Are My New 727 Clutches, Bands, or Fluid Burning?

Coronet said
Thanks for your input and support. The fluid is Valvoline Type F. New in the bottle, it has a rubbery, acidic smell to it compared to new Dexron. For all I know, this is the normal smell of this ATF after it has a couple hundred harder miles on it, but it has that clutch/brake odor to it that I'm not accustomed to smelling in ATF. But I've never smelled ATF in a freshly rebuilt transmission for a baseline. I don't smell the odor while inside or outside the car but smell it in the fluid. I purposefully chose Type F over Dexron/Merc for the firmer shifting after reading about the formula differences, but I'm not opposed to experimenting with Dexron. It's a heck of a lot easier to find in stock and cheaper than Type F since I can buy it in gallons versus quarts.

I air tested the servos during the rebuild, and everything worked smoothly then. That's not to say one isn't now malfunctioning.

I'll pick up a new gasket and drop the pan to get a better look. The filter and pan walls looked very clean on the camera and I didn't find any clutch fibers in the drained fluid. Having eyes on the filter and pan floor certainly won't hurt though. I'll report back with what I find.

Anytime. Ya I’m curious to see if you find anything because the smell of burnt ATF is usually pretty distinguishing and a good sign if possible failure. Also, to be clear, if you want to run Type F, I have nothing against it. I run it in many transmissions, including my own. I’ll only be using Dex/Merc this upcoming season once my car is back together. Type F definitely shifts firmer but remember, you have a shift kit therefore your transmission will shift firmer regardless of what fluid you choose. For some reason Type F is no issue to get where I live. I have heard others having issues finding it elsewhere throughout the country, but somehow I am fortunate. You ask Chris Andrew’s, Rick Allison, John Cope, Paul Forte, many other big name transmission builders in the industry and they recommend Dex/Merc. Not to turn this into another ATF thread, but there’s a reason for their recommendation. To be clear ANY atf will work. But Dex/Merc is recommended because of its additive package provides the best lubrication to the components. Type F shifts firmer which in turn, can put more strain on the components, especially with the band overlap the Torqueflite has.

Let me know what you find, when you drop the pan. Look forward to hearing back.

RJ