700R4 w/ a little water inside

I have a 700R4 that was in a freshwater flood about 6 years ago. The water level got almost to the exhaust ports, but not into the ECM. I figured it was all trashed and a waste of effort, so I let the car sit after removing the interior and carpet and drying it out before mildew could get started.

I happened upon some motivation recently and decided to drain things and actually take a good look. First I drained the engine oil, no sign of any water at all. :-) Dumped a quart of motor flush thru, lit it sit in the pan for an hour and drained. Again, no sign of "milk shake" or sludge. Poured five quarts of "cheap" oil in and let it sit overnight. Drained, installed new filter, and filled with new oil.

That made me feel so good, that I took the transmission pan off (700R4). Again, the fluid looked great as it ran out everywhere (why don't they install drain plugs at the factory), no sign of rust anywhere that I could see. However, the pan did have a little less than 1/4" of milky white goop in the very bottom. I assume that a small amount of water came in thru the vent on top during the flood and settled into the pan. Not knowing the interior of a 700R4, can I also assume that said water would have _ALL_ ran down to the pan? Are there other places that water could be trapped such as in the tail section? The engine has not been cranked at all since the flood and I'm fairly certain that the water never got high enough to get in thru the exhaust ports. I have a new pan gasket, filter and 5 quarts of fluid. Do you guys think it would be safe cranking the motor up after a fluid/filter change? I don't want to destroy the tranny, but I don't want to have it rebuilt unnecessarily either.

BTW, I will have drained the differential and gas-tank/fuel-system completely before attempting to crank it up.

Reply to
Anthony Fremont
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We had some company cars that were flooded much in the same way as you mention. They definitely got water in the trannies, some worse than others.

The company garage/mechanic just changed the tranny fluid and filters in all them a couple of times. All but one, IIRC, seemed to do okay. The exception would run okay for a while and then would start having problems. He would bring it into the shop, have the filter and fluid changed, and it would run okay for a few weeks. Lots of clutch material on the filter when this would happen.

I am sure that one eventually went bad, but if I were you, I would have the tranny fluid changed (flushed might be a good bet in your case), and see how well it would hold up. There is really nothing much else you can do.

Reply to
HLS

Sounds pretty much like what I've been reading. Apparently the modern clutches are bonded with water soluble adhesive. Can't imagine why, other than to insure more work for the tranny shops when the inevitible happens.

So far I'm feeling pretty good about what I've found. Looks like a very small amount of water actually made it into the transmission. Since the car hasn't been run, it seems that the water just sunk to the bottom of the pan and sat there.

The rearend didn't seem to have any water seperated from the oil. However, there is some surface rust on the inside of the cover above the oil line. The carrier had a very small amount of surface rust, more of an orange discoloration than rust really. The gear teeth all look fabulous. I'm just going to clean it all out, fill it with new oil and hope for the best. If it starts making noise or leaking at the wheel bearings, I'll deal with it.

Thanks for the response. :-)

Reply to
Anthony Fremont

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