Metal shavings in trans pan

JT's03

Registered User
I know some material is expected, but while dropping the trans for an upgrade I decided to drop the pan and scooped out about a tea spoon of clutch material out of the trans pan and off the magnet. About 30k since rebuild with alto clutches, and new tq converter. This is what I found...
 

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I think you need to be a little more realistic about how soon someone is going to see and respond to your post. 6 minutes ?? ... it could be days :eek:

The condition of your pan should reflect how you drive. If you're a heavy foot and love to play with the power and show others you can beat them I'd say it's normal. If you drive it more like a daily driver and don't really plant your foot to the floor very often then I'd say that's a lot of material to be sitting on the bottom of the pan and on the magnet for 30K.
It would also depend on if you had a massive failure before the rebuild and how well everything was cleaned and or flushed before re-assembly.

IMHO It might be a sign the transmission isn't applying enough pressure and you're slipping excessively between shifts.
I've seen trans with 100K look a lot cleaner than that. Their fluid looked and smelled like crap but there wasn't that level of material in it :( BUT, to qualify that, those were un-blown daily drivers that likely never raced anyone anywhere.

You say it was rebuilt, was the cooler in the radiator (or external) flushed before re-installation and what was the reason it was rebuilt ?? Massive failure, slipping, lost a gear, just wanted to "J" mod it or add some HD components ???
Was it a DIY rebuild, a "friend" or a transmission shop??

How does this transmission feel when it shifts? Does it feel it's a firm shift or does it feel like it's slipping from one gear to the next?

If it was me and I was sure the stuff I'm looking at wasn't left over from before it was rebuilt I'd spend some time to find out a way to up the pressure on the shifts so they were more likely to be uncomfortably firm and "bang" from gear to gear. More so if you're doing any street racing or just beating on it.

If I remember right I think the "J" mod had directions for different power levels and it had to do with having firmer shifts as in higher pressures for the higher horsepower engines.
 
No, this is not good. The stuff on and about the pan that is dark is bushing material. The stuff on the magnet is of course ferrous, and is normal. Might not like it, but i would remove clean and repair before you end up spending money on hard parts other that bushings. Be sure to flush the cooler, blow the lines out and send the converter off for cleaning.
 
Looks pretty excessiive to me too. I've seen less material in a trans that had no 3rd gear. The clutches were cone shaped.:eek: 2-3 accumulator spring was sideways and took out the piston seal it lasted about half a season of racing.
 
Looks excessive to me as well. It was rebuilt with hd componets around 50k miles. Now has 85k on the chasis.

I have beat the crap out of this trans. It is more of a weekend warrior then a dd but have used it for both. I did take the pan down to my builder yesterday and he said it was a bit much but was to be expected. Said it was probably from the converter since I'm locking it up at wot.

The car feels good, firm shifts, and the converter is locking without incident in 2nd. It does have the jmod and have removed the bottom 1-2 2-3 accumulator springs. Think I may adjust the converter lock schedule so it locks in 3rd.

Anyone else locking their converter at wot?
 
I did in the Lincoln, after 3rd. But, im running a Precision Industries triple disc lock up converter. You KNEW when it went into lockup. My problem had been smoking third clutch. Never problems with bushings.
 
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