Please dont tell me my tranny is blown....

fry_81 · Post by **fry_81** » May 16th, 2005, 3:11 pm

well after my ordeal driving home and probably lost all tranny fluid. i thought i had fixed the problem last night by replacing the line that had a hole in it and filled it with ATF, it drove a bit sluggish but still drove, i drove it to school this morning and i had to rev it to at least 5,000 before the car would even move. almost got in an accident at a stop sign turning left, it was rolling at like crawling speed and no matter how fast the engine was moving, almost like the 1st gear and possibly 2nd gear are non-existant. i made it to school though safely. at the end of the day though i got in the car, and it wouldnt go into any gear, it wouldnt even roll forward like it should be when engaged in D. i tried reverse...still wouldnt move, it wouldnt even click into any gear but P. I tried every gear there is, i even tried drive with hold on lol, but the car would not move. it was even leaking more fluid out of the brand new lines!!!!????
somebody please help me....

neutral · Post by **neutral** » May 16th, 2005, 5:19 pm

Man o man I hate to tell ya, but sounds like a blown tranny. My MX-6 ATX behaved that way after running low on trans fluid. When I discovered the prob, refilled it, and it did exactly what you describe. Paid ~1500 USD for a complete rebuild including the torque converter 2-3 yrs. ago. Hope that's not the case with your ride but..

fry_81 · Post by **fry_81** » May 16th, 2005, 5:25 pm

damn it i was hoping it would be something simple like a sensor gone, but its looking doubtful because the fluid its shooting out is completely black and smells awful. Me and my bud managed to get my car home though, reverse is gone completely, D was working though, although it had no pick up until about 4500-5000rpm. guess i wont make it to the Ottawa meet

Tunes67 · Post by **Tunes67** » May 16th, 2005, 6:41 pm

Source one outta a junk yard.. even if it doesnt work most decent junk yards will still take it back if its within their return policy time period (usually 30 days). Plus from a wrecker.. they are usually less than $200. Though this could be that perfect excuse to swap to a MTX

I know if my ATX goes.. its swap time.. I was also noticing that the radiator fins on my radiator were getting a little plugged up.. Bugs and road crap.. so I cleaned it out last weekend.. I have to wonder improper air flow through our radiators is a leading cause of the ATX overheating problem I have read about on these forums.. Hope you get it back on the road soon Fry.. Best of luck.

Tunes67

fry_81 · Post by **fry_81** » May 16th, 2005, 6:55 pm

ya normally id be happy it blew and id swap to mtx, but im beyond broke right now unfortunatly and am only left with the options of selling the car, or finding another tranny.

Tunes67 · Post by **Tunes67** » May 16th, 2005, 7:05 pm

Definately check into getting the parts for the MTX Swap.. It would actually be cheaper (if you can source all the parts from a boneyard) to swap to the MTX than it would be to have your ATX rebuilt. Though if you do decide to do the swap.. definately buy a new clutch rather than use whatever you find in the junk yard. If you can find a complete donor car at a boneyard.. you could possibly get everything you need to do the swap for under $400. Would definately be a lot of work involved.. but worth it in the end and you wouldnt have to worry about frying another ATX.. also.. ATX Radiators have that cooler built into them.. if you swap to a MTX.. you could clean out that cooler real well and maybe make up a custom oil cooler out of it.. would be a neat little project

Best of luck man.

Tunes67

fry_81 · Post by **fry_81** » May 16th, 2005, 7:09 pm

its not looking so cheap for this though, ive called around to alot of the local wreckers, looked on car-part.com and they are wanting at least $700 for a tranny alone, id really like to get a parts car but there already isnt enough room for the cars the 3 cars we already have, this really isnt going well for me

maybe i can source one off here for cheap.

Tunes67 · Post by **Tunes67** » May 16th, 2005, 7:42 pm

Well if you didnt live so far away.. I know where there is a complete 93 teal 5 speed SOHC MX-3 in a local boneyard here.. everything is there for the swap.. cheap junk yard too.. I could help you get everything from that car for under $300 easy.. But I dont have the time to go down there by myself and yank everything.. nor do I have the cash (if I had the cash I would probably yank it all for my own future swap

) But post up in the Buy/Sell forum.. maybe someone has a extra ATX or MTX laying around..

Tunes67

fry_81 · Post by **fry_81** » May 16th, 2005, 7:57 pm

damn i wish there were yards like that around here, thanks for your help though.

Tunes67 · Post by **Tunes67** » May 16th, 2005, 10:45 pm

No sweat man.. I will keep my eyes open for you and hope you are able to get back on the road soon.

Also.. if you do go with a used boneyard auto trans.. make sure you drain the torque converter and the trans completely, replace the filter and blow out your tranny lines to get rid of any and all bad or burnt trans fluid. Its pretty easy to pick a likely candidate replacement auto trans from the Boneyard. Just pull the tranny dipstick.. if the fluid is bright red.. it should be decent.. if the fluid is black or brownish in color.. its been burnt and is questionable. Best of luck man.

Tunes67

JWMX3 · Post by **JWMX3** » May 17th, 2005, 12:45 am

fry_81 wrote:its not looking so cheap for this though, ive called around to alot of the local wreckers, looked on car-part.com and they are wanting at least $700 for a tranny alone, id really like to get a parts car but there already isnt enough room for the cars the 3 cars we already have, this really isnt going well for me maybe i can source one off here for cheap.

fry, what car-part.com are you looking on ?

they have 5 listed for 94 mx3 gs

241K - 500 cdn - jap auto parts Scarborough

101K - 420 cdn - arnprior

236K - 400 cdn - 404 auto in sharon

205K - 295 cdn - union auto nepean

110K - 241 cdn - Standard auto in scarborough

also a couple for 300 each in brantford and london, i realise most of these are way too far to go, but there is trannys for much cheaper then 700

there is a 626 5-spd for 350.00 right near me in stoney creek, paypal me the money and ill go get it for ya

if you dont have the money theres nothing you can do, but the trannys are out there, even if you gotta drive to get em

neutral · Post by **neutral** » May 17th, 2005, 7:12 am

Tunes67 wrote:...I was also noticing that the radiator fins on my radiator were getting a little plugged up.. Bugs and road crap.. so I cleaned it out last weekend.. I have to wonder improper air flow through our radiators is a leading cause of the ATX overheating problem I have read about on these forums..

Dunno whether obstructed airflow across the rad is a leading cause but the addition of an aux tranny cooler does help keep the fluid from getting too hot. My tranny mech described the overheated fluid prob as caused mainly by Ford's poorly engineered design of insufficient quantity, placement, and bore of fluid passages in the ATX. Then as the fluid runs hot, factory cooler capability is generally insufficient to remove fluid heat buildup.

I also read somewhere on a Mazda/Ford tranny mech's Website (can't find the link yet) that each time you do a fluid change on these ATX's, you are actually only replacing a percentage of the ATX fluid. Can't recall the exact % but it was pretty low, like 35% or 50%?? I'll put up the link to that info if I can find it.

tw1st3d_cl0wn · Post by **tw1st3d_cl0wn** » May 17th, 2005, 9:38 am

neutral wrote:
Tunes67 wrote:...I was also noticing that the radiator fins on my radiator were getting a little plugged up.. Bugs and road crap.. so I cleaned it out last weekend.. I have to wonder improper air flow through our radiators is a leading cause of the ATX overheating problem I have read about on these forums..
Dunno whether obstructed airflow across the rad is a leading cause but the addition of an aux tranny cooler does help keep the fluid from getting too hot. My tranny mech described the overheated fluid prob as caused mainly by Ford's poorly engineered design of insufficient quantity, placement, and bore of fluid passages in the ATX. Then as the fluid runs hot, factory cooler capability is generally insufficient to remove fluid heat buildup.

I also read somewhere on a Mazda/Ford tranny mech's Website (can't find the link yet) that each time you do a fluid change on these ATX's, you are actually only replacing a percentage of the ATX fluid. Can't recall the exact % but it was pretty low, like 35% or 50%?? I'll put up the link to that info if I can find it.

This doesn't really have anything to do with the problem Fry is having, sorry, but I have a question about changing the ATX fluid since you brought up those percentages...

I've heard and been told by a couple people on this forum that changing the fluid is the best thing to do, rather than get it flushed. I guess people have had bad luck with getting it flushed? Does changing it help at all, even though the percentage of the fluid you replace is low?

I have a strong feeling that on the ATX fluid in my car has never really been changed or flushed, so I was planning on just changing it, but am now questioning if it will really help all that much. So which is better- changing or getting it flushed?

Tunes67 · Post by **Tunes67** » May 17th, 2005, 10:49 am

Definately do NOT get it power flushed.. many folks have had that be the death knell of their ATX. As the clutch packs in the ATX wear, tiny bits of material wear off. These particulates apparently wind up around seals which actually help the transmission. When you power flush it gets rid of them all and if the seals are in bad shape.. boom. TC, your best bet would be to just drop the tranny pan & drain out what fluid you can there and replace the filter, then fill it back up. If your suspicion is accurate about the lack of maintenance on your trans.. you could do this 2 or 3 times over a 2 month period and that would be a gentle way to get the majority of your old trans fluid out. If you pull your dipstick and find that your fluid is a nice bright ruby red color.. I wouldnt worry about it too much.. change the fluid at the pan, replace the filter and put in a tranny cooler. That should be sufficient to prolong the life of your trans. Thats all I did to my ATX.. if it croaks.. 5 speed here I come

Neutral - Most ATX trans are like that.. Ford may be worse than others though.. the majority of the ATX fluid is in the torque converter and doesnt get drained out during a normal fluid change. Only way to really do a proper ATX fluid change is to pretty much remove the trans completely from the car. It used to be that some torque converters actually came with 2 drain plugs (opposit sides of the torque converter to balance each other out) so that you could change the fluid out.. but that was apparently not cost effective and manufactures rarely did it. (This is something I have only heard about.. I have never actually seen a torque converter with drain plugs)

Tunes67

guyaverage · Post by **guyaverage** » May 17th, 2005, 2:54 pm

I did a Mustang ATX last year that had a drain plug on the converter, hadnt seen one of those in a while.

You are only changing about 1/2 the fluid during a change, but that 1/2 is plenty sufficient to bring the quality up. Change it again in about 3-6 months, and yearly (or every 10k miles or so) after than and you will be fine. I had a Honda where the first change was at 175,000 miles (my dad was the original owner so I know that to be fact) when I added the cooler to it and at 292,000 it was still shifting fine. A lot of automatics outlive their engine even never having been thru a fluid change. If you EVER change it, you're doing more than most people do.

DONT do a power flush! Changing the fluid, even though its only a partial change, is fine. My dad's Toyota only drains 2 qts through the pan drain bolt, even though it holds 6. I have been doing these 2 qt changes whenever I change the oil (every 5 k) , and he has almost 170,000 miles now and its just fine.