In my quest to stop several leaks in the LeBaron’s engine compartment the transmission pan gasket need replacing. This is not the original transmission, long story involving shoddy transmission shops I shall not go into, except to say the original was replaced after being rebuilt and failing, with a junk yard unit at about 45,000 miles, in 1987 or so.

At the time, I assumed that fluid & filter was changed on the used unit. Presently the car has 71,000 miles, and used transmission has less than 30,000 of my miles on top of an unknown amount of miles before it was installed.

Yesterday I dropped the pan to service the filter, adjust bands, and replace gasket on a transmission, it has been shifting and running just as it should, just dripping. Here is what I found; a coating of gray metal slime on magnet and steel base.


Is this normal?

Any ideas where it is coming from?

Looking up into the transmission’s body all the surfaces I can see look sparklingly clean.

Bill

A 470 is unit that bolts to a 2.6 L.

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67' Dart GT Convertible; the old Chrysler Corp.
82' LeBaron Convertible; the new Chrysler Corp
07' 300 C AWD; Now by Fiat, the old new Chrysler LLC

Er…check yer nomenclature. Pretty sure there's no A427 or A418. A404 and A413 and A470 and others, yes; quick ref here (yours is probably A470).

Dark grey slime coating is normal wear if it's not too thick. How thick is it?

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

Yup, it’s an A-470; too much brake cleaner, or percentage of defective brain cells… not sure which.

Nomenclature has been sanitized.

Coating on magnet was much thicker than bottom of pan which was just enough to make it look dark grey.

Normal is what I wanted to hear.

Thanks Dan

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67' Dart GT Convertible; the old Chrysler Corp.
82' LeBaron Convertible; the new Chrysler Corp
07' 300 C AWD; Now by Fiat, the old new Chrysler LLC

Yup, you're fine -- new filter, new fluid (ATF+4 is best), adjust bands, reassemble and drive.

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

Compare and contrast, or a piss & moan session.

How long dose it take to change out a rear oil seal on a 904? A few minutes to pull drive shaft, a few minutes to pop out the old seal and re install new one, and a few minutes to button up drive shaft. A bit longer if one is not so spry, and working with jack stands.

To accomplish same job on a 470, using same jack stands: Loosen wheel and brake free 180 ft lb nut holding hub to axel; jack up car; remove wheel; disassemble ball joint and strut from hub, remove hub, remove speedometer gear if hand can reach it; yard out drive shaft; deal with a dripping mess; frig & frig to remove a hard to reach oil seal; a lot more frigging installing the new seal because there is no room or angle to get a good square shot at it; and put it all back together… Oh did I mention there are two of these seals but only one spedo gear? Twice the dripage, ten times the fun…

I’m missing wrenching on the all English fastener Dart. No wonder I have been putting off this leak reduction program for over 12 years. It is so much easer to pressure wash the garage floor every so often than disassemble this fine example of advancement in technology to change out a few seals and gaskets. The curious mixture of metric and English fasteners contained in this savior of Chrysler Corporation adds an additional level of pleasure as well.

LOL
Bill

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67' Dart GT Convertible; the old Chrysler Corp.
82' LeBaron Convertible; the new Chrysler Corp
07' 300 C AWD; Now by Fiat, the old new Chrysler LLC

At least you don't have one the early FWD automatics (up thru '81). On those you had to remove the diff cover & clips that secured the axle shaft inner cv joints. (ah, those were the days...)

I've always found that gaskets just don't seal well on these FWD chrysler trans pans. What has worked is a bead of rtv silicone.

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63 Valiant Wagon
225 - 4 bbl

All of the newer front wheel drive Chryslers have RTV on the pan, diff, and side covers from the factory.

Kevin

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crossthreads are better than locktite

Kevin, that stuff is what started this whole transmission snafu twenty five years ago. I had a garage perform a filter & fluid change at around 35,000 miles in the mid 80’s. The guy used silicone on the base. Over time, where that crap squished out around the inside flange, it broke off plugging the filter, resulting in burning up the transmission. I guess he used too much, but after removing base of current transmission, and finding silicone fingers flapping along the inside edge of where pan bolts up, I’m reluctant to use the stuff.

The original transmission was rebuilt over the course of a week after the silicone incident, driven less than 150 miles over several months, and experienced a catastrophic failure. I returned the car to the shop that performed the rebuild on a Thursday, Friday afternoon I get a call saying it’s all done, and to pick it up ASP. This had me scratching my head.

I wondered how it took a week to remove, order parts, rebuild transmission, and reinstall it the first time around, and this only a day… The answer was apparent when I got the car home, that bastard had dropped in a nasty looking junk yard transmission of unknown age and mileage into my matching numbers low mileage cream puff.

I called up the shop Monday morning, and got a machine saying they’re out of business. The fornicator went bankrupt and took my ’82 early stile transmission.


Bill

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67' Dart GT Convertible; the old Chrysler Corp.
82' LeBaron Convertible; the new Chrysler Corp
07' 300 C AWD; Now by Fiat, the old new Chrysler LLC

Yikes , all I can say is, Yes, RTV, like anything has to be used correctly. If some is good, more isn't necessarily better.


Kevin

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crossthreads are better than locktite

Parts arrived today, so I got her all back together with freshly painted covers & pans, band adjustment, seals, and filter. Transmission works just as before; nicely sans dripping on floor.

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67' Dart GT Convertible; the old Chrysler Corp.
82' LeBaron Convertible; the new Chrysler Corp
07' 300 C AWD; Now by Fiat, the old new Chrysler LLC