I have a th400 that I got real cheap (attached to a buick 455 for 400 bucks), but it has been sitting for about 10 years. Anything I should do besides change the fluid and hope for the best?
Clean the hell out of it on the out side. So you can see if there are any leaks you can tell where it is coming from. Then drop the oil pan and make sure there is no metal in it and you should be good to go. If there is a ****** cooler on it flush it out. I thought my dynaflow was ready to when i got my car but the ****** cooler had a hole in it.
I would pull the trans off the motor. Then replace the pan gasket, filter and the front and rear seals. Easy to do now, PIA later (The front seal, anyway) Also a good opportunity to look in the pan for metal shavings or other bad stuff. Then you can also pull the converter off and dump as much of the old fluid out of it as is possible. (Refill w/new stuff) Put some trans oil on the snout and seals too so you don’t rip up the new seals on start-up. Then if it works, you’re golden. If it don’t...only out a few bucks.
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