Rodney Flush: Excellent Result!

[JohnCapoccia]

My 200k+ mile cruiser wouldn't shift out of first when cold. The problem was getting worse and worse, to the point where I'd have to drive almost a mile before it would shift. Then sometimes it wouldn't downshift to first when stopped.

I did the Rodney flush with synthetic Amsoil. It improved immediately, but it took about a week before the problem was completely cured. It drives like new now!

I didn't think the old ATF looked too bad, but it was much darker than the new Amsoil. I changed the screen inside the pan also. It was pretty clean, I didn't really need to do that, so I guess the tranny is in pretty good shape overall, not much gunk or metal in there, just a thin film. I don't know the history of the truck, I think it was a suburban garage queen in it's first life, and was most likely dealer maintained. I have a FSM, and they don't recommend a complete flush at any time, so it's likely that some of that fluid is 30 years old.

Just a comment on the Rodney flush. There was no need to remove the front driveshaft. I don't understand why that was recommended. It wasn't difficult at all to remove the fitting with the driveshaft in place. I just slipped a hose over it and pointed into a bucket. Very easy!

 

[astr]

I did the flush plus cleaned the screen and oil pan. Solved my problems also although my symptoms were a shudder at around 50 mph which coincided with the speed at which the torque converter locks up. After the flush, shudder gone and the lockup now works fine. My fluid was also darker than the new stuff but didn't smell burnt.

 

[overhanger]

Just so you know, if you run up against this problem, you can place the shifter into 2 and it will upshift from first to second so you can at least comfortably drive around at 25-30 miles an hour until the atf warms up enough to allow normal shifting. When you select 2 the transmission will be in second gear only, including starting up from a stop.

 

[JohnCapoccia]

Just so you know, if you run up against this problem, you can place the shifter into 2 and it will upshift from first to second so you can at least comfortably drive around at 25-30 miles an hour until the atf warms up enough to allow normal shifting. When you select 2 the transmission will be in second gear only, including starting up from a stop.

Ahah! That's probably why it wasn't downshifting to first. But it did not upshift from first to second right away.

 

[Spook50]

New, clean fluid will work magic on our A440Fs. Mine had overheated a couple times driving over the mountains. IIRC the overheat light comes on at 300 degrees F and off at 260 degrees F. I changed the fluid once, then a week later changed it again (can't remember why I didn't specifically do a Rodney flush) and installed a tranny temp gauge from Autometer. Climbing the big long hills up the mountain passes next time my tranny temps didn't go over 240, and came right back down as soon as I was back on level pavement at highway speed.