why are automatics so messy

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Princess Valiant

Princess Valiant

A.K.A. Rainy Day Auto
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i was working on a late model (2006) ford AX4N and i had a thought .......


you know a drain plug is probably a thousand year old idea........here is a bright idea ......WHY dont car makers put drain plugs on auto trans pans?

yea that would be an awesome idea ....yet i know some do ....but why dont they ALL have drain plugs.

that makes life hard working with autos.

this Brilliant ford trans just pissed itself the whole way .....WHAT A FREAKING MESS......(excuse my potty mouth) but really ...would a drain plug be such a novel idea.

when i pulled this trans too the trans cooling lines used every opeertunity possible to get ATF all over me ....i am going to smell like ATF for a week after this mess.

in the 50 years or so that autos have been popular dont you think they can be a little neater.

makes my 4 speed look good ....with a nice drain plug on the bottom ...or you just remove the driveshaft and put a slip yoke in and never have to drain it......dang for being so simple manual transmissions have it right :D
 

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Oklacarcollecto said:
I have never understood that myself. Why not put drain plugs in rear ends too?
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well at least a rear end cover is smaller area for the fluid run ....this trans pan is almost a couple feet long at longest point.

still a rear end cover or dropout could be a lot less messy with a simple drain plug ...i agree LOL
 
auto industries doesn't expect the consumer to work on their car...some people go 100K miles without touching their transmission...
 
Are the splines stripped out on the torque convertor where it hooks up to the main shaft on that AX4N?


Having to drop the gas tank to replace the fuel pump is another pet peeve. I have ran across an import or two that had a removable plate just behind the back seat so you could remove the fuel pump. Now that would be too simple....
 
"Hey Lee, we can save 50 cents on each car."

"REALLY? how??"

"We'll just get rid of some drain plugs."

"GREAT!!! DO it!!!"

You know there were actually some Chivvys built (mid 70's?) that came with NO radiator or block drains!!!!! You could either drop a siphon down the rad (crossflow) or pull the bottom hose, and then go back and beat a hole in a block plug. You used to be able to buy Chivvy freeze plugs with a drain bung!!!!
 
One of the reason why I disconnect the cooler line and empty it into a container, especially for an overhaul. Crank the engine for a few seconds and pump everything dry. Even gets the converter. too.

I do this on services, also.
 
Oklacarcollecto said:
Are the splines stripped out on the torque convertor where it hooks up to the main shaft on that AX4N?
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no, this one was in for a bad torque converter clutch selonoid switch ......so it was dying the same as a manual when you dont press the clutch in .....then it wouldnt let go

it should be a simple job as its behind the side cover ....but this is a DOHC so heaven forbid its easy .......you have to drop the subframe to get the side cover off or just yank the trans ....i did the latter. :banghead:
 
RaniDart70 said:
no, this one was in for a bad torque converter clutch selonoid switch ......so it was dying the same as a manual when you dont press the clutch in ........

it should be a simple job as its behind the side cover ....but this is a DOHC so heaven forbid its easy .......you have to drop the subframe to get the side cover off or just yank the trans ....i did the latter. :banghead:
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Nothing is easy on a DOHC... Must be a Taurus or Sable.

I have one to do with the torque convertor issue that has just over a 100K on it. Dacco has a updated torque convertor to solve that issue. I have a 53K drive train out of a total so I am going to install the updated torque convertor in it and use the whole shebang.
 
One of the reasons I've heard often as to why they dont put drain plugs on auto trans pans is because you're supposed to change the filter inside when you change the fluid.That explaination still doesnt make much sense though,because in order to get to the filter you first have to drain the pan,and without a plug it makes the job a huge mess.
 
Oklacarcollecto said:
I have one to do with the torque convertor issue that has just over a 100K on it. Dacco has a updated torque convertor to solve that issue. I have a 53K drive train out of a total so I am going to install the updated torque convertor in it and use the whole shebang.
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wow just over 100k ....this one did a lot better ...this one has 196,520 mi. :D

i bet i am the first one to ever take the pan off.

fluid wasnt bad either .....it wasnt very red but it wasnt burnt either and some but not much clutch material on the magnet.
 
Oklacarcollecto said:
Nothing is easy on a DOHC... Must be a Taurus or Sable.
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yea its a tortise .......nothing is easy on modular fords ...i had a 95 mark VIII and you cant even get the valve covers off without taking half the car apart.........but i can rant about ford in another thread on another day LOL :banghead::snorting::pirate:
 
RaniDart70 said:
wow just over 100k ....this one did a lot better ...this one has 196,520 mi. :D

i bet i am the first one to ever take the pan off.

fluid wasnt bad either .....it wasnt very red but it wasnt burnt either and some but not much clutch material on the magnet.
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I have made a bunch of money on the Taurus and Sables. I had about 25 of them here at one time. I would buy all the wrecks I could get, then find good clean cars that needed an engine or tranny and swap them out. My crop is getting thin now because I am down to 5 Taurus parts cars and 3 of them have already had the engine used out of them.
 
Rani I bet you're really hot with atf in your hair.
 
RaniDart70 said:
yea its a tortise .......nothing is easy on modular fords ...i had a 95 mark VIII and you cant even get the valve covers off without taking half the car apart.........but i can rant about ford in another thread on another day LOL :banghead::snorting::pirate:
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Taurus is my favorite Ford car because of how they hold up in a bad wreck. having worked in the salvage business I saw a lot of them totaled but the cabin always stayed pretty much intact even in a roll over. Of course we didn't have one that collided with a semi or ran off a mountain either.

This Taurus was the one that hit my nieces SUV. The 85 year old man driving the Taurus walked away, my niece that was in the white SUV almost died and is still in rehab 2 years later. It still amazes me when I see that windshield wiper sticking straight out on the Taurus.

photo__3_.jpg
 
Oklacarcollecto said:
I have made a bunch of money on the Taurus and Sables. I had about 25 of them here at one time. I would buy all the wrecks I could get, then find good clean cars that needed an engine or tranny and swap them out. My crop is getting thin now because I am down to 5 Taurus parts cars and 3 of them have already had the engine used out of them.
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my adoptive dad loves Taurus and Sables ...but he will only buy the ones that are optioned up and with the DOHC .....he says the regular 3.0 is too gutless ......the 32v DOHC does have significant more power. but i think they are a bit tougher to work with and more $$ on the long run

this one i was working on has adjustable pedals which is such a good idea .....all cars should have those ....they are good bcoz i dont have to hug the steering wheel to reach the pedals.
 
The reason I always heard was because some do it yourselfer would drain the the transmission, thinking it was the engine, add five fresh quarts of oil and proceed to burn up his transmission.

And yes, they are messy bitches..
 
Now a days dealers or jiffy lube just hook their machine to the cooler lines and tell you they flushed the tranny. I know I am not the brightest person but I think that is BS because the old filter is still in it. My wife's 300c doesn't have a tranny dip stick. I questioned dealer about buying one and they told me that this is a dealer service item. Right can you say Ebay.
 
BrianT said:
The reason I always heard was because some do it yourselfer would drain the the transmission, thinking it was the engine, add five fresh quarts of oil and proceed to burn up his transmission.

And yes, they are messy bitches..
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This happened......................

Back at Miramar, with had a Navy ET Chief that was far from a mechanic. One afternoon after work he showed up with his 67 Impala (1972 or so) wanting to change his own oil

I said, well, start by removing the plug on the bottom of the engine and let all the oil fall out.

So what he ended up with is

an empty transmission

a new oil filter

and five quarts of new engine oil mixed right in with 5 quarts of OLD engine oil

"Del? Why won't the car move?"
 
I cant help but think of the keyboard. Ever wonder why the keys aren't in alphabetical order?
Ever wonder why the lug nuts on the left were once left hand threads ?
What I mean is there is a legitimate reason for everything. When the original reason(s) no longer apply the method to the madness may or may not be revised.
 
RustyRatRod said:
Rani I bet you're really hot with atf in your hair.
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hee hee ...no way ....

and plus ATF is not good for your hair ...it dries your hair out then you need an overnight leave in conditioner ......like V05 or something like that .......ask me how i know LOL
 
RedFish said:
I cant help but think of the keyboard. Ever wonder why the keys aren't in alphabetical order?
Ever wonder why the lug nuts on the left were once left hand threads ?
What I mean is there is a legitimate reason for everything. When the original reason(s) no longer apply the method to the madness may or may not be revised.
Click to expand...


Why do hot dogs come in packs of 10,but buns come in packs of 8? And why do they call it a television set when you only get one? :D
 
BrianT said:
The reason I always heard was because some do it yourselfer would drain the the transmission, thinking it was the engine, add five fresh quarts of oil and proceed to burn up his transmission.

And yes, they are messy bitches..
Click to expand...

Some foreign made's have a big "OIL DRAIN PLUG" and an arrow point to it.
 
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