Everyone

Tranny is leaking in the front and I need to take it out and take a look at it. Might be front pump leaking. Anyway. Have a 460 / C 6 combo. Mustang II front end.

When i installed it i bolted them together and slide it in.

Has anyone dropped their tranny lately or remember. Its a stock firewall, no mods. Can I just drop the tranny and not mess with the motor? Firewall seems so close. Couple inches away front the housing of the tranny. That's gonna irritate me. Dang it!!!!

 

Can you remove your tranny x member and drop it down that way?

 

I would remove the trans cover to get better access to the bellhousing bolts and assuming there is no crossmember in the way, drop the trans out. Not sure about your setup or skill level but you may want to take it to a local transmission shop and have them do an inspection on the leak. They could also tell you if the trans was removable.

 

we had to remove my tranny from the 460 in my 55.. it is tight, but it will work. We had to tilt the tranny down to get it off..
cause it failed to shift properly after rebuild and burned the bands..

we had to do this twice.. once wouldn't shift into 3rd, once skipped second..

we ended up replacing the valve body with a different model

on the first cycle, when we pushed the tranny down, we loosened the lower rad hose without knowing it.
when I took it out for a test drive, and stomped on it, I blew the hose off and left all the rad fluid on the street!!.. fun times
had to tow it back.

sam

 

Everyone's build is different, so what one guy did may not work for you. And if you did your own installation, you probably already know the answer.

Being able to drop your trans will depend on if you left yourself enough room to remove the bolts and slide the transmission back off the dowels so it can drop. There's only one way to find out. Be sure to let us know how it went.

Good luck.

 

Before you pull it out check that the cooler lines / fittings are not leaking, I had a guy change the front pump seal and it was just a hole in the cooler line.

I think getting the trans out is only half the problem, if it is the front pump seal, and you replace it you will have to install the torque converter back into the front pump and then install the trans without the converter slipping out of the front pump dogs. Are going to use a transmission jack to keep the angle constant?

 

Cool. Thanks Sam. And Thanks for all the replies. Gonna try to take it out today if I have time. I hope it works.

Old F1,

Checked the cooler lines a while back. Its leaking right out of the front(it looks like anyway) because it pools up on the original cross member's groove. I dont own a tranny jack either. I might go to get one today, sure it would make the job easier and having the right tools is always handy.

Patrick

 

I've got a 460/C6 too and I'm not a great mechanic, but i fabbed and installed all. And I'm wondering, has it been leaking continually for some time? Or did it just come on suddenly? I ask that because I seem to have a problem--for some reason--putting in the correct amount of tranny fluid and when I check the fluid level it seems to need more and--according to standard instructions with engine running etc and warm--it always leaks out about what I just put in. It leaks for a few days and then stops. So I dont' know what's happening but when I check the dip stick it needs about one and half qts and I put it in and then it eventually leaks out on the garage floor. Sounds like same area as yours--front crossmember etc? Its a standard C6 I did add one of those extra capacity pans/aluminum/finned etc. And it came with different pickup etc to reach the bottom of the deeper pan etc. And I can't figure why the dip stick/filling procedure goes wrong. I've done it twice now. I was just out watching the leak diminish the other day. And it seems to be coming out of that front cover. Or--at least I hope its gonna stop haha. It has in the past. I dont' know if I could get mine out either? I sure don't want to!! I put the motor and tranny in as a unit--you probably did the same and assembled torgue converter and all out of truck on shop floor etc/all easier-for sure. I'd probably try a pro myself if they could fix it without removal--thats me not you. I also have a tranny cooler down there and I wonder if all is somehow pooling wierdly etc and goofing up my dip stick measurements etc or?/could even be the wrong dipstick for me--maybe.

You didn't recently add fluid did you?

 

When I said I'd probably try a pro--I meant if they could maybe fix it without removing the "motor". The tranny yes, but not the motor too. If both need to come out/then I might as well do it myself.

 

I have a bad rubber ring at the shift lever arm. If I fill it too full, it drips from the lever

sam

 

You know what? I had that problem too. Just after I got the motor and tranny installed initially, and of course some time had gone by since I'd had the tranny rebuilt and I went back to them but they said I'd have to bring the tranny in--not the truck--just the tranny etc. The guy that did the rebuild didn't have a pro shop with car lift etc/he's good/does a lot of tranny work for local drag racers etc--or I hope he was good haha. And he worked out of his house etc.

But anyway I wasn't up to that-taking the tranny out-- and I posted a thread here on FTE and someone?? I'd have to look back told me I could replace that rubber seal--which NAPA had in stock, and could do it without removing the tranny/so I tried it and got by just fine. It was kinda scary--I was afraid I was gonna touch something I shouldn't but it was fine. I dropped the pan and could see how to unbolt? the shift lever and remove it and then remove the rubber seal and replace. It was especially easy for me because I'm not using the automatic "kickdown" setup etc so I don't have any extra do dads inside the tranny on the shifter lever etc. If one does have the kickdown in use etc/I'm sure its still doable, just one more thing to momentarily disassemble.

It all worked good. If that is something that continues on your truck and you need to fix it--I only fix what needs to be fixed haha--sometimes I break things more than fix them so I'm conservative, but let me know and I'll find that thread .

I'm not sure what I've got going? As I think about it, the other time it did this I was parallel parked on a city street with a big "crest"? in the road. I forget what you call that, but its so the water drains from the center of the road to the sides etc. And my truck was therefore leaning to the right pretty good and I didn't think anything about it, but when I came back there was a pretty big pool of tranny fluid under there. It didn't happen again. And I thought--maybe--i was missing the little rubber oring--if it's supposed to have one--on the dip stick tube opening etc and maybe the truck leaning to the right was causing the fluid level to get up high etc so it leaked. Only had that happen once. Never did get a rubber o ring in there/I think there's suppose to be one, but not positive.

So I'm hoping this is similar? But I'm wondering? After I came to "believe" that the tranny rebuilder likely didn't replace that shift lever rubber seal etc, I kinda began to wonder if he cut some corners? Makes me a little nervous.

 

No, mine drips over time, it will be OK for a couple days and then drip drip drip till its pretty dry, doesnt matter how much I add. Its sat for a long time while I was building the truck, so possibly just wore a flat spot in the seal or something, or just a seal went bad. It seems to drip out of the front, like I said its right in the groove of the original cross member, so we will see. I didnt get a chance to remove it today. But I got my fingers crossed and I hope I can "jimmy" it outta there.

I went and bought a transmission jack today. Expensive but Im sure well worth it. I did try adding a bottle of Lucas Oil Stop Leak and that seemed to help a couple weeks, but after that it started back up. So we will see.

After I drop it, Ill have to take it somewhere. Im not transmission guy at all. Hardly a real mechanic anyway. I do OK and get by.

Thanks again.

 

Well good luck with that. Keep me posted.

 

Just as a followup, I took the truck out for a "therapy" drive yesterday/so sunny/warm/nice after recent rain and cold--I needed it, and wanted to see if leak would worsen or? etc

I just drove up to the next town+ maybe a 30mile event, and at first when I parked at the store I saw a couple little drops--either from the continuing leak or just some of the previous leakage falling away from crossmember crevices etc-probably the latter. But after getting home and sitting in the shop overnight, I checked and no leakage on the shop floor whatsoever. That's good news--I guess--as long as there's still sufficent tranny fluid in there haha. If its empty, I'm sure leakage will stop.

But I don't think it is empty/it didn't leak "that" much. Just a continual little dripping/maybe half a quart or more? And I'm guessing that either I have the wrong dip stick or there's some sort of bad seal somewhere such that when the pan is correctly filled to the proper height--for some reason its leaking somewhere. I don't know how or where, but it appears to be coming out the front and dripping from the inspection cover area. Its always hard to be sure with a leak--they can meander like a creek.

But whatever, in my case I think I'm OK--assuming the leak has stopped and stays stopped--and is just the result of filling it to some level that is at the moment for whatever reason too high--because I've got a TCI 890-428000 extra 2 quart capacity cast aluminum pan with the associated proper pickup that reaches to the near bottom of the bigger pan. So i still have more fluid than OEM, just less than I think I could. But sufficient for my uses.

And also I've got a Perma-Cool frame rail tranny cooler 771-1004 and a dash mounted B&M 80212 tranny temp gauge graduated from 100F-350F with the sensor mounted into the cast aftermarket pan on the side near the bottom, and so I'm getting pretty good data about what's happening as I drive down the road. I don't like to "worry" about the unknown haha.
I should be able to see a problem developing if the tranny is "actually" not getting enough fluid. At least I'm thinking so.

Goodluck Superman/hope its just a seal/and all goes easy. Although its never easy to remove one of these big C6 trannys.

 

Well. I took the bolts out of the tranny. Disconnectedthe hoses. Torque converter bolts are out.

Tranny won't drop far enough. It hangs up on the firewall and original cross member on the frame. I'm missing dragging it out by a good inch or two.

I could jack up the cab. But I think I'm gonna grind off the rivets for the cross member. Prob gonna cut the top part that goes to the top of the frame and bolt the bottom four bolts. I don't think there would be that much twisting at the frame there. Especially with the mustang front end boxed and the tranny cross member bolted too. Suggestions???