4wheeldevil

my brother had an old caddy that he did a trans service on and then the the trans would not go into gear. the car had never had a service. the thing is that the fluid he pulled out was black and full of metal shavings. with the metal still in the fluid the trans still worked but once removed the tolerances were too great and there just wasnt enough friction material left on the friction plates for it to work.

so if the fluid you pull out is black(burnt) and/or full of metal shavings you need to put that fluid and filter back in once you fix the gasket, BUT you got bigger problems than a gasket.

IF your fluid is ok then you are fine doing the service.

The myth that you shouldnt change your fluid if it hasnt been done in a while stems from the issue of the friction material being in the fluid and not where it is suppose to be on the friction plates. someone does a service and oh no the trans no longer works. they blame the service instead of the fact that the trans was in bad shape before the service.

4wheeldevil

oh and i have used small dowel pins in a couple of the bolt holes to keep the gasket lined up. once you get the rest of the bolts in just pull the dowel pins out. on my current truck two of the bolt holes on the pan were just small enough that i just had to put those in first easy peasy

Just call me Sean

iTrader: (1)

This is what screws people up. You just said two different things, it's not a myth oh yeah it's a myth. Anyone who would put old dirty fluid with metal shavings back into their transmission is an idiot.

4wheeldevil

yeah i guess i didnt word that really well.

let me try again

ok the myth as i know it is
- that changing your transmission fluid will CAUSE it not to work. -

That is not true. a service can not a cause of a problem just can uncover a bigger issue with the trans.

The most common problem that i know of is the friction material from the friction plates braking off and into the fluid.

(does that make more sense)

Now as far as the old fluid with the shavings going back in, no i wouldnt recommend it but i have seen it done and seen it worked. in no way is it a permanent fix more so a band aid till the owner could have the proper work done. i saw this done no less then 3 times at the ford dealer i worked at. each time a customer came in and had a flush done our transmission tech used a machine that pulled the old fluid out and new fluid in. upon seeing the state of the fluid would go get the customer and a manager and try to sell them on getting the trans fixed and would warn them that without the work and with the new fluid in it, it would not be fords fault if the trans failed. most opted to put the old fluid back in. one didnt and refused the work he wanted to get some other quotes. i dont blame him i would too we were expensive. but his car didnt make it down the street.

i have seen many people put a band-aid on their car rather than properly fix it due to their budget.

i hope this post was clearer if not i will just delete it all tomorrow. the last thing i want to do is screw someone up with the wrong info.

Just call me Sean

iTrader: (1)

Opinions are good, yours has just as much value as mine. I'm glad you didn't take my idiot comment personally because it wasn't a shot at you, just the idea of reusing old nasty fluid.

94effoneFefti

I just replaced my oil pan gasket and i saved the little plastic dowels with the threads that you can align the gasket with. Hopefully they are the same size as the trans pan. So the fluid that is leaking out of my gasket comes out clean, nice pink color. Should that be a good sign?

So i guess the "myth" about the shady used car dealer putting saw dust in the trans to make it last long enough for you to test drive it is true.

Darkmark454

Something similar happened to my dad with his '99 f150. The rear end went out. The guy who replaced it put saw dust in it. Lasted about three weeks. Took it back, got money back, made him fix it without pay.

13Harleyfan

It would have to ooze its way thru the filter to get into any passages. There are some manufactors that do not use gaskets, only sealer in the transmission assy.

13Harleyfan

I personally have serviced 2 C-6 trannys where the fluid was nasty thick. After putting clean fluid in it it never moved again. There wasn't any major metal particles in the fluid. So it was going to fail anyway, I just sped up the process.

4wheeldevil

so did you rebuild the transmissions? something was in the fluid to make it thick. i wonder if it came off the bands or the friction plates themselves?
i just have seen metal shavings the most. shoot i blew the transmission in a 2004 f150 (forgot to take it out of overdrive while towing) when we pulled the pan there was shiny silver and red fluid in the pan. lucky we were able to replace it under warranty. and somehow that caused the gears to go bad and of course we didnt have anything for an open diff just limited slip diff's. what can i say work was slow that week. man i wish i still had that truck.