I got stuck in traffic with my 1995 F150 (4.9, 4 speed automatic, 4x4, 240,000 miles) for about 3 hours the other day. By the time things started moving again, I noticed the transmission was starting to slip - a little at first and then very badly and then stopped all together. Untill then, the truck ran and drove great and didn't use any fluid. From the time I noticed the initial slippage until it stopped was about 2 miles with about 10 stoplights. When I was finally able to get out of traffic, I saw the fluid level didn't reach the dip stick. I put 2 quarts in and the level was just touching the bottom of the dip stick. As I was pouring the 3rd quart in, I saw fluid was coming out of the plastic plug in the bottom of the bell housing almost as fast as I was pouring it in. About 1/4 to 1/2 quart came out in total.

I had the truck towed home and was able to move it from the street to the driveway where the flatbed dropped it. I won't have a chance to check it out until tomorrow and I'm a bit intimidated by what I might find.

Any advice as to where to look first and what to look for would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

I was able to top off the tranny fluid and drive the truck about 5 miles with no leaks and no slipping (yeah!!). Anyone I had spoken to about this reinforced my opinion that the truck's self healing isn't likely to last forever, so I'm pulling the transmission and changing the front seal - with the understanding that with a quarter of a million miles, its not going to last forever, no matter what I do.

I drained the fluid from the torque converter and dropped the oil pan. The oil still had a bit of red color to it and was kind of thin, but it didn't smell burnt or funky. There was a bunch of sludge around the magnet though. Here's a picture.


So far, I'm replacing the front seal, filter, pan gasket and fluid. I'm probably going to replace the cooler lines since they're a bit rusty. Any suggestions as to what to look for or what else to replace while I'm in here?