c4 woes

[DangerousII]

Alrighty, So I think my tranny is on its last leg...

here are my symptoms,

When car is cold, hasnt been driven for atleast 4 hours, when put into drive, if i hit a bump, or step on the brakes, the transmssion looses line pressure and comes out of gear.. (transmission is full of fluid)

When sitting at a stop light in drive, or 1'st i have to put excessive pressure on the pedal to hold the car stopped, normal pressure can be applied if i have the car stopped in 2nd gear (idle is set to 850 in park)

When shifting from 2nd - third it will give me a big slip..

I know the slipping third gear shift is a typical c4 issue, what about the other 2?

i have a fully built reverse manual valvebody C4 mated to my other high horsepower motor but it has a 3500 stall, so i am reluctant to swap those two trannys untill i can afford another converter..

Is there anyhting i can do to prolong the life of this tranny, or deal with mainly the loosing line pressure when cold issue?
I just want to limp it into winter...

 

[James75]

Hey DangerousII, do the symptoms go away after it's warmed up? If so I suspect the clutches are worn out. How does the fluid look, normal pinkish/red or tan/brownish? Is the pan bent upwards into the pickup? Is the screen clogged? I've burnt up many c4's and they slip like hell cold, but never had a problem holding it stopped in 1st or drive, that ones a mystery to me too.

 

[DangerousII]

fluid is a red, no smell of burnt, it dosent slip out of gear, it looses line pressure and dis'engages out of drive/2nd/1st, you bring the rmp up a couple times and clunk back into gear.. engine/tranny are on solid mounts..

it slips into third almost all the time, sometimes it will have a good day and shift hard for a bit..

 

[COBRA 7]

In cold weather, My c-4 likes to be a little over full on the dipstick.

Add 1/2 a quart and see if it helps.

Maybe dipstick not real accurate.

 

[DangerousII]

sorry guys, added a buncha lucas tranny fix type **** and it stopped loosing pressure cold, but it still slips going into 3rd horribly, and feels like seccond dosent quite have the grab anymore.. its on its way out..

So, I want to build a c4 That rattles my teeth, breaks my back, and and knocks my head off the roll bar when it hits seccond and third gear.. what do you guys reccomend internals wise?

 

[MUSTANG J]

The B&M "Transkit" works good. I managed to rebuild it myself with the great instructions in the kit. The C4 is easier then most Automatics to rebuild. No special tools required. A C-clip removal tool is the only "special" tool required. Make sure you get the proper filter, last time I got lazy, had a shop rebuild it and they used a generic C4 filter. The fluid pick-up was pressed up against the pan, how it got any fluid I will never know. Note: getting someone to rebuild your automatic transmission cost a lot of money for a reason, it is a BIG time consuming job. Took me a couple of days just to clean all the burnt clutch off of everything, I have more time then money though LOL.

B&M 50231 - B&M Transkits - Overview - SummitRacing.com

 

[cobraii351]

Yeah the c4 is a simple trans to do. And fairly easy to make hold more power. Extra clutches and a good servo a C4 will live a happy life behind a stout small block. Good job on the rebuild.

Tim

 

[MUSTANG J]

Opps I forgot that part. If it is an actual Mustang II trans, make sure you get a forward clutch drum that holds more frictions. With 139HP on tap Ford got stingy with the poor Mustang II C4. I bought the drum for peanuts @ a local transmission repair shop.