Dropping pan tonight, anything to check while tranny is opened up? (4R55E)

[Charlie]

Well, long story short, I've been having a fair amount of transmission problems. Tonight I'm going to be dropping the pan and replacing the fluid/filter, along with replacing the gasket (old one leaks a little bit)

So, my question is, while the pan is dropped, is there anything I should be sure to check while I'm in there? Is there anything I can check/adjust to improve the transmission performance/life?

Pretty much what I'm doing right now is getting some good fluid in it again (so it doesn't look so brown and am trying to "nurse it along" as long as I can. I know the tranny will fail soon, so I don't want to be replacing....expensive...things tonight.

So, anything I should be checking/doing while it's opened up?

Also-making sure all of the valve body bolts are properly tightened should help, right? I don't want to touch them if it could harm things, though. I'm thinking making sure they are all properly torqued could help with the slipping, if they were too loose, right?

Thanks--

Oh-also-how long do you think I ought to let it sit to cool down before starting? I'd like to get started ASAP, so if I need to run to the dealership/parts store when the pan is dropped, they will still be open. So, how long do you think I ought to let it sit so I don't burn myself? I've done that before...and don't want to do it again Hot oil=pain.

 

[BrooklynBay]

Wait about a half hour to an hour for it to cool down. Use an In/Lb torque wrench on the VB bolts, and pan bolts. Check the edges of the gasket for signs of flaking. Update the solenoid bracket to the improved version.

 

[Stic-o]

Well you should have ordered a drain plug for it so you can put a temp gauge in

 

[Charlie]

Well, *****. Tonight wasn't a success. It was a draw, at best. I basically traded cancer for AIDS. I'm still screwed, but it's a different problem now.

First, to respond to what you guys said
BrooklynBay - I checked with the dealership here, and they did not have that part. I figure it's lasted this long, so it will be fine.

Stic-o - Drain plug. Mm, that would be nice. I would have added one tonight, except tonight was a "let's keep it running through the winter" type surgery. It won't be around long anyway, and I don't plan to need to drop the pan again, so, I didn't put it in. As for a temperature gauge-I had been planning to put a tranny temp gauge in, but decided it wasn't worth it.

I ended up starting 2 1/2 hours after parking, because it was still wayyy to hot until then. I had only driven it about 10 miles before I parked it, too. Even after that long it was still pretty warm, and I'm not that sensitive to hot things with my hands.


Now down to the results.

I was doing the fluid/filter change tonight because I had been having problems with slipping, and popping out of gear. It has a tendancy to jump up 2k rpm between gears on occasion. It jumps 500-1k rpm between gears on a regular basis. Also, when coming to a stop, it almost tries to stall, so often I need to kick it up into neutral when stopped at a light, especially before it is warmed up. Plus, the fluid was the color of old motor oil.

So, now down to business of what I did tonight. I dropped the pan, let it drain, checked over everything, making sure solenoids felt secure, and ensuring bolts were all to spec. After that, I put in the new filter, put the pan on with the new gasket, and filled it up.

Test drive 1: This one is to warm up tranny more and then to check fluid again. After this one is done fluid is added to get it to proper level.

Test drive 2: Now that I am sure the fluid is at the right level, I want to see if it's running better. I go for a nice easy drive at first. Everything seems normal. Everything running better than before, but not great. I go back and check fluid once more to ensure it is at proper level. It is. It has now been running/driving for about 20-30 minutes since initial fill and check, so it is fine now.

Test drive 3: I take it out again, to check how it shifts under load. I accelerate hard up to 50 or so a few times. Everything works fine. Well, I decide to go run it on the interstate. Goes up to interstate speed fine (normal acceleration, not hard acceleration) when suddenly it won't shift. So, I'm sitting at about 4k rpm doing about 60. I slow it down to 40, and ease my way back on slow roads.

Well, go and check fluid level again. Level still fine. Go out to test again, but this time, when I put it in drive to go, I get major slipping. After a little experimenting, I figure out I can drive it normal(ish) but I need to manually shift through the gears.

Go back and check fluid level. Suddenly it is high. No idea why.

I'm really confused why it would be, since before tonight it was at a perfect fluid level, and today I drained 6qts. I put in 5qts, though, which appeared to be at a proper level at first.

I'm wondering-do you think the freeway speed could have heated up/agitated the fluid, so it has air in it now, which is causing it to read high, and causing the seeming loss of power to change gears properly? Any idea what would cause this? I'm not sure what could have changed, since I have dropped the pan before, so I'm guessing I did everything fine.

Either way, if it runs like this it's not really better or worse than before. At least now it sits in a gear once it is in it. It's not too bad having to manually shift it, I just don't get why it would do this.

On the plus side though, it doesn't seem to want to stall anymore when in drive and stopped


Any ideas of what it could be? Any ideas of what to check? I'm starting to think I should have bothered with the drain plug now...

 

[BrooklynBay]

 

[Charlie]

Well, it's working better today. I blame last night on it not like new fluid.



I'm confused with it now, but not complaining. It's no longer popping out of gear & wanting to kill, but it's shifting better again. Not good, but it moves through the gears like it should..ish.

So, I guess last night helped....a little.