My Mustang was working fine. I had a couple of people with me and headed to the park. All of a sudden

[Paul M]

Ye, it was driving fine. There were 3 of us headed to the park on a beautiful day. I stopped to make a left turn & it didn't move. I tried again "what the" I looked under it and there was a puddle of tranny fluid. I ended up getting a ride to get my truck and having a girl tow me home in my truck w/a tow strap. I already knew it was going to be a pain in the @ to fix since it leaked out of the front in the middle, so I blew it off for a week before getting after it. I built the tranny, and it performed flawlessly for a year. Actually, I'm impressed with the C6's performance. So, I pulled it out & noticed a slight groove in my converter surface, pulled the front pump and noticed the gears had a slight wear pattern in them where the converter hits. The seal didn't look that bad or the pump gasket and outer seal. I almost installed a sleeve on the converter with new seals n gaskets on the pump. I just couldn't see the reason for the pouring out of fluid, so I hit the internet and looked at the installation of the front pump bushing. You'd think the notch is supposed to line up with the drain hole like the others in the back of the pump and tranny. The front bushing in the pump is installed backwards so that the fluid isn't directed toward the front blowing out the seal.
Pulling the front pump: you can just tilt the tranny upward & tighten the band down enough to grab the drum. Just reset the band afterwards. I didn't have threads in my pump, so I used a tap, made some threads & put 2 adjacent bolts in, then pulled it with a small slide hammer. You can also remove the pump with a pry bar if your pan is off. I never pulled it off. I did install a sleeve on the converter even though the groove is very small. You have to position them right where the seal rides. I used red grease to see where it rode while rotating it. I went ahead and replaced the gears. Anyway, I was down for a month & was back to doing burnouts right before this weather hit. With fluid this repair was @ 150.00
pic 1 jack on a roll around cabinet, much faster than fenagling a tranny jack to fit. pic 2 upward angle tighten band. pic 3 create thread pull pump 4. "DO NOT" install the bushing this way even though the others are & it looks correct. pic 5 Install the bushing this way pushing the fluid away from the front seal. pic 6 slight wear in gear pic 7 making sure the new gears are the correct size pic 8 making sure sleeve is down enough pic 9 is the converter worn & where does it ride. 10 back together. Needless to say, a pin came out of my neutral safety switch and no start took me 2 extra days. They are proud of those switches luckily, I found the pin. Bolted together it's pretty solid.

 

[Moderator73]

I have no idea what any of this is, but I'm totally impressed with your skills! Love the detailed pictures. So great that you're a part of this forum. I've always taken mine to the transmission shop because this is one component I've never attempted to open up...out of total fear. Hope your pony is running wild again!

 

[Paul M]

I have no idea what any of this is, but I'm totally impressed with your skills! Love the detailed pictures. So great that you're a part of this forum. I've always taken mine to the transmission shop because this is one component I've never attempted to open up...out of total fear. Hope your pony is running wild again!

Thanks for the response. I relied on someone else to do my F150 tranny. 2400.00 AAMCO. It didn't last 10k miles before it started slipping. I took it back noting the reading on the odometer was under 10k miles since rebuild & they took it for a test drive and said they have to charge me 480.00 for diagnostics to get my engine light off before looking at the transmission. I said do not touch my truck I'm coming to get it. I already knew it was a O2 sensor since having gotten a free diagnostic check at an Autozone. It was only in one bank. So, I replaced it and brought it back with the engine light off. They took it for a test ride and told me I need a new transmission. I asked "in a very loud voice" so their customers could hear. It's only been 2 years and less than 10k miles. How do you know it's a bad transmission? did you do line pressure check? a running pressure check? They said 2 years is out of warrantee & I'd have to pay 580 for a transmission diagnostic check to be sure. I told them they were criminals, and I wanted my truck back. I fixed it myself. My plastic radiator was leaking water from the coolant tank. I drained the fluid and filter and have been driving it for 2 more years with no problems.

 

[Bobby]

Over the last 40 years or so, I have heard nothing good about any transmission shop much less AASHOLE…I mean AAMCO. I avoid transmission work like the plague. I had issues with my AOD tranny because it set too long while my 393C stroker build was in its first botched assembly. When finally the engine was finally assembled at another shop and dyno’d at a third and dropped into my Mach 1, the tranny would not shift out of 1st gear. I was recommended to a fella that was supposed to be the absolute guru when it came to AODs. He had to replace the pump among other things. When I got it back there was terrible vibration on all phases of acceleration. Point was, the tranny guy never test drove my Mustang to verify his work. Turned out that the new driveshaft was too short and not properly seated in the tranny and caused the terrible vibrations that tore up the innards of that AOD. Had hi guys that installed the tranny been on their game, they would have noticed the shorter shaft and had a new on fab’d up. When I called complaining about the vibration, I got the runaround and was told that the vibration would smooth out with miles. I took it to a second transmission shop and they identified a leaking seal but did not go any further to ID why it was leaking. I finally took it another shop that did not specialize in trannys but he quickly identified the problem. To circumvent year another rebuild, I bought another AOD and had them swap it out and he then identified the short driveshaft and we both had the aww **** moment! Hea measured for the new shaft and sent out to have it fab’d. He also consulted with others and set the TV cable higher than spec for my HP test drove it a number of times to VERIFY HIS WORK!!! My precious Stang drives wonderful now. This all happened early last year.

 

[Paul M]

Geeze the simple fix for yours (before it was damaged) would have been a simple replacement of the yoke. Just install a longer one. They are @ 2" difference. I honestly don't see how they missed that it had very little engagement, they slip over the output shaft a good 3". Anyway, I've been rebuilding my own trannys for a while now & got my buddy into doing his own. He's more meticulous than I am and now I'm picking up tricks from him. He's an aircraft inspector at American Airlines. He's got a 2004 Mustang Mach 1 with a AOD in it & used some Sonnax parts. His supercharged 04 runs 10's & his race car runs mid 9's, he's running a power glide in that one with a delay box. He just won 7k in the last race of the year. He won over 13k in the last 3 weeks of the year. I didn't know you could win that much in drag racing. I think he may have talked me into racing next year. I'll have to rebuild 727 in my old Dodge beforehand. Needless to say, I will be rebuilding my AOD in my truck next time & we already discussed the necessary parts to make it more bulletproof.