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So, here's the situation. I inherited a 1964 Jetstar 1 from my father. He had inherited it from my Grandfather in 1990 and let it sit in a covered carport for 26 years, not run, until I decided I needed another project. Fast forward to now. I've done a lot of work to get it to a good place to start to begin to think about actually starting it. In a small, earlier snafu, I had replaced the water pump and gasket and built it all back and filled it with fluids until I realized that the timing cover gasket was busted and ripped it all down again. Let me be clear, I've never actual gotten it started, but I have been able to turn the engine over. Yesterday, as one of my last items to do, I started to drain the transmission. When I pulled the plug, about a gallon of water flowed out, followed by the typical sludge. I dropped the pan and it was filled with the white sludge of water infected tranny oil. The transmission looks great from what I can see and I cleaned as much of the sludge and funk off of the transmission as possible, blew out the lines that run to the radiator, and ordered a new gasket and filter. I figure that the old radiator that I had in the car when I first flushed out the block with water was rotten and had allowed a lot of water into the tranny pan. I've got a new radiator to be installed, but I'm wondering if anyone out there has any 2¢ about where I'm headed. Since I never started it, am I in a better place since the fluid wasn't distributed around the transmission or am I screwed no matter? It the clutch toast? What's a good first step? I was going to put the new gasket and filter on, fill it up with new fluid and let it run (when I get there) and then maybe monitor the fluid to see if it gets bad. Any advice would help.
The only way water can get in the trans is through the cooler line inside the radiator. If you don't want to repeat the exercise of what you just did, replace the radiator or plug the trans ports and run an aftermarket trans cooler in place of the radiator.
Thanks Eric. I've got a new radiator for it. You don't think the water being in the pan is going to screw with the transmission too horribly if it hasn't been run?
Hard to tell, but you have nothing to lose by starting and driving it. You may have to do another fluid change if there was water trapped in the trans.
Another question about the tranny pan. I cleaned all of the bolts and realized that one of them was longer than the others. I can't find any documentation on this. Any ideas where that linger one would go?
Looks like over the years some were replaced for 1 reason or another. Is there a bracket that mounts to one of the bolts? If not as your putting it back together and find one is too short swap it for the longer one. Make sure the longer one will not interfere with anything in the trans or find a shorter one to replace it
Perhaps I misunderstood something, and my comments may not apply, but I can't help wondering, as you said a gallon of water came out of the transmission. Many vehicles these days will have something other than pure water in their cooling systems. Even if just being stored outside, freezing can happen in the winter. Hence, if some of it made it into the transmission, something other than water will come out upon draining. Has the vehicle ever been submerged in a flood? As advised, if the new fluid appears to also get contaminated, do another change and check it again.
Slim- Jims are problematic to begin with this is ( as you know) not a good sign. A gallon of water plus the fluid that's already there would just about have the transmission full to the top. The only thing that might help is that water wasn't in there that long for springs and seats to rust. If mine would give it a try, run it till hot then change the oil again. Hopefully the clutches and soft parts haven't been effected. It's getting harder and harder to find someone who knows how to rebuild Slim-Jims... Tedd
Thanks guys. I think the water may have been in there from only about 6 months ago when I tried to fill it up and then realized that I had a timing cover gasket leak and the radiator was bad. I'm fairly certain the radiator was the culprit, but I don't know what had been affected and how long. The car sat for 26 years in a covered carport and has never been flooded. My grandfather did baby it when he was alive, but it's been stewing in it's own juices for quite sometime. The transmission (what I can see) looks really clean. No rust I can see at all. I've got a new filter and gasket and tried to get it as cleared out, but I'm sure there's bad stuff still lurking in there somewhere. I'll run it for awhile and try to change the fluid again.
June 5th, 2017, 09:09 AM
