I drove my Aspen quite hard for a couple of hours on the motorway, and after turning onto smaller, slower roads, I noticed an increased slippage in the transmission, a 904 lock-up. There was not much of a reaction at all when pushing the gas pedal, other than more rpm. Massive slippage. I managed to turn into a parking lot after a kilometer or two. Trans fluid was dripping from the converter cover plate, and there was a trail of oil on the road behind me. I happened to have a couple of quarts with trans fluid with me, and after a buddy joined me to drive our Aspens together, I filled it up and I drove a couple of kilometers without any problems, trying to keep the engine revs down.

It took several hours to slowly drive back home late at night, after having bought 3 4-litre cans with trans fluid (Dexron III equivalent). I stopped at intervals to top up the transmission, the leak was bad.

I have exchanged some pm's with bigslant6fan (thank you!), because I wondered if internal foaming causing it to come out from the ventilation hole behind the converter, could be misinterpreted as a leak. The reason for that line of thought, was that I could have overfilled the transmission before I left, as it was still cold when I checked the fluid level. I know that I later overfilled to keep up with the leak, and may have unintentionally created the situation once more. Unfortunately it seem to be something worse.

I took a test drive today, after draining off some fluid, I started with fluid level between 'Add one pint' and 'Full'. I drove for about 5 minutes, partly uphill, and the leak was still there, and quite severe. There was some slippage when taking off, and when I applied more throttle, there was noticable slippage plus some 'bursts' of sudden slippage. I had to refill one quart to get home and park it. Too bad, it's my daily driver.

This evening I pumped up the tires on my old bicycle...

Olaf

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Aspenized

Olaf- If you have a factory service manual for your car and a basic set of tools you can rebuild the 904. I taught myself how to do it, and so can you. Order all your parts from http://www.makcotransmissionparts.com/ and you will be fine. The 904 is an incredibly simple transmission but is very rugged. I recommend installing a shift kit while you have it apart.

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Casually looking for a Clifford hyperpak intake for cheap.

Thank you Reed.
I have the FSM, other manuals and plenty tools, and I also have a 'shift correction kit' that was on the agenda anyway.
My problem is a place to work on it. To get there, I'll have to drive a little more than 25 miles, and even with plenty of refill stops, I don't know if the transmission can take it.

Olaf

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Aspenized

If you have a parking spot you can jack the car up, drop the trans, and rebuild it under the car. It is that simple. Just drape a tarp over the top of the car to keep people from spying on what you are doing.

The hardest part is keeping track of the order of the parts. However, if you have a spare broomstick you can slide the parts onto the broomstick as the trans is disassembled and tat way keep all the parts in the right order. Just replace all the clutches and bands as you reassemble.

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Casually looking for a Clifford hyperpak intake for cheap.

trailer?
tow dolly?
here in Maryland a commercial tow would be $100-150

there's a lot of retired tow people around Washington DC
they like cash.

I use to ship transmissions to Sweden in containers along with all sorts of American motorcycle/trucks/bobcats/tires/t-shirts/special order waterbeds/cell phones
ACL shipping.

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slant six's RULE!
http://www.usajon.com

Uhh, that's the other problem...

Olaf

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Aspenized

Try adjusting the bands first.

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Casually looking for a Clifford hyperpak intake for cheap.

Reed, yes I had the same thought. The leak is really bad, though.
I already got a reply in a norwegian forum, from a guy who has an old A-body 904. That way I have a car while repairing my own transmission.

Olaf.

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Aspenized

Good luck! Hopefully the 904 is not pre-68.

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Casually looking for a Clifford hyperpak intake for cheap.

Reed, no, it is fortunately from a '72 Dart, and was working OK until it was removed in the early '90s. It has been stored since, so a new filter and fluid is needed, and of course band adjustments. I also have several shift improvement kits for the 904, but I'll test drive it before I do anything with an unfamiliar transmission.
I haven't seen the transmission yet, so maybe a rear seal is needed too, they are often damaged if the yoke is not there.
It is without converter, and I only have some V8 converters, so I'll have to find that elsewhere.
Apart from that, it should be a bolt-on.

I don't know yet if the leak is there when the engine is running with the transmission in 'Park'. If the leak is reduced or absent in 'Park', I can disconnect the driveshaft at the rear axle, and tie it up. That way I can be towed with the engine running, so that I have the power steering and brakes in working order.

Olaf

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Aspenized

My luck just changed for the better.

I was on the phone with the guy with the 904 this evening, and he said if I come and pick it up it, it's for free!

The funny thing, he actually lives close to where my transmission broke down!

Olaf

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Aspenized