I had to replace the front seal in my tranny and I got one of my friends to do it, we went out to buy the trans fluid and the Type F said right on the front "For 1977 and some 1978-1980 Ford models", I was going to get that but my friend said a buddy of his rebuilt a C4 for him and told him to use Dex-III, so I took his word for it and bought Dex-III(I couldnt call anyone to figure it out, it was 6:30 in the morning), now the car slips like crazy... Is there any additive I could use or any easy way to drain the trans? I can drop the pan without problem but the torque converter doesnt have a drain plug. Ill prob end up taking it to a tranny shop and getting them to do it, but I dont want to spend anymore money if I dont have t since I had to pay him for changing the front seal for me.(Im a little tight on money right now with bills & stuff)
Dexron III has too much lubrication for the type of friction material in the C4. You should drain the fluid and refill with type F. You may have to do it three or four times. If you install a TransGo 40-2 kit it will really help. If you don't have an aftermarket cooler on the car already installing one will keep the fluid from burning. In the meantime drive the car as little as you can. Dexron III will burn your C4 up in as little as a week with constant driving. If you have a professional shop do a "running" flush (it is hooked to a machine that puts new oil in as the old oil is drained) it can be done in one time. Just make sure they know that it has the wrong fluid in it and it needs to have type F installed.
I agree, drain it out ASAP You can put type F in a GM tranny to make it shift harder (Whatcha think B&M Trick Shift is? lol) but you can't go the other way
Thanks for the replies. Ive only driven the car about 10 miles since I got it fixed, and within those 10 miles is when I realized it was slipping. Ill check around at the shops and see how much theyll charge, I dont feel like messing with stuff Ive already touched once again in such a short period of time...makes me feel like I did something wrong.
yes it does, in the event that you do the work yourself... the drain plug is accessed thru the dust cover. just take the cover off and rotate the torque converter untill you see a 'square headed' plug
Oh really? I didnt know that, I saw a square something but thought it was just a plate or something, it didnt look like a bolt. :lol Thanks. When I drain everything out, do I have to completely flush the Dex-III out of it or will it be ok if theres a small amount mixed with the Type F? Just wondering because Ive already wasted almost $30 in Dex-III tranny fluid...trying not to buy more Type F to completely flush it if I dont need to...my wife hates me enough already for owning an "old piece of junk" and "wasting all our money on it"...lol
My wife stopped saying things like that when I started comparing the amount we spend on my old cars to the amount we spend on her car payment...
Thats a pretty good idea, and Ive done that, but she says "because its newer and less likely to break down" Then I tell her I'll eventually replace enough things so that I WILL be driving around in a new car, and it'll STILL cost less then her used car did. Before I got the Maverick I had a '85 Prelude she wanted me to fix, but everytime I fixed the thing something else broke, and for the price of 1 thing for the Honda I can buy 3 for the Maverick.
Doesn't matter if you are perpetually fixing everything on the car and it breaks down every week. If it averages out to less than a $300-400 a month car payment and you don't mind the inconvenience, you've still done better. And after doing that for a while you'll have a nice car. I guarantee my Maverick turns a lot more heads than her newish Stratus, and it cost 1/4 the amount even with all I've done to it. When that car is paid off, I think I've about convinced her we're through with car payments.
To answer your question: If you can drain the converter - not all of them have drains - and drain the transmission at the pan (dropping it) you will probably have enough of the Dexron out of it to make it work fine. Be sure and change the fluid in a couple of years (20000 miles) with new type F. I don't know many people who would have noticed the slippage - it is generally hard to notice. You did good!
