Bad roadtrip 10 days ago.

[djfordmanjack]

Rich, were any of the og or new pulleys repainted or powder coated? that may cause squealing, and you may have to remove overspray paint. You can easily wash the new belt with dish solvent or even brake cleaner, it should not do any harm to the rubber and may remove the dirt or wax on new rubber surface, causing slippage. Great to know she will be back on the road soon.

[RICH MUISE]

No new paint on the pulleys, but thanks for the suggestion . This morning I'm removing my cooling fan (for tranny cooling hose access)and spending some time making changes so it will no longer be a major pita to get the faN on and off. I had it mounted with screws and locknuts, but it's a difficult reach to get both arms down there. I'm instead installing swedged threaded "nuts/fasteners" so I will no longer have to get to what the screw goes into. The electrical connector for the fan motor is almost impossible to separate, I ended up cutting wires to get it out when I pulled the engine. I'm going to use bullet connectors to reattach instead of butt connectors, so, once again, easier down the road.

[RICH MUISE]

I did get my transmission cooling lines attached, and my old fan belt put on, which totally eliminated all the squealing. The culprit was the new Gates fan belt I bought. IMHO, The grooves cut (?) in it were just too small for the belt to have enough mating surface.
Still got 8 things left to do including 2 newly discovered issues..........leaky exhaust @ manifold downpipe flanges and something draining battery....100% charge dropped to 75% overnight. Maybe a bad battery, It's a 4-post Optima only 3 years old, but no issues whatsoever before being sidelined for 2 months.

[RICH MUISE]

      I'm makin' a list
      I'm checking it twice
      Tomorrow I'll see
      If it's drivin' nice!


OK, that was bad

[mustang6984]

I've heard worse. Got my fingers crossed. Sorry I'm not closer to help. Have fun!

[RICH MUISE]

Well, yesterday didn't go well. I got everything cleaned up, finished up, off the jackstands and I thought ready to roll. But it didn't The tranny is not engaging. I've got to get it back up on jackstands and checked out. I'm pretty sure I know the issue, and it might even solve the "why is my battery being slowly drained" question.

Just after we pulled the engine, the tranny slipped off a small floor jack we were supporting it on. It was still bolted to the cross member, so it didn't go far, but it did pull off the Lokar dipstick I had attached at the firewall. Made a hell of a mess with trans. fluid all over. Got it back up on the jack, cleaned up the mess, and never thought twice about it until yesterday when it wouldn't engage. I'm sure it probably pulled off/ damaged? the shift cable and/or wires to a number of things. Probably won't get back to it til after xmas. I doubt Santa is bringing me a lift for Christmas.

[RICH MUISE]

OK.I need some help. I checked the cable and wires and everything looks fine. I verified the shifter is functioning as it should. The car still won't move. We lost a lot of fluid when the trans. slipped off the supporting jack, but my dipstick still reads full! How can that be? I've texted my son to make sure he didn't add fluid that I was unaware of. I'm thinking of pulling the trans. pan to see if anything jogged loose......I assume the trans has a pickup tube similar to engines.
Any other ideas?

[gasman826]

AOD/4R70 has screen bolted to the bottom of the valve body.  The screen and valve body are submerged in fluid.  No pickup tube to fall off.  If the fluid level is correct and nothing happens in any gear, check line pressure with a gauge screwed into the pressure port (pipe threads)...port is between the gear selection shaft and the bellhousing, just above the pan rail.

[RICH MUISE]

Thanks for that info, Gary. "if the fluid level is correct".......that's the issue I'm trying to figure out. When the trans fell off the jack, pulling out the dipstick tube, we had a 3-foot puddle of fluid to clean up. I'm trying to wrap my head around how the reinstalled dipstick is reading over-full.!?? No fluid has been added since the incident, so my first guess is it very low on fluid, understandably causing the tranny to not engage. So, common sense is telling me the fluid is too low, but what I'm looking at is saying it isn't      

It is a Lokar dipstick, btw, installed 4 years ago, no issues. It's pushed into the tranny case, screwed at the top to the firewall. In my way of thinking, when it got pulled out of the tranny, if anything the braided stainless tube would have been stretched if anything, causing the dipstick to not extend into the pan as far as it did, (not further).

[gasman826]

AOD/4R70 fluid level (as with many automatics) should be at or slightly above the pan rail...when running.  Without the engine running, fluid will overflow out the dipstick hole if the dipstick tube is removed.

[RICH MUISE]

I'm looking to see if any friends/O'Reilly's tool loan has a line pressure gauge I can use. I did locate the line pressure port and watched a video on the procedure. I have the Mark Viii service manual, which should give the chart for pressure requirements. The check would be so much easier with a lift.
I got thinking, it's possible I may have the dipstick installed deeper than I had it before, that would explain why it still reads full, also what you explained about the levels actually being over the plane of the dipstick hole. I just added a quart of fluid because I know I lost at least that much. After lunch, I'll see if it made a difference.

[RICH MUISE]

Talking to my transmission guy, he's doubtful anything got "damaged". He confirmed what I had remembered from 8 years ago that the filter is a push-on type. He suspects the filter dropped off, thus preventing the pump from picking up fluid. He also told me I couldn't really damage anything by overfilling, and I actually got 4 quarts put in, but still didn't change anything. Next thing is to drop the pan and hopefully I'll find the filter sitting in the pan. Simple fix, time for a filter change anyway. If not, I'll probably get it towed to the transmission shop when he can squeeze me in.

[mustang6984]

Hey...at least it'll be ready to go for a drive when spring hits! Hopefully nothing more than an attitude adjustment for the filter!    

[RICH MUISE]

Well the fight goes on.....it just may be Spring before it's ready.
I decided, as mentioned, to drop the pan to check the mounting of the filter. Mainly because it's the only thing left that I can do myself to fix the issue. Like everything else, not as easy as I thought. The tranny crossmembr is over the back flange of the pan, so I can't get to those bolts without removing the cross-member. I started working on that project this afternoon. I'll jack up the tranny with a floor jack and 2x4 under the pan, then support the tail end of the tranny on a jackstand while I remove the cross-member and pan.
Non of this stuff is real hard for a younger healthy man!!

The pressure check that Gary suggested I do.....well, I've got to make sure the filter/pickup is in place, and if it in fact is, there's nothing the pressure test would tell me that I can fix myself. Replacing the pump would mean pulling the engine back out, as there's no way the tranny is coming out in my garage.

[gasman826]

I ran into the same thing with the crossmember.  I modified the original crossmember and had the AOD bolted in.  The first time I removed the pan and fought the lack of access to the rear pan bolts, the crossmember was tossed.  I had a '64 donor car out back and snagged the crossmember.  The '64 member was modified to fit the '57.  No more pan access issues!