My friends got a 1995 Ford Taurus 3.0L non-SHO with (of course) the 4-Speed auto.
My questions are:
1.) Are the tranny bands adjustable from outside the actual transmission (I have read that some bands require you to take off the tranny pan.) And how exactly do you adjust them?
2.) Is there a drain plug for the torque converter, or we will we have to drain it another way?
*The idea of my post is to NOT take this to the dealer... limited budget would mean dealing with limited ********. Besides, I know people that can work on cars.*
Thanks ahead of time.

 

first, the way to make friends is not to call us limited ********....
second...the bands are adjustable from the outside of the gear housing but you have to drop the pan and valve body to do so( mysudgestion is to take it to a good/reputable tranny shop and have them do it, there are about 20 small steel ***** on the otherside of the valve body that must go back inplace for the tranny to work)
third,.... to drain the torque converter(why would you? they are self purgeing) means removing the entire engine and tranny from the car and seperating them( a long and arduous task....i just did this to my friends '94 taurus and it took us most of the day to get it out) the torque converter must be placed on its face and let drain on its own.....some ppl put a small hole in the edge but i wouldnt cause small metal bits cause all sorts of **** inside. the best way to save money on this is to remove the engine/tranny combo and seperate them them take the tranny to a tranny shop and if you think theres anything wrong with your torque converter then just replace it....if your in canada then phone TCS..

happy wrenching

 

Sorry about the "limited ********" part. I should make myself clear. You see, when you take a car to the dealer, you might as well just give them full access to 1.) you wallet, and 2.) your checking account. (I.E. Taking your car to the dealer leads to rape) Oh yea, as well as, all of your time, seeing as they take forever.
FYI, I want to drain the fluid out of the torque converter because, mixing fluids WILL KILL transmissions. Think about it for just one second. When you change your oil, do you put 1/2 new oil combined with 1/2 of the old oil? No, you don't.
As far as how to get the fluid out of the torque converter you can simply disconnect the return line from the tranny fluid cooler *if it has a seperate cooler, or whatever the setup is on the car* and pour in new fluid as the old is sent out of the cooler into a container, until you see clean fluid coming out. I don't know, we've done it with 2 Chrysler products, whose transmissions are just fine, and seems a hell of a lot easier than taking the transmission and engine out, but, than again, I'm not a dealer mechanic, what the hell would I know?

 

disconnecting the cooler line is the way to go just put a couple extra quarts in and let it drain untill the fluid is clear.and dealers cost alot of money to go to because of all of the special tools and equipment that they need each year.which the small shops dont have and most times dont even know exist.

 

to paraphrase "and dealers cost alot of money to go to because of all of the special tools and equipment that they need each year because auto companies love to overcomplicate cars" I AGREE!