Dealer possibly damaged my transmission.....

[Maj1151]

Some of you may remember my post about how I received a new engine under warranty due to the blue smoke upon startup. Well right before The car got towed to the dealership I did a quick check of all the fluid levels (engine oil, tranny, etc) . All the levels were normal. The dealership had my vehicle for a little over a month. When I picked the car up everything was perfect, they did an awesome job. After about 300 miles of very easy city/highway driving the car started to stutter in first gear, third gear, and fourth when the TC locked up.

At first I thought it could've possibly been a fouled plug or something of that nature, but after a little more driving I was almost positive it's the transmission. So I decided to check the transmission fluid again. It turned out being almost an INCH AND A HALF past the top of the cross hatches on the dip stick. I called Acton L&M and told them what happened. They responded by saying that their mechanics would have no reason to fill/top off the transmission fluid because the trans. was not touched during the engine swap.

Does this sound legitimate or are they just trying to cover themselves?

Thanks for your help.




~M

[fastblackmerc]

They are trying to cover their a$$es.

[Maj1151]

Does the protocol for a engine replacement require the transmission or parts of the transmission to be removed/disassembled?

[RoyLPita]

It depends. Some engine jobs that I have seen (and done), I've taken the tranny out. Others leave it in but keep it supported.

[Tallboy]

Some of you may remember my post about how I received a new engine under warranty due to the blue smoke upon startup. Well right before The car got towed to the dealership I did a quick check of all the fluid levels (engine oil, tranny, etc) . All the levels were normal. The dealership had my vehicle for a little over a month. When I picked the car up everything was perfect, they did an awesome job. After about 300 miles of very easy city/highway driving the car started to stutter in first gear, third gear, and fourth when the TC locked up.

At first I thought it could've possibly been a fouled plug or something of that nature, but after a little more driving I was almost positive it's the transmission. So I decided to check the transmission fluid again. It turned out being almost an INCH AND A HALF past the top of the cross hatches on the dip stick. I called Acton L&M and told them what happened. They responded by saying that their mechanics would have no reason to fill/top off the transmission fluid because the trans. was not touched during the engine swap.

Does this sound legitimate or are they just trying to cover themselves?

Thanks for your help.




~M

Ask 'em how they did an engine swap with out touching the torque converter.

[junior]

Also, did they pull the radiator? I'm not sure if our MM's have tranny lines going to it or not. And what he says about the TC. ^

[Marauder2005]

I never liked Acton Lincoln Mercury. They just brushed the blue

smoke issue away for me. Take Tallboy's advice, its a good question...

[TooManyFords]

Ask 'em how they did an engine swap with out touching the torque converter.

I swapped mine without pulling the torque converter. But that doesn't mean they didn't do something else and try to hide it.

John

[SergntMac]

Does the protocol for a engine replacement require the transmission or parts of the transmission to be removed/disassembled?I cannot say this L O U D enough...

NO!

Between Zack and I, over the last two years we have pulled no less than 10 engines from Marauders. I've seen no less that a dozen engine pulls from all sorts of cars at my L/M dealership over that same time period. The tranny does not have to come out to pull an engine from a Marauder.

Aside from the customary tranny housing to engine block bolts and torque converter/flexplate bolts (as well as electrical control harness plug-in thingy), nothing connects the engine to the tranny in any way that would disturb the normal operation/performance of your old tranny with a new engine replacement...Least not that long after the install.

If the dealership didn't support the tranny in the correct way, tranny fluid may have leaked out over time, and an eager Tech may have topped it off too soon before warm-up to normal operating temps. But, that's about all that may have occured. Besides, "if and when" a tranny gets too much fluid, it would spill out the relief valve and you would see evidence of than in your garage/driveway. Been here, did this.

"Inch and a half over" on the stick? Yeah, something else is going on, but it's not related to your engine replacement. You would have seen evidence of that in your drive home from the dealership.

You may have a tranny issue, maybe not, I can't say. But, what ever it comes to be, it's not from replacing the engine.

[SergntMac]

Ask 'em how they did an engine swap with out touching the torque converter.Unbolting it from the flexplate, right? Works for me...

I win anything?

[Tallboy]

Unbolting it from the flexplate, right? Works for me...

I win anything?

Bingo.

I never said it couldn't be done, just ask 'em how. You'd be surprised how many people can't answer this simple qusetion. If they go "Uh, Uh, Lemme go ask so-and-so", you've got 'em.

[Bluerauder]

They responded by saying that their mechanics would have no reason to fill/top off the transmission fluid because the trans. was not touched during the engine swap.
~M
It is possible that they did something to the transmission. Several years ago, I had my engine replaced in my '94 Thunderbird under the infamous "3.8L You are gonna blow a headgasket sometime" TSB. Three months after I received the letter from Ford, I did.

The dealer had the car for 30 days waiting for the replacement engine (lots of demand) while I drove a '00 Taurus 24v DOHC (gratis).

When I came to pick up the T-Bird, I noticed it sitting in the lot. Under it was a 3 foot pool of liquid. I quick finger check said transmission fluid. I went straight to the service desk and when they said my car was ready, I told 'em that I didn't think so. Then I showed them my hand full of transmission fluid.

The explanation that I got was that the "gasket" for the tranny dipstick was damaged or lost during the engine swap and it was throwing fluid all over. After another day or two, I had my T-Bird back. Ran it another 3 years before moving on to the Marauder. :D

Obviously, my tranny was touched during that engine swap. :rolleyes:

[RF Overlord]

Back to Maj1151's problem...

I don't think being that much overfilled should cause a shudder. Generally, overfilling results in ATF spewing out the vent when it gets hot, but not much else. I would drain out a couple of quarts of fluid and drive it again. If your problem is gone, then great...unless you drove it really hard or towed a large boat through the mountains with it shuddering, there shouldn't be any damage.

If the "stuttering" persists after correcting the fluid level, I would look at another cause unrelated to the transmission...something like a misfire.

[SergntMac]

It is possible that they did something to the transmission. Several years ago, I had my engine replaced in my '94 Thunderbird under the infamous "3.8L You are gonna blow a headgasket sometime" TSB. Three months after I received the letter from Ford, I did.

The dealer had the car for 30 days waiting for the replacement engine (lots of demand) while I drove a '00 Taurus 24v DOHC (gratis).

When I came to pick up the T-Bird, I noticed it sitting in the lot. Under it was a 3 foot pool of liquid. I quick finger check said transmission fluid. I went straight to the service desk and when they said my car was ready, I told 'em that I didn't think so. Then I showed them my hand full of transmission fluid.

The explanation that I got was that the "gasket" for the tranny dipstick was damaged or lost during the engine swap and it was throwing fluid all over. After another day or two, I had my T-Bird back. Ran it another 3 years before moving on to the Marauder. :D

Obviously, my tranny was touched during that engine swap. :rolleyes:You may be right, for this engine swap, but that's not the case with a Marauder.

Also, did they pull the radiator? I'm not sure if our MM's have tranny lines going to it or not.The tranny cooler is not internal to the radiator, it's a separate filiment that mounts in front of the radiator, neither of which need to be pulled for an engine swap

In a Marauder engine swap, you risk loosing only coolant, and not much of that either. How much you lose depends on your talent to know when and where to plug hoses and drain systems at the right time. Nonetheless, none of this disturbs the tranny, tranny cooler, or, feed lines running to-from that.

Unless you're a stupid back-yard butcher...

[Merc-O-matic]

How Many miles on the car? When was the transmission
fluid changed last? Recommend you have the tranny
flushed....new fluid.....should take care of your problem.

Gotta Love It!:burnout:

[MM_BKK]

I think what the dealer meant by the trans. was not touched is that they did not removed it from the car and start to disassemble it just for fun. I don't think they would want to do any extra work they absolutely don't have to.
Anyone who has pulled an engine from auto trans knows that there are two ways to deal with the torque converter. You can unbolt it from the flexplate (so technically you've touched it) or you can pull it attached to the flexplate but if you're going to reuse the same converter you would still have to unbolt it from the flexplate and reinstall it back to the trans. (so technically you still have to touch it).
As far as over filling the trans, this would cause the fluid to be aerated and air introduce in the hydralics system which would probably cause soft shift or slippage under heavy load. Fortunately, if you remove the excess fluid the air will pretty much bleed itself out of the system. The easiest way to remove the excess fluid is to suck it out of the dipstick tube with a pump made for changing oil from hard to reach places.
I think the "stuttering" problem is probably due to electrical related issues i.e. loose connections with the primary ignition circuits, fuel injectors etc. The stuttering is caused by one or more cylinder droping out on you momentary.
Is the car "stuttering" or "shuddering"?
I would definitely take the car back to the dealer and explain to them the symtoms exactly and let them figure it out.

[Maj1151]

I never liked Acton Lincoln Mercury. They just brushed the blue

smoke issue away for me. Take Tallboy's advice, its a good question...

That's odd. When I brought it to their attention they took me very seriously.


The car has 36,650 miles on it. There is a sticker located under the hood saying the transmission fluid was changed @ 22,250 miles

Thanks to everybody for lending me your advice. I have a service appt. scheduled in a couple days. Hope it goes well.




Thanks again,
~M