Hi all,

I'm doing some maintenance to a 1992 Dakota SE I bought last summer that has been sitting for a while. 3.9L V6, 42RH automatic, 2WD, 167,000 miles. I changed the transmission fluid and filter today and found some shiny debris in the pan and I'm not sure how bad it is. I know glitter is not great, just getting an idea of how worried I should be.

Some context - the previous owner did not seem the most mechanically inclined. When I first bought the truck it shifted way too quickly and would not kick down at all, even at WOT. Turns out the kickdown cable had too much slack in it, after adjusting it the shifting is a lot better now and it will kick down. I did not drive it like this for very long before adjusting the cable, but I don't know how long it was driven like that before I bought it.

The fluid that came out was nice and red, and smelled like normal ATF. The inside of the transmission (valve body, etc.) was all very clean. I did see that one of the pan bolt holes had a heli-coil in it so I know the fluid has been changed at least once in the truck's life.