Hello. I am looking to service the Powerglide on my 1954 Bel Air. It is the OE, cast iron, Powerglide. I see a lot of threads on here with no real answer to how to service. Some say no drain plug, some say they do, but none really make it evident if this is a standard drain and fill, or proper procedure. Would just like some info before I dive into it. Thanks.
There is a drain, on the bottom of cast body should be a plug (looks like a 3/4" pip plug or something). If you're just doing a drain and fill I believe the shop manual says something along the lines of add 3 liters fluid with engine off, then start and place in drive with the wheels chocked and park brake on then fill the remaining fluid. I opted to do it in N as I didn't feel like putting my car through the door or get injured while working alone. https://chevy.oldcarmanualproject.com/shop/1949_53/index.htm I will second @nickthebandit suggestion, I placed a call into Fatsco and he was a handy guy to talk to.
Remove drain plug in pan replace plug add 3 and 1/2 quarts of fluid through the dip stick tube converter can not be drained with trans in car Run car at idle trans in neutral until engine is warm and adjust fluid level
By service, do you just mean changing the fluid? Or do you mean a fluid change and adjusting the bands? You might do a search for a 54 Chevy Service Manual. I rebuilt a cast iron PG for a guy about 10 years ago. What a PIA. Every part is very heavy and everything has to be aligned precisely to go together. There was a special fixture that the transmission set on and it allowed you to separate all the parts like a blow up parts picture. I remember seeing a few in the storage room at the tech school I attended. Of course I didn't have one and had to wrestle everything into place.
old-soul posted the link to the service manual, also note that there is a 54 supplement which has a different throttle lever adjustment. Make sure the throttle lever is right, it's important to shift quality
The Jalopy Journal
