Well, I just changed the fluid, the gasket, and the filter in my transmission this weekend, (92 F-150 XLT 4x4) and I thought I would share my experience, as well as a tip which may help.

Prepare to get messy, unless you pump out fluid beforehand. but hell, prepare to get messy anyway.

Don't forget to drain the fluid in the torque converter as well. Just in front of the transmission pan you will see a rubber plug on the bottom of the torque converter. Pull it out and there is a draining plug screwed in there....much like the one that I fantasize about being on the bottom of the trans. pan.

Putting the pan back on the transmission...First of all, please advise if this is wrong, but the new gastkets are rubber, and it says right on the box NOT to use any gasket sealant. Well, that's fantastic, but my gasket came wadded up in the box with the filter, which will make lining up all 8,000 bolts damn near impossible. I was so pissed I had to invent NEW curse words to scream out. Anyway, after trying to get that thing on a few times, what I did it was procure several small plastic wire ties, and run them through the pan and corresponding hole on the gasket on every other or every third screw hole. then you can start the screws on the remaining holes and then go through snipping wire ties and replacing them with the screws.

It worked for me, and enabled me to get done in time to watch the best Bears game that I can remember!

 

You must have an E4OD Yup, that is a messy tranny to work on. Did it once, got messy, did it the second time, brought a drain plug add-on with me! Basically a hollow bolt with a smaller screw to plug it, and it leaks (slowly... not enough to drip even), but it makes fluid changing a heckuva lot easier. Only about $4 at Kragen.

Good tip on using the zip-ties, too. I'll try that the next time I replace the filter.

Chuck

 

Another easy tip it to buy the filter kit a week or two in advance, and lay out the gasket on a flat surface and put some books on it for a week or so. This makes it really easy.

 

Yeah cbremer, I definitely should have bought a plug....I don't know why I didn't. And madman666, It definitely would have been smart to get that stupid gasket flattened out in advance...I didn't even think about it. Next time! (if the ol' ******* is still running )

 

 

use grease to hold gasket in place it works great

 

Yep! I've used grease to stick all kinds of things in place for all kinds of things, from ATV starters to washers in tight places where I can't hold it and get the bolt in place.

 

It's easiest to use RTV silicone sealer to hold the gasket in place. Silicone isnt the same thing as gasket sealer, though a lot of people think it is for some reason. WAY back in the day, when pretty much all gaskets were made out of cork, they made stuff called gasket sealer that you were supposed to smear all over the used cork gasket, and it supposidly condition the old cork so that it sealed better, though i dont recall it ever working. I dont even know if they make that junk anymore, but i know it could problems if you used it on rubber gaskets.

To confuse things, permatex makes a spray on "gasket sealer" that is used to spray onto gaskets for the purpose of temporarily gluing them to the surface you want. This stuff is NOT the stuff they used to make and call "gasket sealer", it's just a somewhat cheap spray on glue.

I've used the permatex stuff on rubber gaskets hundreds of times in a professional shop, never had any problem with it.....aside from it not really sticking the gasket on all that well in the first place....

 

holy thread mining batman!! Not sure how my 4r70w compares to the e4od but I didn't have much trouble with making a mess when I changed mine. The gasket i bought had smaller bolt holes and all i had to do was start the bolts through the pan,then through the gasket,then bolt it up to the tranny. As far a not making a mess,i just took all the bolts out on the back end of the pan,then loosened the ones on the front end a little at a time,making the pan tilt towards the back of the truck and drain as it tilted.

 

double post. ??????

 

you are NOT supposed to use ANY sealer on these gaskets.

 

The reason engineers usually say to use nothing at all with a gasket is because of the risk of using too much. If you slap all kinds of junk on the gasket, when you bolt it up it can squeeze into the transmission or oil pan or whatever, and eventually it could become old and brittle, and break off inside, possibly clogging something up.

If you use a little dab here and there just to stick the gasket onto the surface, it's fine.

Thats another reason why i recommend the parmetex spray on stuff. It's really thin stuff, sprays on like a light paint almost, no risk of putting on too much.

 

the instructions say: DO NOT USE ANY SEALERS.

so i don't.

 

The speed limit says DO NOT GO OVER 45. Naturally you dont.

 

so that is how it is going to be.

bored now.