I recently bolted a flexplate, torque converter, and mounted an auto tranny on a previously manual engine. I did not put ATF fluid in the tranny yet and started the motor. I heard a sound like the flywheel was spinning freely once it started and it shot up to 3k rpms before i shut the motor off. Is it possible I didn't align the tranny correctly? or is fluid required on a newly swapped torque converter


Modified by astralshadow at 2:08 PM 9/9/2008


Modified by astralshadow at 2:08 PM 9/9/2008

 

no input on this one?

 

I was always told to put a few quarts in the converter before install and start up.. I forgot to fill one up in a stall converter for a mustang one time and the thing would never hit the stall rpm. It was always a few hundred rpm shy.

 

yeah that sounds a bit right, i was under the impression that the torque converter is only responsible for keeping the engine from stalling once it's started. The transmission is probably unaligned but i don't know how the hell its bolted on if the teeth aren't lining up

 

The few times that I have installed an auto tranny I pre-filled the converter and made sure that the fluid level on the dipstick was good before starting the engine.

After starting it and letting it idle for a second or two. I would shift it through all of the gears a few times then I would recheck the fluid.

Then I would take it for a test drive and recheck the fluid when I got home.

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I would be concerned about roasting the clutch packs or the converter if the engine was started with no fluid in the tranny.

I don't see how anything could be slipping if you did the method I mentioned above and installed the transmission in the correct order.

-Flexplate to crank
-Slide the converter into the tranny
-Attach the tranny to the block
-bolt the converter to the flex plate.

Sometimes it can be troublesome to get the heavy converter to slide into the tranny but I don't see how anyone could get the tranny to bolt up to the engine without the converter all of the way into the tranny. Unless you had a converter from the wrong car or something.