Possible tranny damage?

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FomocoReformed

FomocoReformed

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Finally got the dart fired up today, for the first time in 2 years. She purrs like a kitten.

Ran into one problem though, after checking for leaks of which i saw none, I ran the car up and down the driveway to test the tranny. Shifted fine, nice and quick with no hiccups. Parked it in front of the garage and noticed it had burst one of the badly rusted cooler lines along the way and in the process pissed fluid along the driveway. While it was idling there and I was peering under it it finished pouring the remainder of it's fluid and at this point I noticed that drive and reverse were no longer operational so I placed it in neutral with the engine still running and pushed it into the garage. It probably was running almost dry while in gear for no more than 20 seconds, and was in neutral for roughly a minute or so. Fluid it dumped is still nice and red, doesn't seem burnt.

I usually drive a manual and this is the first automatic I've EVER owned or touched for that matter. So I have little experience with them, could this have done any damage to the tranny or can I fill it back up and go with it?
 
To almost run dry you'd have to dump 4 quarts onto the ground and even then if it's only for a minute or two you're probably alright.
 
Well I don't think it dumped 4 quarts.

Thanks, I was a little nervous. I've seen a lot of autos blow up so having never delt with an auto before and seeing that trail of fluid behind the car worried me a lot.
 
FomocoReformed said:
Thanks, I was a little nervous. I've seen a lot of autos blow up so having never delt with an auto before and seeing that trail of fluid behind the car worried me a lot.
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Try to figure out approx. how much ya lost and put that amount of fresh stuff back in before starting then top it up hot idling in neutral and go through the gear a half dozen times just sitting still.
 
demon seed said:
Try to figure out approx. how much ya lost and put that amount of fresh stuff back in before starting then top it up hot idling in neutral and go through the gear a half dozen times just sitting still.
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Will do, I was going to fill it up to full on the dipstick.
 
With the engine shut off and trans. full the dipstick will read approx. 1 qt. overfull so that's where I fill dry transmissions to start with. Then start it and run it through the gears and check it again in neutral and fill as needed to the "add" mark leaving room for expansion when it warms up. Remember torqueflites only pump when in neutral so they have to be checked in neutral.
 
fishy68 said:
With the engine shut off and trans. full the dipstick will read approx. 1 qt. overfull so that's where I fill dry transmissions to start with. Then start it and run it through the gears and check it again in neutral and fill as needed to the "add" mark leaving room for expansion when it warms up. Remember torqueflites only pump when in neutral so they have to be checked in neutral.
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Actually there is an upgrade so the TC will fill up in Park. Just had my tranny guy build a customers trans like that. I just found out about it a little while ago.
 
fishy68 said:
With the engine shut off and trans. full the dipstick will read approx. 1 qt. overfull so that's where I fill dry transmissions to start with. Then start it and run it through the gears and check it again in neutral and fill as needed to the "add" mark leaving room for expansion when it warms up. Remember torqueflites only pump when in neutral so they have to be checked in neutral.
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That's good to know, also explains why it seemed to be leaking a lot faster in neutral. I repaired the line but I have to go pick up more transmission fluid to fill it up. You guys were right about it making a big mess if it leaked all of it, I woke up this morning to find a puddle of red fluid seeping out from under my garage door. The dripping missed the bucket completely... ](*,) time to break out the kitty litter.
 
redfastback said:
Actually there is an upgrade so the TC will fill up in Park. Just had my tranny guy build a customers trans like that. I just found out about it a little while ago.
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Yeah it's a revised manual valve and usually comes with a Trans-go kit. It does allow it to be checked in park but I have seen a few that are a little slow filling the converter back up after it drains down over night so if you just start the engine and check it right away it may be off a little. For that reason I still check them in neutral so I know their reading accurately.
 
I wouldnt worry. I once broke a tailhousing racing a 3.8L turbo buick on the highway. I only noticed the mist in the mirror after a little while. Then I pulled off the highway to see what the leak was (engine running), then back on the highway and straight home. The whole time it was hemoraging fluid and it still shifted. You can lose quite a bite before it really starts to damage anything.
 
fishy68 said:
Yeah it's a revised manual valve and usually comes with a Trans-go kit. It does allow it to be checked in park but I have seen a few that are a little slow filling the converter back up after it drains down over night so if you just start the engine and check it right away it may be off a little. For that reason I still check them in neutral so I know their reading accurately.
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I still agree to check in neutral. But it does at least start to fill in park whereas stock it doesn't fill at all.
 
Update on this,

Finally had time to finish bending the cooler lines into shape and refilling the tranny with atf. Also got the brake lines finished so I can actually drive it again. Here's the current situation, all gears work and it moves again, but when shifting into gear (drive or reverse) from park/neutral, it slams hard. Like, hard enough to rock the car and jolt me a bit, makes an audible clunk as well.
 
FomocoReformed said:
Update on this,

Finally had time to finish bending the cooler lines into shape and refilling the tranny with atf. Also got the brake lines finished so I can actually drive it again. Here's the current situation, all gears work and it moves again, but when shifting into gear (drive or reverse) from park/neutral, it slams hard. Like, hard enough to rock the car and jolt me a bit, makes an audible clunk as well.
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Is this a new problem? What is the idle rpm set at? Do you know if somebody has installed a shift kit? Is it a stock torque converter?
 
check idle, the trans mount and u joints. mine clunks but its got an A and A full manual valve body in it. :-D everything applies now!
 
It's all stock, no shift kit or anything special. Wasn't doing this before it blew a cooler line, but it slams into gear now that I've replaced it and filled it with fresh fluid. Interestingly it only does it when going from park/neutral into reverse/drive, when driving it shifts 1-2-3 smoothly.

Idle seems a little fast, maybe 900-1000.
 
FomocoReformed said:
It's all stock, no shift kit or anything special. Wasn't doing this before it blew a cooler line, but it slams into gear now that I've replaced it and filled it with fresh fluid. Interestingly it only does it when going from park/neutral into reverse/drive, when driving it shifts 1-2-3 smoothly.

Idle seems a little fast, maybe 900-1000.
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900-1000 rpm at idle is not a little fast, it's way high for stock and could be the problem. Set it down to where it should be, about 600 in gear and see how it does. Do you think it could have been low on fluid before it blew the line? If so that could have cushioned gear engagement. Not that you have it full combined with the way fast idle your seeing this problem.
 
fishy68 said:
900-1000 rpm at idle is not a little fast, it's way high for stock and could be the problem. Set it down to where it should be, about 600 in gear and see how it does. Do you think it could have been low on fluid before it blew the line? If so that could have cushioned gear engagement. Not that you have it full combined with the way fast idle your seeing this problem.
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Very possible that it was low, I didn't check it until I got the engine running at which point it had already started pissing so who knows how full it was.
 
Ok, no luck with the idle. Let the car warm up and went to adjust the idle since it was obviously running fast. I backed the idle screw off as far as it would go, until it wasn't even contacting anymore. All this resulted in was the screw turning, no change in throttle position it remained right where it was at and didn't slow the engine at all. At first I thought it might still be stuck on fast idle but it doesn't seem to be.

Only thing I could think to try was adjusting the mixture which resulted in it running like ****, as I expected.
 
Hummm... Check for a vacuum leak. That'll cause a high idle. If no vacuum leak you must have something binding up the carb linkage. Could even be a worn baseplate on the carb not letting the butterflies close all the way.
 
I'll check it out, I know it does have a slight exhaust leak at the exhaust flange, barely noticeable. Vacuum lines on the carb seemed ok but I'll check them anyway.
 
idle it, pull the linkage off. push the throttle shaft closed, by hand. If that works; the carb needs re-bushed.
 
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