While doing a filter and fluid change I found a small white plastic piece in the pan. It is about 1 and a half inches long a small stem on one end about 3/4 inch diameter on the other end a small hole in the top about the size of a pencil with a rubber o ring around it. Transmission was working fine it had very little silver dust in the pan. Also how many qts of fluid does it take for a refill? And could you start the car with the pan off and let it pump the old fluid out the bottom ? Thanks for any input I can get.
It is the factory dipstick plug. The transmissions hit the assembly line with that plug in the dipstick hole. When they put the dipstick and tube in it gets pushed into the pan. Finding it in the pan means it has never been serviced or apart before. It also shows how tough these little transmissions really are.
I would not start the car with the pan off or not filled with some tranny fluid. Start it up, in park, and add whatever you need to bring it to the full mark.
I found the same plug in my trans last weekend. I just finished installing an original 302/C4 setup out of a 71 Maverick. I bought the entire drivetrain from the radiator to the rear end and was told it was removed from a one family owned 21K mile Maverick. Finding the plug in the pan makes me think it might be the actual mileage since it's never had the trans pan removed. The engine still had the factory belts, plug wires, and air filter still intact and in great usable condition.
