4r100 Installation; DID I OVERFILL IT?
 

Hi Everyone, New to the forum here.

To provide some background about my issue, a few months back i purchased a 1999 Lincoln Navigator from a gentleman on craigslist. He was honest enough to inform me that he was selling it because it was going to need a new transmission within the next 10,000 miles. Now myself as a young naive aspiring automotive technician decided to takeover maintenance on his headache at the ripe price of 300 bucks. I did quite a bit of research, and I decided that the best way to go about swapping it out without breaking the bank would be to pickup a transmission from my local junkyard. There i found a (complete with torque converter) Transmission that had been re-manufactured in (Speculation) 2015 for 70 bucks -- i couldn't pass it up. So I pulled it out, purchased it, took it home and and installed it on the navigator in my garage. Before i started it up, i decided that it would be better safe than sorry and i added 2 quarts of Mercon V(I was torn between ATF and mercon V as i saw the debate and i had no way of finding out which fluid was in the trans) for good measure seeing as i lost a bunch of fluid in the junkyard pulling it out. I checked the fluid level and it indicated that the reservoir was overfilled but i assumed that was just because all the fluid had pooled in the pan since it hadn't been running in months. I started the engine and shut it off a few times to try and spread the Tranny fluid around in there as much as possible, and then I finally started it up, let the engine warm up for about 20 minutes, and noticed that it seemed to be idling pretty low (Just a Hair under 1000 RPM and dropping gradually) and decided to confront the moment of truth: WILL IT ENGAGE? Sure enough i shifted it through all the gears, and never once heard/felt the transmission engage, the only difference between the shift changes was the idle speed, It idled faster in drive and Neutral but Sounded a pretty sluggish in all the other gears. And by no means am i a transmission expert, so i come to you for your opinion on what you think I did wrong during the installation, or if it's just a bad trans/torque converter wrong fluid...etc.
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.for...5afb75fd3e.jpg

Any help or opinion is appreciated. Thanks.

The fluid level is checked with the engine/transmission warmed up and idling. What is the fluid level in this scenario?

You'll need more than 2 quarts :-X24, junkyards drain and recycle the fluids therefore your trans should have been almost empty except for residual fluid. Especially here in California.

Hey guys thanks for getting back to me.
After warming it up I was able to check it again and it still appeared overflowed to the point where half the dipstick was covered in fluid. Which was why i wasn't sure what was going on, I know the trans takes ~16 quarts of fluid but i wanted to be careful about overflowing it as i heard that can cause damage, I also know that Junkyards Drain the fluids which was why i was a bit surprised to see it full. In a way I wanted to see if anyone had any quick ideas for me to check around and see if i could fix this problem. I'm currently away from home with the family but when i get back on Monday i plan to do a complete drain and fill and see if i can see any issues with the fluid. One more question: If for some reason the fluid actually isn't pumping through the transmission,is there some sort of component within the transmission responsible for circulating the fluid? or is it just that the torque converter is blown and i should just buy a new one? They're pretty cheap to find stock (~$140) and i've got a theory that might be why it's idling kinda slow/dipstick still indicates full/transmission isn't shifting...etc. But let me know what you think... Thanks!

The transmission has it's own internal pump. It can be tricky to get the reading on the dipstick at times. Pay close attention to the end with the notch/cross hatch to verify the fluid level. Given your scenario I would think you are 10-14 quarts low.

Hey guys i just wanted to update you. In my inexperience I hadn't filled it enough. Sure enough the next day i put in a few more quarts and the tranny shifts like a dream. Thanks again for the help!

Thanks for letting us know how it turned out!

Out of curiosity: Did the failing transmission display any problems before you removed it?

The original tranny would hesitate to go into drive unless i revved the engine up to around 2000 rpm. then it would slam into drive as if someone hit the tranny with a sledgehammer. One day it just gave up and decided to act like it was in neutral. But that's all.