cthomasparr

My son picked up a 2000 Mustang V6 several months ago. He has probably put about 1500 miles on it and it is around 190,000 miles. The transmission was leaking prior to our picking it up and the pan seal didn't fix it completely. Today the trans took a turn for the worse. It wasn't moving consistently in the forward gears and would slam into gear. When I got home to look at it I topped off the trans fluid and tried to put it on ramps in the garage. It goes into reverse fine, but does little to nothing in any of the forward gears. The fluid is more than full.

My questions are does this sound like a classic transmission failure? If it is gone, I am planning on replacing with a used trans. I have found one from an honest sounding guy about an hour away with 120K original miles on it that came from a wreck.. He used the engine for his car. It is from a 2002 and hopefully that is compatible.

Any suggestions what to look for in a used trans... when I go to see it and an suggestions on replacement parts to do while I am there or anything else would be appreciated.

PNYXPRESS

Any chance the trans is overfilled? What do you mean "more than full" they are really finicky when either under or over filled.

cthomasparr

I know I am going to sound like a dope here, but when I changed the pan I put in fluid and I think I may have put in more than was needed. Over time with the leak when I checked back again it was low so I probably dumped in a quart. A couple days later it was having more serious issues like I described. Prior to that it did have shifting that was not great so it may have been nearing its end of life. It seemed to not really change gears as smoothly as other cars I have driven.

If I junked the trans by overfilling then it is a lesson learned. If there is a chance of getting it back on track by pulling some fluid out, I would definitely give it a try. Any idea what the symptoms would be in an overfilled transmission?

Appreciate the response.

PNYXPRESS

Its worth a shot to pull some fluid out and see how it does. If it doesnt help then you are just back to where you were.

cthomasparr

I am not sure I can really get an accurate read anymore since it cannot be driven, so will have to do donuts in reverse (isn't that a front wheel drive thing??) or idle forever.

I talked more with people at work and the general consensus is a rebuild is necessary. I have found some used units and I will probably go that route. Now I need to be able to identify which are compatible.

If the sellers are accurate, one came from a 2000 and one from a 2002, both mustang V6. I know they are the same general transmissions, 4R70W, but I did see a site that sells transmissions had different part numbers between the 1999-2000 and 2001-2002.

Anyone have any idea where I can identify a transmission based on the label and which are compatible?

cthomasparr

I replaced the transmission and the new one shifts smoothly... better than the old one had since we got it several months ago. There was always a delayed shift followed by a thud into gear. It wasn't harsh, but it definitely was not quick.

New trans is very responsive and smooth. I went with the 2002 with 120K miles and other than the speedometer sender being different ( I swapped those) was a direct fit.

PNYXPRESS

awesome glad it all worked out.