The sad story of a transmission service

[orthotomeo]

My transmission has been having problems with 4th gear (automatic).

It doesn't hold very much pressure. I can use it down hills, but any acceleration otherwise causes it to rev.

I decided to do a tranny service to make it shift better in the cold and as well in hopes that I could make the 4th gear problem better. Fat chance.

So I drained the fluid (black) and took off the pan (old 4 bolt tranny). Success. Look in the pan to find several shards of metal and lots of tiny metal slivers. Not so good. As I'm wiping it out I pull out a dark bent object. At one time it was a straight thickish screw. Now it's a bent thickish screw. I also found the shank of another screw (sans head). "well", I thought to myself, "for some reason I don't think I'll get fourth working after all". I didn't have time to take off the other 10+ bolts to get a look at the pistons, and I don't know if it is repairable, so I put it back together.

So 4th is still as bad and now I have to re-adjust the transmission thanks to the new filter and fluid changing shifting points and pressure. Other than that it was uneventful.

It was easier than I thought after all the trepidation. If anyone has managed to repair a problem like mine though I'd love to hear.