Somehow I had a hose slip off me newly installed tranny cooler this morning on my way to work. It had been fine for 2 weeks now. I noticed the tranny not wanting to go into first gear so I stopped and the fluid was spitting out of the return line to the tranny. I stopped and immediately shut it off. I had to wait for my wife to come this afternoon and I fixed the line and refilled it with fluid. It took about 7 quarts to get the level back up. It started right up and went right into gear. I drove for about 20 miles and it started delaying before going into first. The rpm's would get up to about 1500 or so and then shift into first. I pulled into a gas station and had no fluid loss, but couldn't get into any D, 1, or 2. I got my wife to pull my pickup home.

Is there anyway this could be something simple? The fluid smells pretty burnt up. I am going to drop the pan and draing the tq.

What should I look for when I drop the pan?

It's an auto trans with 117,000 miles. The fluid has been changed every 30,000 miles.

 

Are you sure the fluid level is full? I'm not to up to date on the new Ford stuff, but I know the older ford trannys got finicky about being low and would act burnt out without enough fluid.

 

I filled up where I was and it looked full on the dipstick and then drove about 5 miles and stopped and checked it again and it showed full on the stick.

I sure am hoping it is just a fluid problem, though.

 

Look for a lot of black residue in the pan. Your forward clutches are probably toast. Hopefully the loss of lube oil didn't ruin any hard parts.

 

How tough is it to change the forward clutches?

I had been thinking about getting a Gregg Evans valve body from troyer. Would it help any if I got that sooner?

 

A valve body isn't going to fix this. The trans needs to come out and be rebuilt. Sorry.

 

I didn't figure the valve body would fix it but was throwing out all the information that I had.

Why did the tranny work for a while after I refilled it with fluid and then went out?

 

I suspect the forward clutch was damaged when it ran low on fluid. It held on for a while after that, but then finally failed. That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

 

Dumb question.

Are you checking your fluid while the engine is running. If you check it no running and it shows full....it is LOW. With the engine off, your level should be way high on the stick.

Sidewinder