# Transmission failing to engage in D



## Merryjooana (Feb 21, 2020)

2001 car with about 140K miles. Previous owners probably never changed fluid, as it was horribly burnt when I bought the car. Pan had a lot of sludge, some gritty chunks, and the magnets were covered in shavings. I flushed the fluid, changed the screen, cleaned the magnets, and replaced the damaged pan.








I've serviced it regularly since with Castrol Multi Import since, every time I change the oil. It's been progressively developing issues where it slips, fails to engage in D, falls out of gear at stops, and has been contaminating new fluid with glittery shavings that don't stick to the magnet (suspecting aluminum from possibly damaged housing).

To shorten up a long story, I just bought a transmission with 90K from the junkyard. I'm fairly confident working on most things on this car; I'm going to use a friend's shop to pull the motor & trans out the top (apparently easier than dropping it from the bottom), and swap the 90K transmission on.
This is going to be my first FWD transmission job, Is there anything I should know before diving into this? I have all of the tools I should need including axle nut sockets, I'm just hoping the installation of the transmission to the engine is just as simple as making sure the torque converter is seated properly and torquing the bolts down tightly.


----------



## rogoman (Dec 16, 2004)

Be sure to flush out the tranny cooler that's in the bottom part of the radiator.


----------

