ATF leaking past the A440F Valve Body? (1 Viewer)

[FJ Silver]

My A440F was rebuild about 60K miles ago, but totally has about 270K on it. It has had a cooler since the last 40K miles or so.
I've been driving the Cruiser a lot lately including a few 500 + miles day trips all loaded up and heavy.

Now its not shifting into gears first thing in the morning and manual shifts are brutal, but is fine after it has warmed up.

I haven't dropped the pan yet, but I have done a Rodney flush a couple of weeks ago. The fluid was not bad and still red. I rarely get the fluid so hot that I can't touch it on the dip stick.

I'm not sure if there is junk in the filter which could cause this, but I had another hypothesis I wanted to run by you guys.

Could the valve body leak fluid back in to the pan over night causing the torque converter etc. to be empty/needing time to be pumped full?

I checked the fluid in the morning with the engine OFF and it was past the HOT full mark.

If so, would re torquing the valve body bolts be something to try?

Of course I'll check the filter as well, but when I have the transmission pan off, is there anything else I should be replacing, like gaskets?

I'm in an Airbnb for a month in St.George,UT, have a good size garage and a decent amount of tools with me, but gotta find a way to not turn it into a ATF bath.


I'm curious if my hypothesis makes sense and if there is anything I should order/get (besides pan gaskets etc.) before dropping the pan. Thanks guys.

 

[Randy88FJ62]

When the engine is off, the majority of the fluid goes back into the pan. Your torque converter, due to it's shape and geometry, always keeps some fluid in it.

You say the fluid is high at the hot level when the motor is cool and off. This means you have too much fluid in your transmission system.

Moving forward:
Dropping the pan to inspect the metal screen filter isn't a dirty job. A bucket catches it all easily without an issue. in a pinch you can use RTV if you can't find a replacement gasket. The metal screen is Re-Usable! so clean it and install it back in.

Overheating:
Does your transmission lock up in 4th gear on the freeway? You can tell when you shift into 4th and your RPM's will drop as it locks up (usually 200-300 RPMs down). If your transmission is not locking up then your torque converter would be overheating and causing problems. If it runs well within it's proper temperature then it should last for a long time. Even with a cooler I can get my transmission hot up a large grade.

 

[FJ Silver]

Thanks Randy, Good stuff.

After driving for 30 min or so in 85-90 degree outside temp I get the dipstick to measure HOT/FULL right now with the engine running, shifting through gears... But yes, when engine cold and off it's a little above hot/full.
The Land Cruiser manual recommends not to measure it when the ATF is really hot, but at normal driving temps, I know the opinion here is to get it hot as possible and measure then.

It shifts completely fine once its warmed up actually. Just drove 600 miles doing 80Mph stretches and it always locks up/shifts through all gears like it should. I'm running 31 tires and always manually downshift to 3rd or 2nd when RPM start to drop going up-hill, try and keep it around 3K RPM when climbing.

So having done a good Rodney Flush ( Napa DEX3)+ some lubegaurd), now i'm hoping that cleaning the filter will help my issue if its not my wacky idea above.

the kickdown cable is for sure not the issue since its just when its cold and i've tweaked it to a good place.

 

[Randy88FJ62]

Some people have done the party trick where you are driving and shift into reverse. I have never done it. Some say it helps dislodge debris in the solenoids in the valve body. I cannot confirm this, just banter on mud.

 

[FJ Silver]

In Park right.
Yeah thats worth a try, plenty of down hill here to get some speed going.
I've got Slee seat covers...That's gonna scare the s*** out of me for sure.

Not quite ready to write this transmission off, so any ideas are helpful. Coming Friday I'll drop the pan before checking out the Grand Canyon North Rim over the weekend.