My 86 f150 with a c6 and 4.9 run great but driving it has gotten scary. It's caught on fire twice now sense I got it back on the road. The transmission was full of water when I got it I pumped it out and checked the trans cooler to make sure there wasn'tany coolant getting in the trans cooler. I assume the oil is blowing out the vent or the dipstick tube. I filled it with 10 quarts of type f fluid. Is there some thing I'm missing here?

 

Was the trans drained of fluid and filter changed ?
If the trans was operated while full of water, that would mean contaminated fluid was pumped into the clutch cavities and very difficult to remove without disassembly. Was it water or coolant? Do you know how the water got in there?

 

There's just a screen in it but I changed it any ways. I've drained and filled the trans 3 times now. It was water in the trans case. The truck set up for 2 years with a broken dipstick so I assume that's where the water came from. Another thing to note is that the shifts are good and firm almost to firm some times its a very hard shift. Other times it feels like it's not going into gear at all

 

The broken dipstick------ are we sure of the correct fluid level ? If it is overfilled it will cause the fluid to become aerated expand and be pushed out the breather. Also fluid with air in it will cause shift problems. How do we stand with that?
10 qts , I hope you were draining the converter too!!!

 

The second time we drained it we pulled the plug on the torque converter and stuck a suction pump in it and sucked out what we could. I feel like to problem has gotten worse since I changed the fluid

 

The second time we drained it we pulled the plug on the torque converter and stuck a suction pump in it and sucked out what we could. I feel like to problem has gotten worse since I changed the fluid. It has always leaked out from some where especially after cutting it off.

 

I believe your year trans is supposed to use Dexron trans fluid. The friction specs are different for type F compared to Dexron and that could explain the harsh shifting.

 

Well I just pumped some fluid out of my transmission again today. The fluid that came out was light pink not peptobismal pink but almost translucent. I've come to the conclusion that a new transmission might be in order