Transmission failure. Very sad.

[alchu]

Guys, if your car hasn't been properly maintained, be wary of doing the AT filter/fluid change. I think I just learned why:

As some of you guys know, I've been working on my gf's camry. it's a '94 5fse with 140k miles. She's the third owner.

Not knowing how the car's been maintained, I did a full tune up - spark plugs, wires, distrib cap and rotor, air, fuel filters. The radiator on her car looked like it was about ready to go, so I bought a new radiator from radiatorbarn.com and installed it, along with a new t-stat.

I also replaced her front struts and motor mounts.

The last thing to do was a transmission fluid/filter change. Her tranny seemed to be slipping a little bit going into first gear. I didn't want to do a power flush, so I ended up cleaning the pan/filter, and then drained/refilled the fluid several times (driving the car in between) to simulate my own flush.

the car still seemed to slip, so I was planning to take it in for a mechanic to take a look.

I drove it to her place, went inside for an hour. when it was time to leave, the car wouldn't get into gear. It'll reverse, but not go into first gear at all.

!@!$

Did some research this morning... this is what I found:


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"If your vehicle has high mileage (> 80,000 miles) and the transmission has not been maintained, I would not recommend replacing the fluid and filter. The fluid that has been in the transmission all this time has become dirty and gritty. This gritty fluid is actually providing needed friction for the worn internal parts of the transmission. Changing the fluid and replacing the filter would remove this friction that the internal transmission parts have become dependent on. If you have not been regularly maintaining the transmission throughout the life of the car, you might actually be doing more harm than good if you replace the transmission fluid at this point. For example, putting new clean slick transmission fluid in an older high mileage vehicle could cause the transmission to slip.

If you are not experiencing a problem, have over 80,000 miles on your car, and have not kept up regular maintenance on the transmission, my advice would be to leave the transmission fluid and filter alone. If you are experiencing a transmission problem like those listed above, seek the advice of a qualified transmission shop before allowing your regular mechanic to service the transmission.

I learned about this problem several years ago...the hard way. We had two cars in our shop with these "minor" transmission symptoms that I have listed above, and both of them had to be towed out to the transmission shop after servicing. The old fluid was gritty due to metal shavings caused by normal internal wear and tear on the transmission clutches and was acting like liquid sandpaper. This "sandpaper" was producing the friction needed for the transmission to pull itself. When we changed the filter and replaced the old fluid with new fluid, the clutches inside the transmission had nothing to grab on to. Sometimes even the best of us learn lessons the hard (and expensive) way."

[zoni]

i have a spare 5sfe tranny, want it?

you will have to drive an hour and a half to CT to get it though...

and you'd have to pay me a little... the cheapest trannys on car-part.com are around 200 bucks, so how about 150 and you can have it...its got like 110k on it from a 94 5sfe. it shifts well. i took it out when i did my engine swap in the winter.

the only thing is... its missing the speed sensor, so you will have to snatch that off of the old blown tranny... not a big deal, its like 3 screws i think. or if you dont have the old tranny, i could find one for you...