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I have a 1998 F150 4x4 with some transmission issues.
As it shifts into third gear, I hear a noise sometimes, and it's intermittent at best. My friend said it was a possible bad accumulator. So I took it into a transmission shop, described the symptoms, and they put all kinds of pressure testers and computers on it and couldn't find anything wrong. The transmission isn't slipping, it shifts fine, just makes this odd rubbing or engaging noise as it's going into third gear. What I know about transmissions I could write on the head of a pin. If anyone can help point me in the right direction, it'd be greatly appreciated.
Oh... the transmission has 134K on it, and it was flushed at around 123K with a new filter for torque converter shudder. The flush solved the problem with the shudder, and this sound has only happening for about 2K miles or so.
without actually hearing what is going on i could only guess, but i would probably say a band is close to toast. since you say it isnt slipping i would assume the clutches are ok at best but i could be wrong on that.. ive read everywhere that at that high mileage its a no no to do a flush. my opinion since its about time regardless of noise or not, id start savin or searchin for a tranny. GL
Gotta agree with Kingbrain on this one,There is some old school thoughts that say a flush,and fill is a no-no on a tranny with that many miles on it.Others will say that this theory is BS.
At any rate If you did the fluid replacement yourself,checking to see what was in the filter,and bottom of the pan would indicate(to a great degree) the internal condition of the tranny. If you had it done at a shop,they probably didnt pay any attention.
My 97 auto with the 4.2 was showing 186,000 when I traded it in,and other than a couple of leaks it did fine..but when I got it it had 145,000 and knowing the previous owner the fluid/filter were never changed i suspect.
I would start looking to either get it rebuilt at a reputable shop,or look for a good low mileage one from a salvage yard.
The thing here is that if theres something worn (like a band) the tranny is gonna have to come out and be taken apart to replace it anyway.You might as well have the whole thing gone through,and get a new Torque converter as well.
Gotta agree with Kingbrain on this one,There is some old school thoughts that say a flush,and fill is a no-no on a tranny with that many miles on it.Others will say that this theory is BS.
At any rate If you did the fluid replacement yourself,checking to see what was in the filter,and bottom of the pan would indicate(to a great degree) the internal condition of the tranny. If you had it done at a shop,they probably didnt pay any attention.
My 97 auto with the 4.2 was showing 186,000 when I traded it in,and other than a couple of leaks it did fine..but when I got it it had 145,000 and knowing the previous owner the fluid/filter were never changed i suspect.
I would start looking to either get it rebuilt at a reputable shop,or look for a good low mileage one from a salvage yard.
The thing here is that if theres something worn (like a band) the tranny is gonna have to come out and be taken apart to replace it anyway.You might as well have the whole thing gone through,and get a new Torque converter as well.
I didn't do the flush myself, a shop did it. But I did have a look in the pan before they cleaned it, there was a lot of gunk, but no metal chunks or anything. A little bit of metal fuzz on the magnet in the bottom of the pan was all. And I had to do the flush because I was having torque converter chatter/shudder.
Well...if the fluid was brown(burnt) and/or the filter nasty,I still think you need to start lookin around for a tranny.
Concerning the fluid/filter chance at such high miles...I used to have an airplane...Cessna 150.The original octane for the engine wa 80. they stopped making 80 octane years back. It was legal to run regular car gas in the bird,as opposed to 100 octane which is aviation fuel for recips(piston engines)...The reason Im telling you this is the "debate" concerning old school,and new style thinking.
If I asked 100 people in a room(aviators) which should I run...50% will say regualr car gas( which has almost no lead content) and 50% will say 100 octane...Which is considered low lead,but actually has 4 times the lead content of EXXON premium........Fouls plugs BIG TIME
Changing the fluid/filter in my mind(im an old fart...53)..probably wasnt a good idea,even if it corrected the shudder issue.Perhaps a premium transmission addative may have helped....who knows.
Im sure somoene out there will say im full of it,and may well be.
This is my .02...;I do however feel your pain
The fluid wasn't burnt, and it was still red tinted, so the fluid wasn't really in /horrible/ shape I suppose. And I get what you're trying to say. But I was pretty much up against the wall in the terms of changing the fluid. I was having really bad torque converter shudder, and I was told by several not to bother with any additive, as it wouldn't help. I hate auto transmissions. Something minor goes wrong with it and 1500 bucks is in the the shredder. Sometimes I wish this thing had a manual transmission in it.
unfortunately even if the fluid is still red, all that gunk in the pan was material from your clutches and bands. you got alot of miles on your transmission i wouldnt be too bummed about it. i noticed that regardless of the car when something goes wrong and you have to pay someone else to fix it, its never ever cheap. i mean when you think about it ford wants like 400 bucks just to change the plugs and thats if nothing goes wrong (ie; broken plug or stripped threads) then the price only goes up. so 1500 or whatever it may be isnt really unexpected for a tranny. outrageous yes, unexpected no. personally i would like some "Unified Autocare"... that would really help me out.. Obama you listening???
a power flush can loosen up stuff that is stuck in corners andthat can get into spools and cause sticking later. maybe, maybe not?--- it is always a good idea to remove the pan and clean out the crud you can see, clean the magnet and clean the filter. it is always there every 50k miles. it is not abnormal. if you get shudder, thats because the oil is worn out. it needs to be changed, not necessarlily flushed. prior to 2002 you have a drain on the converter also. you can remove 5 quarts thru the pan and another 8 quarts thru the converter drain. on newer trucks, you can not drain the converter, have to pump it out. im not saying the power flush is the problem, but i dont do that. i just drain, clean and refill wit new filter. if you do it every 50-60k miles, you will have less problems. trans can go 250k miles if taken care of.
It is never a good idea to use a flush machine. If the shop has a flush machine, go somewhere else. If you really want a flush, let your transmissions own pump do the flushing, and change the fluid in the pan and the filter first. This you can do yourself and has no ill effects other than wastes a lot of fluid.
It is never a good idea to use a flush machine. If the shop has a flush machine, go somewhere else. If you really want a flush, let your transmissions own pump do the flushing, and change the fluid in the pan and the filter first. This you can do yourself and has no ill effects other than wastes a lot of fluid.
Really, why?
You do know that most manufacturers now require flushes to maintain warranty coverage right? Are they wrong about this?
I am veteran of probably 30 machine flushes on a variety of vehicles, new and old. I've never had a problem. How many have you paid for on your vehicles?
There is lots of internet armchair experts on this. I can't wait to hear the explanation.
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