Transmission service

 Out with the old in with the new

This weekend I set about servicing the FMX transmission.

All the manuals suggest that the trans will take 10L of trans fluid. However, the pan only hold about 4L. I purchased a gasket and filter kit from Just Mustangs some weeks ago and purchased 3 x 4L of Penrite Type F trans fluid from my local Autobarn.

I jacked the car up onto axle stands so I could roll under the car and set about removing the pan from the bottom of the transmission. Fortunately, the new exhaust system was not in the way. 

I located a large tub to put under the pan so that when some of the screws were removed oil would simply drip down into the tub. There is no drain plug in the FMX transmission (unfortunately).

I was pleasantly surprised to find that the trans fluid was in good condition and nice and pink.

I cleaned up the pan, replaced the oil filter in the bottom of the trans and reinstalled the pan and re added about 4L of new trans fluid. Short of removing the transmission, there is no real way to get all the 10L of fluid out of the torque converter, coolant lines and trans. Given the fluid was in good condition, there was not need to go that that extreme. 

There was some sludge build up in the filter and bottom of the pan and this was all cleaned out. Similarly, there is no magnet in the bottom of the pan. So it was hard to tell if there were any metal fragments.

 Here is the old filter.

Here is the trans fluid I used.

I also replaced the coil and removed the 49 year old original one as the engine was developing a miss when warm. The resistance of the original coil was also too high for the electronic points I installed some weeks ago. So now the new coil is in, and no issues so far.

The next task is to replace the thermostat that will happen next week when the parts arrive.