transmission clunk

[cerberusaardvark]

so lately, the past month or so, my transmission has been clunking on its way from park to reverse and drive. the wost is switching between reverse and drive. when i switch is hesitates about two seconds then i hear a clunk and im good to go. im not hard on my car but i think the miles have caught up to it. switching between gears while in drive is like butter, no hesitation there, but when it gets warm and im leaving my driveway it sounds painful. are there any easy ways to fix this? it got upwards of 200k miles on it, had regular service... should i just try to replace it?

Im gearing up for a head gasket, heads and radiator job, and maybe this too...
all i need is for this thing to last for another year while i amass the parts for a 302. i cant afford to jump the gun and start the swap yet though. what are your opinions?

 

[runningred92]

Check your fluid levels I would put money on it that your about a quart low. Your best bet to get another year and its a good bet and simple is do a fluid and filter change and adjust your bands. I included the band adjustment how to below. My trans was doing the same thing over a year ago and still fine to this day. Now if you drop the pan and there are metal shavings in the fluid then you are due for a rebuild or swap. If you are going to swap eventually I would just add fluid and drive it like I stole it ! Hope this helped.

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=158160

 

[cerberusaardvark]

awesome thanks for the help. someplace i heard that if the pan hasnt been dropped in awhile, its better to just let it die but.. looking over the forum that seems to be for people who dont have the confidence to crack open a tranny.

 

[runningred92]

Yeah I have never heard that before. You should get well over another year out of it as long as there is no metal shavings in the pan that is. And the whole process can be done in less than an hour if you have half a clue of what you are doing a little longer if you are learning along the way. Good luck! Oh and make sure to buy what you need the day before or have a second car to get it. Working on a hot tranny is not fun at all.(unless you are in to that kind of thing lol)!!