Thanks Herb. Just to be sure I'm doing the right thing, should I be changing all the fluid or just topping it off? The car is a '63 Polara 500 with a 383 and automatic. I have enough fluid that it shows on the stick when cold, but idling in neutral drops below 'add a pint'. It looks healthy pink. I bought it 8 months ago so I don't know the tranny fluid history. It's got 79,000 miles. Is there a fluid I can safely add a pint of to top it off, or should I replace it all? Thanks again. - Jim Jim Altemose, Long Island, NY '63 Polara 500 (Max Wedge) '63 Polara 500 (383) '65 Belvedere I (Street Wedge) '71 Bronco On Wed, Aug 13, 2008 at 11:46 PM, Herb <zephyr9900@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > > Jim; > > Drain your converter! 80% of the fluid is in it. Pull the inspection cover > from front of tranny and turn engine over by hand till you see the drain > plug, remove it, go get a cold one, and let it drain. You will probably > finish before it will! (-; You will get about 6 + qt's out of it. Reinstall > plug & pan. Fill with 4 qt's only and start. Then add the rest of the fluid > engine running. If you attempt to fill it all the way before starting it > will spit most of it on the ground when you do start it!! Also if someone > has over torqued the pan bolts and bowed the flange inward around the bolt > holes now is the time to fix it. Take the pan and a piece of two by four and > rest the flange on the edge of the two by four and with a hammer tap the > area around each hole till it is flat like the surrounding flange. If you > are comfortable with it, now is a great time to adjust your bands! What Say > You? Thumbs up to Mobil synthetic. But as always every one has their own > favorite product!! > > Herb > > 1963 Sport Fury Convertible 361 > 1970 Challenger RT 440 > 1999 Durango SLT 5.9 > 2006 300-C Heritage 5.7 > 2008 SRT-8 Magnum 6.1 > St. Louis, MO. > > > -------Original Message------- > > From: Jim Altemose > Date: 8/13/2008 9:37:08 PM > To: 1962to1965mopars > Subject: Changing transmission fluid? > > My tranny fluid is a little low and since I have no idea what type it > Is, I figure I'm better off changing it than mixing in an unknown. > I've never changed the tranny fluid before. Any gotchas to be aware > Of? Seems straight forward; clean the screen and use a new gasket and > Filter. What's the best way to clean the screen? Based on previous > Comments here going back a couple of year from Don Dulmage and Jim > Peavy and others, it sounds like Mobil synthetic is the way to go. > > As always, thanks. > > - Jim > Jim Altemose, Long Island, NY > '63 Polara 500 (Max Wedge) > '63 Polara 500 (383) > '65 Belvedere I (Street Wedge) > '71 Bronco