It should be common sense to know to change the oil if its DIRTY. Read the sentence closer ..."It will affect your tranny's performance and build up heat" ... Where do you get "rebuild tranny"? 'Heat' is the number one cause for breakdowns in your vehicle. Your assumations are wrong! as goes to my assumations that ppl have the common sense to know to change their fluids. Like any other mechanic, I tend to give out ideas and let the person use their noggin.

 

my fluid is clean.i was just concerend about the bubbles.

 

"bubbles will affect your tranny's performance and buildup heat. And eventually burn out your tranny."

 

avey!@ you are still assuming. think what you want. Foamy or aerated (light in color and full of bubbles) The level of fluid is too high (gear train is churning fluid). An internal air leak (air is mixing with the fluid). Pressure might be high. Have the transmission checked professionally.

 

JBronco, you slay me . I saw bubbles on a dipstick once. I put it back in and kept driving. I'm buying a 92 off of a buddy (first Bronco, got a 77 high boy though)to add to the expanding fleet and just wondering what tranny it might have. 351 auto thats all I know. BTW, where should I look to find the bubble sensor? Where can I find anti-bubbler?

 

I'm glad that somebody enjoys ny tongue-in-cheek automotive prose - although my answers are valid (to some people anyway).

The 92 will have an E4OD transmission, it's computer controlled so it has a bubble sensor. The bubble sensor is located right next to the bull****** detector, since both are necessary when maintaining your own vehicle.

 

Don't get me wrong JBronco. I enjoyed your writing. The days are way gone from my days to writing such purple prose. Give me a wrench! and I will do miracules!
still can't understand where I said "rebuild the tranny"

Here's another facts you can read...

http://www.drwtransmission.com/info.htm

under 'Automatic Transmission Fluid (ATF)'

"air bubbles develop and upset the hydraulic pressures that are trying to keep the clutches and bands from slipping"

I hope we all know what to do when the tranny slips.

 

well i talked to my mechanic and he said he notices this alot and as long as the tranny fluid is clean and the tranny shifts good,that it will be fine.

bull***** detector, thats awsome, do i have one on my 96 ?

 

just in my perspective, tranny fluid does tend to get bubbly but it is the amount, color, and viscosity. from what i've learned, when it starts to break down, as in power steering fluid, in addition to all the metal componants oxidizing. so basically, all i can say is be carefull and it is probably better to do what you can while your looking at it. hope that helps a bit

-Pat (NY-17)

 

I'm 41 and my prose gets purpler all the time...

As for the above quote, I have no doubt that this is true - but my point is that most people are going to see bubbles when the check the fluid and it's not something to freak out about or rush to the shop for. You have to take into consideration all factors when reading something like that. The best comparison that I can come up with at the moment is this - "starting an engine first thing in the morning causes much of the wear on the engine, since there is no lube up at the top of the cylinders and walls." That is a true statement, however it is also a fact of life for most of us and not something that we are going to do anything about. We are not going to run our cars 24/7 365 to avoid it. The best that we can do is try to use an additive that will help keep the motor lubricated up top, such as the Lucas that I use; or for the few extremists out there who really want to try to keep a motor forever, you can install a pre-oiler. But short of that, cold start wear is something that is part of the internal combustion engine and an accepted fact that we live with. That's about how i feel about the bubbles - while it can be written that they can cause wear, the tranny is still most likely going to last over 100,000 miles and the general amount of time that most people keep their cars or trucks. And that's about everything that I can think of to say on the subject.

 

man this keeps going up and down.....talk about being confused on what to do.

 

dude, i just checked out that link you gave and you left out a bit.

"When the level is high enough to get whipped up by the geartrain assembly in the trans, air bubbles develop and upset the hydraulic pressures that are trying to keep the clutches and bands from slipping."

ok, now i understand somthing,air bubbles can casue it to slip which mine does not but the airbubbles are caused by the level bein to high and getting turned over or churned causing the air bubbles in the 1st place. am i correct in assuming this ?

 

You are taking this bubble thing to far as far as it concerns your Bronco. I read the paragraph on the web page that the above quote came from. It is talking about overfilled transmissions. It is saying what can happen if a transmission that is overfilled gets hot. As long as your transmission is not overfilled then you are ok. Somewhere else in the forums I was telling somebody about overfilled transmissions and how they will leak from the fill tube until they get back to the correct level. But the article was not talking about a few bubbles on the dipstick of a vehicle with the correct amount of fluid.

I also found another paragraph on that page about towing in overdrive. the author confirms my advice that it is generally ok to tow in OD on level surfaces. He then describes a situation where somebody burned out a tranny from towing in OD. i have always advised not to use OD when towing in hills. Anyway, the way that the tranny was burnt was when the driver was towing uphill in OD, and had to get on the gas to climb the hill. The tran shifted out of OD and down into drive for the climb. So far, so good. The problem occurred when he was still climbing but he let off the gas enough for the trans to drop back into OD. That's where the damage occurs. That is what I mean by not "lugging" the trans when towing in OD, and what I meant by advising people to keep the revs up to avoid this. Obviously the driver in the example did not understand his vehicle when he towed in OD and burned out his trans.

This is what I mean when I tell people to only tow in OD if they understand how to do it. There is no need to kill your gas mileage and your patience by driving all day on flat surfaces with the OD off - as long as you understand when you DO need to switch it off.

 

Jbronco prose? or my bubble maker?

twisted - you know what ppl say, 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it' . BTW, was your tranny rebuilt or is it the original w/how many miles? I am lucky. my tranny guy fixed my tranny, way past the warranty date for free.

hahahaha...

on my AOD... trying to keep the revs high in OD is very gutless and makes me want to cry. especially when you're only going 35-45 mph trying to keep the rpms and momentum up. and you're giving all the peddle she's got (practically standing on mine). and all this....without weight. I need to change my gears to 4.56+ and probably speedo gear. right now i'm running 4.10 with 33's

 

BTW - as far as towing uphill in OD, if you ever find yourself in that position, when towing uphill and you forgot to switch the OD off - if the truck downshifts into 3rd from OD for the climb, and as you get higher you let it drop back into OD, the damage has not been done yet. The damage occurs when you fit the gas at that point and you are "lugging" the tranny while going up hill with all that weight. So if this happens to you, just switch the OD off, or even drop it into second BEFORE getting back on the gas to avoid damage.


BTW BTW - I was impressed by the web page that cos posted. The writer seems very competent and informed. If I needed transmission work and was anywhere near that area, I would take it to them. They sound like they actually know a lot about how transmissions work and how to remedy problems, as opposed to just being a bunch of grease monkeys who know how to turn bolts and take things apart and (hopefully) put them back together but don't really understand the theory behind it all.