when we pulled the cooler lines off the radiator, the stream of fluid looked quite dark, and it had a slight smell. so off to napa for a filter kit. (the cheapo gasket did not fit the pan right, so I reused the original one. it felt nice and soft. when I put the pan back on, I started all pan bolts, and torqued down the dipstick bolt, and the front bolts, and left the rear ones loose... apparently to flush the fluid out completely...
(3 quarts of fluid on my driveway... nice) aannnyway... torqued down the rear bolts, and cleaned off the pan with brake spray, and filled to 4 quarts, and then cranked it up did the d,r,d,r,d,r,d,r,d plan, and tested level, and topped off to a good fill.
test drive, the transmission shifted smooth as butter. Jay very happy with the improvements!
an interesting thing to note on his radiator... (I REALLY WISH I'd taken pictures...) he has a bher radiator, with plastic tanks, and aluminum VERTICAL TUBES... with stainless steel volutes in each tube.... the fins on the radiator were like an A/C coil... I'd NEVER seen one like that before... anybody else?