Greetings to all:

Please share your experiences and opinions concerning having any work done through Porter & Chester.

I called Porter & Chester and spoke with the evening instructor who said he works by day as a Ford dealership diesel & transmission mechanic.

I'm giving the trade school a thought since I don't have a garage to work in, and I have used the trade schools before when I had a brand new Crown Victoria Intercepter.

At the moment I am planning on beefing up the 5R110 with a billet torque converter and billet input shaft, plus a deep pan.

Thanks,
Dave

 

sorry.... I got nothing

 

I don't know anything about Porter Chester...but I have had work done by the local tech school...both body and mechanical...with positive results. The kids were well taught and well supervised.

 

Dave...I got nothing either. I live right in Stratford and went there many moons ago for Electronics, and All I can say is back then, auto shop didn't know flat head from philips screwdriver!!.
Rich

 

Just sharing my experience for those interested.

I know I'll never be sure of work performed by others, be it a shop or a trade school. I know I have dropped the ball before too.

Since my initial post, my transmission slipped while mildly accelerating on flat ground from ~25mph (I am at full GVWR & ~17k miles).

I promptly took my foot off the accelerator and turned OD Off, the transmission caught and away I went.

Now I'm troubled that my transmission is failing.

I stopped at a shop and we both figured that the transmission might be down a quart as the dip-stick 'pill' is hard to read and we were not certain that the wetness was actual level or residual from the tube. (Granted transmissions don't consume fluid and there were no signs of leakage.) Unfortunately a quart of Mercon V was poured into the transmission as that's all he had.

Now I'm concerned about the harm that the Mercon V fluid will cause to the transmission for Ford says Not to mix either Mercon III or V with the specified Mercon SP.

I go to the Milford Ford dealership, they said it would be two weeks before they could get the van in to check for codes and to flush the transmission as they really can't handle large body trucks (only one bay with a capable lift). They recommend that I make an appointment with the Heavy Ford truck dealership over by the Pilot center in Milford.

The place by Pilot got me in after a week's wait.

I was all set to change over to AMS Oil, just because, and had AMS Oil placards on the both Transmission's dipstick & oil pan.

I told the service writer that I had eight gallons sitting in the cab and that the transmission only takes 3 & 3/4 gallons so there should be enough for the flush, and to let me know if a code was set by the transmission as I had no indications of any code while driving.

Since I work evening shift, I took a nap.

I go for a walk to stretch my legs and see my vehicle is still in the bay being serviced and the tech invites me in.

There I see a couple cases of Mercon SP around my van so I had to ask why he wasn't curious about all the AMS Oil placards and the ATF fluid in the cab of my van. Wasn't typed into the work order to use the owner supplied fluid was his responce.

I asked what code, if any was set, and he said no codes were set.

I'm thinking okie, no code = no warrantee claim, and my AMS Oil ATF is still in the cab.

I talk to the service writer about the AMS Oil omission and then discover that they can't flush my transmission because their machine is full of Mercon V ATF. Why they wouldn't break a fitting and purge while filling, he could not answer.

The service writer responds that yes then there is still some diluted Mercon V ATF that was in the torque converter.

I said to the service writer that I was going for a short walk and since no code was found I can't expect warrantee to cover this.

When I came back the service writer said all was no-charge, I thanked him.

I'm inclined to give the place by Pilot more business, I'll just have to be more inquisitive and ensure I read the final write-up very carefully.

My only continuing concern is the effects of the small amount of Mercon V that remains in my transmission?

 

On the night of July 29 my transmission became seriously ill at about a mile from being back at the house.

I was rev limited at 3500 RPM and couldn't make 30 MPH.

By the second traffic light the transmission finally set a code(s).

The next morning the code flash had dissappeared and my truck drove fine, but I went straight to Steven's Ford (light duty dealership) in Milford, CT.

The service writer said there were three codes set, one code was for missingd a gear.

The mechanice said the stuff on my dipstick from the first time was likely clutch material, as there was clutch material on my dipstick this time, and that the other dealer (heavy duty trucks) having simply draining my tranny without flushing it certainly didn't get the debris out of the torque converter as the torqe converter doesn't have its own drain plug.

The mechanic advised against driving the van any further.

Steven's Ford said the rebuild is under warranty and I have a loaner car courteousy of the dealership, rebuild can't begin till some Ford Transmission Inspector concurs with the mechanic's diagnosis.

I mentioned to the mechanic and the service writer my intention to upgrade the transmission this fall at the tech school.

The mechanic (fwiw) had a low opinon of this area's Ford mechanics that are certified to work the transmission.

Now for the "... that's a good thing."

Steven's Ford agreed to install Sun Coast Transmission parts for me, so I'm of course paying for those performance parts, but the labor is free, plus that courteousy rental I have.

The mechanic said that the input shaft is solid, and since then from reading the Forum, I've seen comments that the Billet shafts are not needed except in the extreme and since I plan on keeping my van streetable I'm not going ahead with a Billet shaft.

I bought the transmission parts through Elite Diesel Engineering including a Mag-Hytec deep pan.

I'm installing (MSD's) Superchips Digital Lazer guages which I bought through Gillett Diesel Service. Jeg's had quite a few other Lazer guages but didn't have the transmission one.

Regards,
Dave

 

Dave, I'm glad to hear that Stevens Ford will do the work for you. If you ever need any work done on the 6.0, Go to Hine Bros over on Wordin Ave in Bpt. Those guys are really good over there. We bring our 7.3L there for work a lot.
Rich