After several months of sitting with the oil pan off, I finally put my motor and trans together and fired it. Everything seems to be ok except the transmission does not seem to go in 3rd gear. I called a shop and they told me Ford tranny's are notorious for doing this especially if they have been sitting for a while. He advised me to drive the car and maybe the gear will engage. He says he's driven them maybe 5 miles or so before the gear will kick in. Anyone ever heard of this before. Is there an adjustment that needs to be done somewhere on these boxes. Thanks
All trannys will "dry out" or seals taking a set if they sit for long. I would advise you to run it on stands (good stands) until you get it to shift into high gear reliably. Make sure the tranny is full (check it in park, with the engine running) It should be between the add and full mark. Don't fill it to the full mark or it will bleed all over the ground. Run it on the stands shifting it manually through the gears and use your brakes to bring it to a stop often. Run the power through the brakes (step on the brakes as you push on the gas pedal to make the tranny work a bit) until it is warmed up (15 - 20 minutes). Then shift it mannually and see if you can get it to go into third. If it doesn't go into third after 45 minutes or so then put it on the ground and drive it hard manually shifting for no more than five miles. If it doesn't work after than then it is going to have to be rebuilt. If you have driven it hard already then you may have glzed the bands and clutches and it may slip or overheat (slipping that you can't feel makes it overheat and spue oil out the breather) If the friction material is glazed it will have to be rebuilt and the drums sanded to get rid of the glazing on them. I just recalled a tranny I built for one of the guys here because it has been sitting for too long. He is going to bring it to me before he installs it. This will make him and the tranny happy. I also get to hang on to my reputation. I will tear it down, soak the parts, lube the piston seals and put it back together for him for free. It is easier to do that than it is to repair my good name and reputation.
Ok, I believe you also responded to me over on FM. Thanks. My plan was to drive it. My mechanice says drive it 5-10 miles before I get excited. He did have it in the air and said it goes into 2 nicely, but he never hears it going into 3rd gear. He said this is pretty common and driving it usually solves the issue.
That happened to me a couple days ago, and all it was, was the vacuum line was not connected to the modulator on the tranny. 'Took less than a minute to fix, and now it works great again...
