Another Tranny Question...

[MadMax]

Hi Guys,
some of you might remember me, I'm the one with the lifter problems. Got that solved now, but my car still doesn't make it past the 300 mile-test

On Friday, my transmission ended it's life with a funny noise. It's a new rebuild, 700r4 tranny with only a couple of miles on it, the TC is older though, low stall. Went beautifully, all gearchanges, pressures etc. just fine. Then, when going up a hill, there was a sort of short grinding noise, as if something was being chewed up. Then I lost all gears, the trans doesn't shift into any gear at all, just stays in neutral. The lever is still connected, and I've pulled the trans and opened it. All looks brand new (thought it might be that sun gear shell, but wasn't, anyway that should have left me low and 3rd.) The engine still runs fine, the grinding noise is gone, as I say, it seems as if it was always in N. Now what the heck can that be? I'm slowly tired of pulling out my trans, now that it's rebuilt it should go for couple of thousand miles without needing a second look, but it took about 300 mls again.
My idea is either a total failure of the TC (shouldn't think that can happen suddenly) or the oilpump (wasn't rebuilt) has a cracked rotor or something, haven't looked into that yet. Anothr note: when I took the trans out, there was no oil in the cooler lines. But it wasn't running too hot (according to my NEW temp gauge). All clutches seem in perfect condition, gears too, nothing has got disconnected or slipped. Slowly but surely I'm thinking of getting a manual trans, it's a beast to fit in, but I won't be having those problems anymore. Or is my car just too heavy for a 700r4 (5000 lbs), or my engine too strong (250 hp), or me travelling too fast (75 mph cruise), but I shouldn't think so...


PLEASE HELP ME !!!

BTW: I found out what the problem with my "lifters" was: Something totally different: My TV-Valve (hadn't checked that) was too loose and I had burned out my transmission clutches, tranny running very hot -> engine gets hot, too (same radiator) I thought my temp gauge was bust, because I always got full reading. That's why I had to rebuild the trans .

[MadMax]

Doesn't anybody know what it can be? I've checked just about everything, and I can't find a fault... How do you find out if the converter is gone?