i drove my brothers car for a day, and noticed that the tranny acts just a little wierd. its a 91 rs with 305 and 700r4, and it has almost always had a problem with the detent cable being out of adjustment, never shifting at the right times, and not shifting at WOT.

Well just out of curiosity i checked the tranny fluid, i brushed my finger acrossed the dispstick(with clean hands) and noticed that their was a dark mark on my finger, not mixed in with the fluid and not the color of it either. their was nothing noticable on the dipstick itself but i could rub it in my hands and it would spread everywhere.

Is that metal shavings that i have found, is this tranny dead?

I am not yet in school to be a mechanic so no one trusts me so i cant touch their cars, which is why the cable is out of adjustment.

how bad is it???

thanks for your time!!

 

As far as metal shavings go, rub a bit of the fluid between your finger and thumb and see if you can feel any "lumps", or metal flakes visable in a good light source. This can indicate many things, not exclusively a bad tranny. The first thing to do when you find shavings is to change the fluid as soon as possable, as they will clog the filter and can do damage to many internal components.

As far as the shift problem goes, it could be several things: first check the cable adjustment. To do this, press the detent on the retainer, and open the throttle all the way. Release the detent and then check for proper shift points and WOT kick down. If this does not solve the problem, you might have a problem with the valve body. The TV (throttle valve) is on the pass. side of the valve body, and uses a piston and a spring to control fluid pressure. If you feel up to it, you can check the spring and piston to ensure they are not sticking, but that is unlikely. Start with a fluid change and cable adjustment and go from there.

 

well again, noone trusts me to touch a car so i cant really do that, but so if the stuff in the fluid is more like dust, or powder then its not too bad?

i always thought that with a bad tranny it is best not to change fluid because the shavings in the fluid is what makes it still barley work?

once i can be sure about this then i will notify my brother that it needs to be done and see what he wants to do...

about the shifting, im 99% sure its the tv cable out of what you just listed, i remember seeing it quite a while ago and remember it being like an inch out of the bracket, which when i had a 91 with a 700r4 it was adjusted alot closer to the bracket

ill post a picture of the fluid when i can

thanks much