should I or shouldn't I?
#1
should I or shouldn't I?
'89 F150, 302, AOD, 2wd
I asked this in another thread, but it didn't really belong there.
I've been impressed so far, as I don't think the transmission was ever out of the truck before I bought it, and it doesn't slip yet, now with 125k since then. It has 235k on it total. Now I seem to have some trouble with the 1-2 shift. It seems to get lost in neutral for a few seconds between the two gears. I just changed the transmission fluid, which was just starting to change color. My concern is, if a valve is sticking because of some crud that broke loose somewhere, am I likely to continue having problems with varnish breaking loose from somewhere other than the valve body? I hear all the horror stories about changing the transmission fluid and then having problems. Oh, well.
Now I'm thinking about disassembling the valve body and cleaning things up. Maybe I'll install a shift kit while it's apart. Do I need to go through the entire transmission?
Can anybody tell me the difference between the various vintages of AOD? I found a rebuild kit on ebay for like $25 part number DK7600. I have found other references to this on other websites. Some say that part number is good for 1980-1990, and others list one kit for 1980-1983 and another for 1983-????. (Okay, I'm not sure that everybody is referring to the same exact kit, but the part numbers are all the same.) If the main concern for me is the valve body, could I get that kit and just go through the valve body? So many questions.
I couldn't really afford to go through the motor, but I had to. Now I'm even deeper in, and I have tranny problems. The lowest price I've seen for a reman is like $700, so a $50 kit and a little labor seems pretty appealing. I've always been a little scared of the autos, but after doing some reading, it looks like the key is clean, clean, clean, and don't lose any of the small parts. I can get the Ford service manual from the library. I also intend to take photos of assemblies before anything comes apart and keep parts from different areas in separate bins. Any advice? Hints? Ideas for getting things working again without disassembling anything?
Thanks for any help.
Dave
I asked this in another thread, but it didn't really belong there.
I've been impressed so far, as I don't think the transmission was ever out of the truck before I bought it, and it doesn't slip yet, now with 125k since then. It has 235k on it total. Now I seem to have some trouble with the 1-2 shift. It seems to get lost in neutral for a few seconds between the two gears. I just changed the transmission fluid, which was just starting to change color. My concern is, if a valve is sticking because of some crud that broke loose somewhere, am I likely to continue having problems with varnish breaking loose from somewhere other than the valve body? I hear all the horror stories about changing the transmission fluid and then having problems. Oh, well.
Now I'm thinking about disassembling the valve body and cleaning things up. Maybe I'll install a shift kit while it's apart. Do I need to go through the entire transmission?
Can anybody tell me the difference between the various vintages of AOD? I found a rebuild kit on ebay for like $25 part number DK7600. I have found other references to this on other websites. Some say that part number is good for 1980-1990, and others list one kit for 1980-1983 and another for 1983-????. (Okay, I'm not sure that everybody is referring to the same exact kit, but the part numbers are all the same.) If the main concern for me is the valve body, could I get that kit and just go through the valve body? So many questions.
I couldn't really afford to go through the motor, but I had to. Now I'm even deeper in, and I have tranny problems. The lowest price I've seen for a reman is like $700, so a $50 kit and a little labor seems pretty appealing. I've always been a little scared of the autos, but after doing some reading, it looks like the key is clean, clean, clean, and don't lose any of the small parts. I can get the Ford service manual from the library. I also intend to take photos of assemblies before anything comes apart and keep parts from different areas in separate bins. Any advice? Hints? Ideas for getting things working again without disassembling anything?
Thanks for any help.
Dave