1955 Fairlane Motor Bogging Out?

I tried searching this out to no avail.

Here is what happened. My '55 Fairlane (272 w/Automatic) was leaking tranny fluid like mad hell so I did what a lot of people who don't want to drop a tranny in the middle of winter do and I threw a quart of Lucas stop leak in her. I'll be damned if the leak didn't seem to instantly stop and she felt like she was shifting smoother.

That was last night, today I was out running around and all of a sudden the motor bogged down like I was a 15 year old trying to power brake mama's station wagon. I limped her home and shut her down. Fired her back up and found that the motor still wound up so it probably wasn't a problem with the motor and had to assume it was the tranny.Went inside started calling old timers and searching the Jalopy Journal for answers and couldn't find any.

So after a search and search I go back outside fire her up back out the drive way and roar up the road, everything is fine. Now I'm puzzled.

Could it be that this old car doesn't have a tranny cooler and something is getting to hot inside? Is it the tranny? Any ideas?

Thanks in advance.

 

torque converter failure?

 

is it a daily driver or has it sat for a long time?

 

That trany is an air cooled trany. Torque converter has finns on it. Common problem was a screen on the drivers side would get pluged up. Remove 4 bolts on the air scoup and clean the screen. Also the torque converter can be taken apart and resealed. Look at the center hub for ware on the 2 ears the turn the front pump, and yes they brake off. Been there done that. Iceman

 

I'd say tranny, Ice man. Check this thread...he had real bad gas mileage all of a sudden, and couldn't figure it out. Turned out to be the transmission. Good luck.

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=668236&highlight=gas+mileage+transmission

 

Toyguy, Let us know what you find out. More part time transmission guys on here than you would think. We like this stuff.

 

I think Iceman is probably right, I've seen air cooled autos overheat before.

 

Its a daily driver now but it had sat since '75. I filled up all the fluids threw in a battery, switched to an alternator and have been driving the hell out of it for the past 3 months.