but still doesnt seem right at all.

I'm wondering if the transmission locking up may have ruined the new converter. I think the stator goes between the turbines so maybe it smoked the stator?

The converter did feel weird when going on - like it was super stiff to turn and usually they spin easily.

I'll be pulling the transmission again this weekend and curious if the gurus have any tips for anything I should check while its out again before reinstalling with another new converter?

Send the converter back to its maker and have them inspect it and let you know what is going on with it
Hopefully it is a good brand and not a cheaper brand

Pull the valve body and air check the elements. Sounds like front band and high clutch applied at the same time.

If it's not something like the front servo or high clutch piston jammed up, pressure is being applied to both at the same time (valve body, leaks, cracks), shift linkage (internal or external).


And send the converter back to be checked as suggested.

I had a friends 727 recently that was applying the high clutch and the band at the same time. It had an aftermarket kick down servo with Teflon seal rings. The rings were bleeding across between the apply hole for the band and the release hole from the high clutch circuit.
Doug

once at the strip i damaged a converter.....same behaviour, died in gear, like a stick car.....i swapped converters, cut open the damaged one - the sprag failed, was broken.

Michael

Mine was misbehaving in a similar manner............pull it into low and it wanted to stall.
Like it was trying to move in 1st and 2nd at the same time , so it just wouldn't move.
Still puzzling it out , but it seems to be something with the shifter cable adjustment.
One direction and it shifts fine , but will not go all the way into park.
The other and it goes in park just fine but often acts like it is not all the way into first.
Cheetah shifter with a longer 5" cable and Turbo Action valve body.
I switched from a Griner RMVB to the T/A and changed the shifter gate to a forward pattern because I never did warm up to the reverse pattern.
And it has been being difficult since.

Like Michael said its like a stick car. Put it in gear and it dies like there is zero stall.

I'm awaiting the 2nd new converter so we'll see what happens.

If issues persist I'll probably be done and just though a glide in it and be done.