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another dead overdrive unit

ramenth

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May 28, 2011
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Got an '02 Ram 1500 with a 360 and a 518 in the shop. Owner was complaining that it was slipping through every gear and would barely move.

Checked the fluid. Lot of debris. Filter's damn near packed. Out comes the trans. Every thing is clean in the main case except the front band. Still a lot of debris, though. Tear down the valve body. The suction filter is completely blown up, the solenoids are covered in more debris, passage look like s***.

Then we get to the O/D unit. Rut-row, Raggy. Nothing's coming apart. Seen this before: planetary gear set is fried.

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I call the owner to let him know that I've got a donor trans planned for my Diplomat build laying there and his truck needs it. Gonna cost a little more since I'm gonna have to find a tailshaft unit for it before it can go in my car.

Asking a few questions, he does a lot of towing, just slams the selector in gear and goes.

Not any more, not if he wants to keep his warranty.

Seriously, folks, I know it's an automatic, but you wanna keep your trans in good shape, then shift through the gears like a standard. Take off in low on the selector and then shift up. An keep it out of overdrive unless your on the highway and already up to speed.

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Thats what happened to mine also. Trans shop said the same thing to.
 
how do you feel about that lucis stop slip i have used it many time on cars that had slipping transmissons. always workd for a while about 6 months then its all over. the bottle says good for new and old use it as part of you trans service evertime.
 
how do you feel about that lucis stop slip i have used it many time on cars that had slipping transmissons. always workd for a while about 6 months then its all over. the bottle says good for new and old use it as part of you trans service evertime.

To me, any additive is a stop gap measure at best, even coming from Lucas, and I like the majority of their products.

Think about it this way: if it's slipping, then something is going wrong. Plain and simple. Clutches and steels are wearing out, bands - if a particular trans has 'em - aren't doing their job.

A good analogy is using products that say will fix your blown head gasket. Um, what? The gasket is still blown and the head is warped. So what's the magic in a bottle going to do? The head still has to come off and be planed. The gasket still needs to be replaced.

I preach this at my shop: trans service every 30,000 miles. Complete service if possible, most of my customers go for it. I unhook the cooler pressure line, start the car and let the trans pump push the oil out. Then refill. Let the vehicle warm up and shift through the gears. Stop, unhook the cooler pressure line, repeat. Then I'll pull the pan, if it has one, change the filter, if it has one, make any adjustments as necessary, flush the cooler, then refill. Most trans will go through about 20 quarts of oil doing it this way, but it cleans the converter, uses the first round of new oil as a flush, and gets the trans empty of about 95% to 98% of the old oil.

As far as putting in any additives when I do this? Nope. I follow the manufactures recommended oil, usually upgrading in the process. Most of the manufacturers have issued TSB's recommending the use of the "new" oils. Chrysler goes back as far as the 7176 days, recommending the use of ATF+4 instead. Ford has gone Merc V across the board.
 
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