How to handle tranny maint on 1990 3800 setup VIN "C&qu
 

OK guys, I have my 90 olds with its 3800 vin "c" and the tranny is shifftin like $h1T and I did a little readin round deez parts.. I have a can of "SEAFOAM TRANS TUNE" and I was planning on putting it in a week or so prior to having the fluids handled. well after talking with the guy at a local trans shop He recommended I have the filter dropped and swapped as oppsed to having the fluid flushed.
I guess I am looking for the answer to "so your trans shifts like poo and you need your fluids changed" topic.

should I add the seafoam now and then have the filter swapped? should I have the system flused and then change the filter?? the man said that a flush is pretty pointless unless its a newer car and mine having 120k miles its prolly time for a little help...


thx
D88

You will get two anwers. Yes, and no. My suggestion is a full flush. The people who say not to do a flush, will argue that crap will be brought up, and kill the tranny. However a properly done flush, will not have this problem. Bill [Willwren] has a shot tranny, however he is squeezing quite a bit of extra life in his, from the transmission flushes. I don't know about you, but I think he's a trustworthy source, don't you think?

Just in case there is some confusion. The filter is replaced no matter. Unless you are an idiot and don't.


-justin

well with that said... I think I might stray from the flush actually. I'll add the seafoam tonight and then schedule a trans filter fluid swap..... Mine kinda clunks a lot I noticed at lunch today.. I dont even wanna risk it.. these guys can handle a filter fluid swap but ... doing something more complicated.. ehh I hesitate.. I mean.. how messy is it?
Im gonna be doing my oil this weekend.. do I only need the filter and fluids? anything extra? A big a$s pan to catch it all in? do the shops do anything extra like sucking out chunkies or what?

sometimes when your tranny is sliping and you do a flush it will actually slip worse because the gunk and shit could be holding your tranny parts together? i guess thats a risk you need to take if you decide to flush the tranny

oh I'm not gettin any slippin.. its a full on ka-chunk every once in a while when its cold.... or at op temp foot on the break from park to reverse or any forward gear it clunks just a smidge.....

now my th-350 atttached to the 400 in my other olds.. that slips.. it kinda slithers into reversse :spin2:

That's nothing, bud. I have the same problem. The flush is what you want. There is something blocking a fluid passage, that makes it clunk like that. The transtune fixed that problem, however a flush on top of that will fix ya right up.

If you can change your oil, you can do the tranny flush. I do not know how many times I have posted the tranny flush thing, this week alone. Check the Techinfo. I am feeling lazy.


-justin

http://www.bonnevilleclub.com/techinfo/?article=37

this it? don't ya need a fancy pump to "FLUSH" the fluid out/through the tranny?

hmm blockage makes sense. It did sit fer 4 years in the original owners garage before i got it. thus explaining doing all of the brakes , adding fuel addititves to break up any varnish and such..

acuatly it could be a trans mount or motor mount

and put your yeat make and model in your sig to help us furthur with you car

Yep, that's the article.

GAMEOVER: I have the same problem, and the thump he is talking about, is harsh engagement I presume, correct? It's like somebody with a really big foot kicked your car's ass, right? That's the same problem I have, and the transtune fixed that right up. I also had a horribly slow 2-1 manual shift engagement. Like 7 seconds slow. The transtune minimized this down to 2 seconds, and about 25% smoother [to the point where I like it.. any smoother, and I won't know if it engaged or not].


-justin