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Transmission Fluid Capacity F150 / 1979

I have a 1979 F150 4WD pickup truck with a 400 engine and automatic transmission. Last night I was about a mile from home in pouring rain when I drove over a small tree in the road before I had a chance to see the damn thing. At first I didnt think anything happened except maybe a scratch on the body which I was not too worried about since this trucks body is pretty well shot anyhow. I just use this as a farm truck, but it runs fairly well despite the rough shape of the body. I think I only went 2 or 3 blocks when the transmission began to slip and after a few more blocks it would no longer move. After the rain let up I found a broken cooler line. I was able to patch it together with gas line hose and with only 4 quarts of fluid I was able to get it onto my private farm roadway, but it was jerky and I knew the fluid was still low. Once on my roadway I let it coast downhill as much as I could, but had to use the jerking transmission to get it to the garage.

Since then, I have added 6 more quarts of fluid and it seems to engage pretty well now, but I can see the fluid is still barely touching the tip of the dipstick. (I think, since the newly poured in fluid always gets on the dipstick and makes it hard to read). That means I poured in 10 quarts. I just spent an hour googling the proper amount of fluid and cant find any website that lists such an old truck. I did see a 1998 showing it needs 13.5 quarts when the converter and lines are drained.

I dont know if it totally drained the converter, but apparently it drained most everything.

My questions:

  1. What is the fluid capacity for a 79 4WD F150 pickup?
  2. Would driving it dry (about 1/2 mile total) permanently damage the transmission?
  3. I have heard that there is a special rubber hose needed for trans fluid, or is a standard gasoline fuel line OK? I'll change it if needed, and if I do change it, will all the fluid drain out of the cooler line (not running of course).

Does anyone have an old Ford book to tell me the capacity. I need to buy more fluid today, and not sure how much I will need.

I should note that I am not sure which transmission I have, but I recall some parts store guy saying the 400 engines all used the same transmission in the late 70's. Unless I got this wrong, C6 comes to mind, and I think it says "Metric" on the pan, unless I got that confused with my 89 Chevy car. I dont work on this stuff often enough to rememer all of the details.

I would have thought the web would have more useful info, but it sure dont appear to be the case.

Thanks in advance for all help.

Tim

Reply to
timwalker8
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Reply to
Tom

Thank You.

I put in 10 quarts now, so I will get at least 3 more. I originally guessed 5 quarts. I sure was off..... I never realized they have so much. No wonder it barely engaged with the first 4 quarts.

With the run down the tube, it's hard to tell if it is even touching the dipstick yet, if it is, it's just the very tip.

By the way, what happens if someone overfills them? There is no drain plug, so how does a person remove some? No, I have not done it, but just asking.

Reply to
timwalker8

Very few automatic transmissions have had an easy way to drain excess fluid. In many RWD Fords the excess can be drained through a plug in the converter. Disconnecting a cooler line and starting the vehicle will pump out the excess. One trick I've found is pulling out the speedometer adapter and letting it drain. This will usually get the level close enough to the proper level.

Reply to
Tom Adkins

You can usually remove the excess fluid through the transmission dipstick/fill tube using some clear plastic tubing that will fit down the dipstick tube into the pan. I have a hand pump that will draw the fluid out but I found I can usually start the syphoning action just by sucking on the end of the tube until the fluid passes over the high point. (That's why I use a clear plastic tube.) Then I put the end of the plastic tubing in a glass container (large kitchen measuring cup) that's calibrated in ounces, so I know how much fluid is being removed.

Reply to
Fordfan

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