700R4 Overheated?

[PowerSet]

I ideally would like to do as much of my own work on the car as possible, regardless of it being time consuming, not always the cheapest route, and an overall pain in the butt.

I completely "get" this, but the reason I would suggest not doing the transmission yourself has nothing to do with it being time-consuming, expensive, or a pain in the butt. Yes, it would be all these things, but it is also something that requires specialized knowledge, the ability to recognize small variances in internal transmission details through experience, and highly-specialized tools to some extent. If you were talking about rebuilding the suspension, or doing brakes, or replacing an intake, yeah, those things all meet your three criteria and I'd agree that it's something you might try tinkering with on your own. A transmission is a different animal.

This was when I had mistaken the dipsticks, so it was the ATF that looked milky.

I mean absolutely no disrespect, but this is an indicator that maybe you should hold off on doing the transmission. You made a mistake here. It's a big mistake. Not earth-shattering in this case, and we all have to learn somehow. Sounds like there's been a transmission problem since well before you bought it, so it's not like you caused this. I'm just pointing out that the difference between the trans and oil dipsticks is pretty basic, and there are a ton of much more sublime things going on inside a transmission, and watching a video on Youtube about rebuilding a transmission isn't going to teach you these things. Again, with brakes, sure, dig in. The worst thing that's going to happen if you pay attention to the video and do things generally right is that the parts aren't going to go together right, and you'll figure it out and put them together the right way and they'll fit, or the brakes are going to squeak when you're done. A transmission? That's an awful lot of work and money in parts to pull it, tear it apart, put it back together, put it back in, and discover that it's still not working right, and you have no idea why.

To reiterate, I mean zero disrespect to you and your abilities or initiative. I think it's great, and I generally think you're going to do fine with the car. I have decades of experience working on these cars, and my advice is to take a transmission to a pro. Maybe I've been wasting my money all these years doing this, maybe I could have been doing it myself all along. But I've also had such good experience doing it this way with transmissions that my healthy respect for their complications remains. I believe that unless the case is cracked, your transmission is salvageable. But one of my concerns is that if you tear it apart and put it back together, that you may damage parts that could otherwise be reused, and end up costing yourself more money and more headaches in the long run. It's your car though, do what you feel is best. Maybe someday you'll be rebuilding my transmission.

Check out the attachment to see the differences between 700-R4 and 200-4R pans.

I definitely don't take anything as disrespectful, I know I have limited, and basically no knowledge of the cars, I did not notice the white dipstick on the side initially, as I am used to my manual japanese car, so I don't have anything for a transmission dipstick, I have the oil which is in the back, and when I checked what seemed like the appropriate dipstick and had described the fluid, I was told it sounded like moisture filled oil, which seemed appropriate to the car so I didn't look further into it. Now with my day of exposure to the car I know where the oil dipstick is, where the trans dipstick is, and the mistake wouldn't happen again, but I feel it's a pretty reasonable mistake for having worked on one car in my past and there being what seemed like no indication as to what is for what under the hood.


I suppose I have to nip all good suggestions and say that I absolutely cannot afford to take this transmission to a reputable rebuilder. If the only way for this car to be on the road is for me to pay to have the transmission rebuilt, then the car will be sold. I do not have thousands, or even hundreds in the bank. I have no opportunity to even let this car be a money pit, but what I do have is the time and drive to at least "ATTEMPT," albeit with the complete possibility for total failure, to restore the transmission, as well as everything else with the car myself.

It is not only a matter of "I want to do it myself because I'm stubborn" but also a matter of "I can't pay someone 2-400 dollars extra to do it for me"

 

[Evan11]

Just keep an eye out on craigslist and such for a 83-88 monte, regal, cutlass, Grand Prix, el camino, and even wagons being parted with a 4 speed automatic (2004r). The 2004r wasn't used in our cars until '83. Just make sure it has the Universal bell housing if you get it from anything other then a Chevy. I wouldn't be surprised if you could get one for $200 or less. If you find one, drop the pan and check for clean red fluid and very few metal shavings, you will then have a better understanding of what condition it's in. If any coolant or water got in your current trans, the fluid will look like a strawberry milkshake. If that's the case, I would suggest unhooking the trans cooler lines that go into the radiator and running a big aftermarket trans cooler or buying a new radiator. You don't want that coolant getting in next trans. You will also want to clean out your trans cooler lines with a blow nozzle and carb cleaner or whatever you prefer to use. How about dropping the pan on your current trans & uploading a pic?

 

[PowerSet]

Maybe I should be a bit more specific about the fact that this car is in no way shape or form intended to be a reliable daily driven car. I would like this to be a car that I learn to restore on my own, regardless of time or difficulty. I don't expect it to ever be perfect, but I also have no intention of throwing thousands of dollars at the car for labor at any point.

Ok, I get it now. I guess I'd agree then that, if you're just looking to tinker, and maybe have it work and maybe have it not work, then you might as well try doing it yourself. My only thought is that doing brakes is like changing a roll of toilet paper, and rebuilding a transmission is like taking a fine pocket watch apart and putting it back together. As long as your expectations aren't very high, you'll get some good experience out of it and probably be no worse off. The time and money invested will be an investment in experience though, rather than an investment towards a reliable or maybe even functional transmission.

I definitely agree with you on brakes being nothing, that was just the starting point of my learning when I bought the miata. Since then I have done suspension around the car, upper and lower ball joints up front, replaced the differential, swapped the engine, replaced all coolant hoses and vacuum hoses, swapped over fuel rails, and a bit more. Definitely nothing close to what is involved in rebuilding an auto trans, but enough that I'm not intimidated by projects, especially since with that car, I needed it back on the road every time something went, since it was my only DD. Now this car is something I can take my time with, and really learn on.


Worst case scenario, I take the transmission apart, I attempt to rebuild it, I mess everything up and it is no longer useful even as a core to have rebuilt. I fully accept that as a possibility.

I'm pretty sure about a year ago though, everyone said I should find a different car, and it wasn't worth doing an engine swap because it would be too expensive for labor, and there was no way I would be able to do it and have it run properly. And again, forgetting about whether or not I can be successful in the rebuilt, the car right now, is obviously not drivable, so it can't get worse than that, and I need to be as budget oriented as possible. To me, even if I could get a replacement to swap in for around the same as a rebuild kit, then I have a replacement I know nothing about, so if it's a rebuildable component, I would feel much safer and more comfortable going in detail with what I already have. And bringing it to a professional just isn't an option labor-wise.


Going for a part out transmission doesn't seem like a bad idea if it's coming from a car that had other issues leaving the trans in reasonable condition, I don't see cars parted out around here often, although there was an 87 caprice supposedly running and driving and even passed inspection for 650 OBO. It was something I considered trying to grab for 400 if possible just to steal the engine and trans from, and anything else useful, then just scrapping. But getting a third car is probably out of my options as I can't start housing a junk yard lol.

I will try to poke around for a part out, I was mostly looking for 200r4 2004r transmissions themselves.

 

[Intragration]

200-"4R". As opposed to 700-"R4". And yes, I completely get why you made the dipstick mistake. It's an honest mistake for a guy who's never dealt with these cars before. At the point where I thought you might want this car to be a reliable driver, I guess I was getting at the fact that you can't afford to make honest mistakes, and rebuilding a transmission is a minefield of potential honest mistakes. But as basically an auto shop experiment, who cares? And if you do find a previously-functional transmission, you get the best of both, a known-good transmission to swap in, and an old blown trans to tear into and learn about. I plan to do this someday myself. Paying trans shop rates, I can't afford to also buy cores to tear apart ha ha. 😀

 

[Evan11]

http://albany.craigslist.org/ptd/4473326755.html

 

[Evan11]

hartford.craigslist.org/pts/4479188910.html

 

[PowerSet]

http://albany.craigslist.org/ptd/4473326755.html

Looks like as good a candidate as any if it is what it says. I should be looking for good red fluid and minimal metal shavings inside of the pan?


Just have to figure out how the heck to get it. Probably have to borrow an suv or something.

 

[Evan11]

http://albany.craigslist.org/ptd/4473326755.html

Looks like as good a candidate as any if it is what it says. I should be looking for good red fluid and minimal metal shavings inside of the pan?


Just have to figure out how the heck to get it. Probably have to borrow an suv or something.

Yes. You don't want one that has milky pink/milkshake-like fluid, brown, or nasty sludgy looking fluid. Also smell the fluid to see that it doesn't smell burnt. If you get a trans, I hope that you will disconnect the cooler lines from the radiator, clean out the cooler lines with a blow nozzle and carb cleaner & get you a new stand alone heavy auto trans cooler in place of the cooler inside of the radiator. Simply run the trans cooler lines to your new aftermarket cooler instead of the rad. Auto zone or any parts store sells them. Get biggest you can get. If not, you will have to get a new radiator. Failure to clean out the lines and getting a stand alone cooler or a new radiator will result in early failure to your new trans. The old sludge will still be in the lines and water/coolant will get into your new trans from the leaky cooler inside the rad.

 

[jacobdavis1979]

I dont suppose you have a Buddys auto mall around you do you?

Its a salvage yard just like Pick n Pull except the people that work there aren't stupid like picknpull. The reason i say that is because they test all there parts before good and bad and actully mark on the car whats good and bad like if the motors blown but the trannys good and vice versa they mark them and not only that if you get the part they say is good and turns out to be bad they let you return for either store credit or cash money ( the one in my area does anyway ) and i think transmissons up there regardless of what it is is about $100 with like a $40 core or somthing i dont remember. People will tell you not to buy salvage yard parts but thats one place that unless you let your warranty run out that you really cant go wrong on.

As for the transmission you have i would get another known good one to put in the car then practice rebuilding the old one so you wont be out a trannsmission just in case you mess up

 

[CWPottenger]

People will tell you not to buy salvage yard parts but thats one place that unless you let your warranty run out that you really cant go wrong on.

If you do go the Junk yard route and you have a 200-4R trans do not give it for your core. Junk yard just wants the weight and scraps it. That trans is worth more on CL, local, etc then any yard will pay you for a core. If it is a 700R4 it would depend on what year and model if it was worth much if burned up. Either way I always just find an old trans from some buddy and use that as a core or pay the fee if not too much.