Thread: engine studdddering... ??? what the heck

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ok well i dunno how to say it or explain it.. but well if ya dont know i have a 1950 chevy pickup with a 283 v8 and a 700 r4 tranny behind it... now the studdering im talking about .. well it only does it sometimes.. what it sounds like i have no idea how to explain it but you can feel it and it shakes.. i know its something with the engine ... thought it was my spark plug wires because one of them was brown ya know.. so i replaced all of them and it ran fine for about a month now its back to doing it agian... im just kind of confused to what it could be.. i have a holley 600 cfm vaccum secondairy carb with a holley contender manifold...

when i do kind of an off the line launch , it studders then its fine then it does it again till i get my rpms up a little then its totally fine again for about a minute or two if i slow down and start from a stop .. honestly i have no idea what it could be but any input would be great as to telling me to look at something or check on something. i will be checking back so anything would help out ... so thankkksssss

Sounds like you tranny is slipping.

Depending what speed this happens it could be your locking converter kicking in and out.

well i just put the 700r4 tranny in .. and i was thinkin that too but it does it in every gear even park and neutral.. so i dunno... the water thing .. i thought about that but i put some heat in and stuff like that but it still does it... keep the suggestions comin ... ill keep replyin to them... thanx guys

I would agree with the other guy and say that it is in the tranny area, I would look at the torque converter and make sure its locking up in the right gear. I had the same problem in my Mustang with the Ford od I had the wrong set up and it was not locking up properly and it was shuddering like crazy, I thought the car was going to fall apart, once I got it set up properly it ran 11s in the qtr and the shuddering was gone. Hope this helps out.

Did the problem just start when you put the T400 in? If, as you say, it does it in neutral and park, the converter may be shot. Something inside is moving around at random.

damnit.. well i hope its not the tranny... cuz thats a pain in the ass... damnit... lol ive all done it by my self a 18 year old on a rough cement floor up on jackstands , a jack and a set of craftsman tools.. and i dont really wanna do it again.. lol but hmm.. thats weird.. like yeah that is understandable about the converter but its almost like the engine is studdering or missing ... then it runs just perfect for a little .. then it misses or whatever again.. so how do i check if its locking up in the right gear and what not???? and come to think about it.. it never did that with the th400 in it..

Sorry I got the wrong number last time, I meant 700. We had a 700 in a 350 S-10 that did the same thing, drove my brother and I crazy for weeks! It was the locking clutch inside the converter wobbling around. A T350 solved the problem.

tim_bo16,,,you need to be clearer on your description of the problem,,,,,when you first posted,,,by the way you described the problem,,,it sounded transmision related,,,,,but your last post,,makes it sound engine(tuneup)related.
You gotta try narrow the problem down a bit,,and get back to us.

Well i'm with you on this one Denny,,,after re-reading his first post,,and those after,,maybe it's ignition afterall,,,,seeing he replaced wires once before and the problem went away.
If only we could get sound and visuals on some of these problems,,ahh well.

well thanks so far guys.. im goin to go through the distributor and the spark plugs to see if anything is wrong .. but lol im really not sure else how to explain the problem... umm.. if i think of anything or if anything comes up then ill keep you posted... ( oh and by the way... i need the 700r4... i just replaced it with a th400 (similarly close to the th350... and i put 4.10 gears in the back.. ... so that dont work too well... )

Hooked on phonics should clear up the studdering just fine.
Sorry, Little levity for the situation.


If you have a set of plastic pliers or insulated pliers
pull 1 plug wire at a time while it's idling. If you find one that
doesn't change the idle when it's pulled that
would be the one causing the problem if
your having an ignition problem. It's not a cure-all test, but
it may isolate a bad plug / plug wire or dist. cap. ALso, check plugs / cap / rotor for carbon tracking. Just a thought.