Hello all!
I have been lurking the forums for a while now, and now I finally have something to post.
My grandparents own a (soon to be mine once we trade,) completely stock 1989 FJ62. This thing has been pretty much babied and taken care of (for the most part,) all of its life. No towing, garage-kept, and a daily driver. It has about 154k on the Odometer right now, and they are the original owners. However, the car is leaking some sort of oil, which has always been presumed as regular motor oil. More on this later.
Recently, my Grandmother has mentioned that the transmission seemed to be (as she described it,) "hesitating." Knowing the problems the A440F has, this had me worried.
My dad and I borrowed the truck to move some stuff, nothing heavy in particular, just too large to fit in our vehicles. From a cold start it was clear that the tranny was slipping. If I remembered correctly, it was slipping mostly between 2nd and 3rd gear. After warming up, the slipping seemed to subside. After pulling into our driveway, we pulled the dipstick, and boy was it low... We had been driving for maybe 15 mins or so and the level was in the middle of the "cold" section on the stick (this is in south Florida btw.) The fluid itself seemed to be red and not burnt. When questioned, my grandfather says that he "never" checks the ATF fluid, meaning that it was probably checked a few years ago.
So, after adding about .5 - .75 quarts (that was all we had laying around,) of dextron II into it,it still wasn't where it needed to be, but it was better. A few days later I went by their house and test-drove it, and it didn't seem to be that bad this time. But it still needed fluid, so I put another whole quart in, and that got it where it needed to be.
Now, here's the fun part: Before I drove it the second time, I pulled the dipstick when it was cold, and it seemed to show that it was in the "hot" zone. Again, this is when the truck was cold. After driving it around and checking it again while hot and running, the fluid was back near the "cold" zone. So, I went ahead and added the quart, which put it near the top of the "hot" zone.
Just today my dad checked it while it was cold, and said that the level, was "way past the hot zone." He said he didn't check it while it was hot, as for some reason today it didn't start (but that's a different mystery, I believe the battery was dead, don't know why yet.) He did also mention that he looked under the car and saw droplets hanging from the front bell housing seal, as well as the drip pan. This leads me to believe that the oil leak may be partly coming from the transmission as well.
The fluid level thing has me completely stumped though, any insight as to why this may happen? Any idea on what kind of damage (if any,) may have come about from driving it with low ATF fluid for who knows how long? My grandfather was planning on taking it to the dealer paying $$$ to get the leak fixed (we were thinking bottom end was going to get looked at,) but it is possible that the transmission may need some new seals as well?
Thanks for any help offered,
Sam
I have been lurking the forums for a while now, and now I finally have something to post.
My grandparents own a (soon to be mine once we trade,) completely stock 1989 FJ62. This thing has been pretty much babied and taken care of (for the most part,) all of its life. No towing, garage-kept, and a daily driver. It has about 154k on the Odometer right now, and they are the original owners. However, the car is leaking some sort of oil, which has always been presumed as regular motor oil. More on this later.
Recently, my Grandmother has mentioned that the transmission seemed to be (as she described it,) "hesitating." Knowing the problems the A440F has, this had me worried.
My dad and I borrowed the truck to move some stuff, nothing heavy in particular, just too large to fit in our vehicles. From a cold start it was clear that the tranny was slipping. If I remembered correctly, it was slipping mostly between 2nd and 3rd gear. After warming up, the slipping seemed to subside. After pulling into our driveway, we pulled the dipstick, and boy was it low... We had been driving for maybe 15 mins or so and the level was in the middle of the "cold" section on the stick (this is in south Florida btw.) The fluid itself seemed to be red and not burnt. When questioned, my grandfather says that he "never" checks the ATF fluid, meaning that it was probably checked a few years ago.
So, after adding about .5 - .75 quarts (that was all we had laying around,) of dextron II into it,it still wasn't where it needed to be, but it was better. A few days later I went by their house and test-drove it, and it didn't seem to be that bad this time. But it still needed fluid, so I put another whole quart in, and that got it where it needed to be.
Now, here's the fun part: Before I drove it the second time, I pulled the dipstick when it was cold, and it seemed to show that it was in the "hot" zone. Again, this is when the truck was cold. After driving it around and checking it again while hot and running, the fluid was back near the "cold" zone. So, I went ahead and added the quart, which put it near the top of the "hot" zone.
Just today my dad checked it while it was cold, and said that the level, was "way past the hot zone." He said he didn't check it while it was hot, as for some reason today it didn't start (but that's a different mystery, I believe the battery was dead, don't know why yet.) He did also mention that he looked under the car and saw droplets hanging from the front bell housing seal, as well as the drip pan. This leads me to believe that the oil leak may be partly coming from the transmission as well.
The fluid level thing has me completely stumped though, any insight as to why this may happen? Any idea on what kind of damage (if any,) may have come about from driving it with low ATF fluid for who knows how long? My grandfather was planning on taking it to the dealer paying $$$ to get the leak fixed (we were thinking bottom end was going to get looked at,) but it is possible that the transmission may need some new seals as well?
Thanks for any help offered,
Sam
