Transmission related ?

strokinKR · Jan 12, 2013

Im pulling my trans next weekend for a rebuild since its toasted right now. My question is how do I go about trying to remove the junk if any out of the transmission coolers? I would hate to ruin my rebuild.

mclean · Jan 12, 2013

a good flush or new coolers

strokinKR · Jan 12, 2013

It has two coolers correct? A stand alone and one in the radiator? How do I go about flushing them?

Big Angry Hillbilly · Jan 12, 2013

You'll need a fluid pump of some sort, and pump a cleaning/flushing solvent through the one in the radiator and lines. I would replace the oil-to-air cooler.

When I did a lot of automatics, we used to use this to flush coolers:
http://www.lubegard.com/~/C-184/Dr.+Tranny+Kooler+Kleen

Seemed to work pretty well.

Job 1 trucks will have an additional filter in the cooler line that will need replacement or removal, don't forget.

As for flushing solvent brake clean works pretty well, just make sure you blow it out REAL good with compressed air after, whatever you decide to use.

Hope this helps.

strokinKR · Jan 12, 2013

I appreciate the help sir. Do you think if I filled the lines and coolers snd blew them out with air a few times that it would do ok? I have zero experience with this.

Big Angry Hillbilly · Jan 13, 2013

It really depends on how the original trans failed.

If it failed hard parts, like there was metal in the oil or the pan flushing is critical. If it was a clutch failure or seal failure it's not AS critical but still important.

A reman transmission comes with a new oil to air cooler for what it's worth.

I would use brake cleaner and pressurized air to clean it, then maybe pump a couple quarts of ATF through your cooler circuit.

strokinKR · Jan 13, 2013

Yeah the clutches are shot. Still somewhat drivable.

I will do my absolute best to clean everything.

Why should I replace the air to oil and not just clean it?

Big Angry Hillbilly · Jan 13, 2013

If it's a hard part failure there's pieces of it through the entire cooling circuit. Stacked plate coolers are incredibly hard to clean and you really have no assurance that you got all the junk out of it.

New cooler is CHEAP, vs rebuilding the transmission again, is the way FoMoCo looks at it.

strokinKR · Jan 13, 2013

Ok so ill replace that one. is the cooler in the radiator easier to clean?

Big Angry Hillbilly · Jan 13, 2013

It's supposed to be.

For metal contamination failures, I used to completely delete the radiator cooler, or recommend replacement of the radiator.

Ford used to tell you to put a filter in line with the cooler circuit, if I recall rightly the idea was to run it for awhile then get rid of it. Problem was nobody ever remembered to take the goddamn things off so they'd plug up and cause more issues.