If your fluid is dark brown, then your transmission has overheated or the fluid is extremely old an has never been changed.. The ATF should always be red or pink.. If its turning brown it needs to be changed

My suggestion, is to have the trasmission fluid flushed completetly. Our 98 4.0 Jeep with the 42re transmission wouldnt shift out of 1st gear about 7 years ago, and we brought to a shop and they said the fluid was extremely dirty so they flushed it and since then the transmission has been working fine for the last 7 years. The transmission has put on about 70k miles since then. Has 170k on it and still works just fine, we have had the fluid changed twice since that date

This was back when i was a kid so dont telling me i should done this or that...

I feel your pain. Up here in AK they want 2500 for stock and 3500 for a perf build. Found a guy who charges 1800-2200 for a 500 horseproof beastly perf build for mine. Guy has amazing rep in the town. I drove it a month after problems occured (not when fixed) and tourque converter was internally falling apart, things were going south and i even destryoed one of the supports for a band. I dont speak transmission but it was bad. Basically stop driving the sun of a gun and hate to say that trans rebuild is inevitable. I got lucky on pricing around my area but its a wallet shriker for sure. Best of luck in college bud!

Color is not an indicator of ATF+4's quality. It can and usually does lose its color long before it reaches the end of its service life.

If your fluid has lost its color and its turning brown i say its been used well over the shelf life... Its suppose to be changed every 30k miles anyway, if your transmission runs at 195f all the time which is comon then its only good for around 50k miles. Heat overtime degrades it, i dont care what you say because if he is saying its brown its well overdue. Are you trying to tell me that brown fluid doesnt mean its bad ?

Im not talking about the dye losing its color and turning into clear fluid

Since you don't care what I say, stop asking me questions.

I bought a wrecked Jetta for $250, it gets 32mpg. I found the exact car in a junk yard and replaced the doors on one side, the hood and the front bumber for $175, the A/c for $55 and now I have a solid car...

I rarely drive my truck anymore, in fact it sat for over a year..

Gas is just so high right now the only time I drive my truck, is when I need to haul something.

Gas really isnt that expensive i drive my truck nearly 150 miles a day selling wood on the cheap, i just adjust my spending habits. I dont ever eat out, i cook my own food bring my own water.

But hey to each his own =P

Props man... very helpful .Once I get back into class on the 9th I will ask around.

thanks

When I got my truck a month ago I seriously thought it had a hole in part of the gas tank, if you know what I mean.... I think it was getting around 5-6mpg around town.

maybe I will just fix it/park it and get a .... ive also been searching the car section of craigslist for 100-1000 , haha.
only use the truck when i need to move stuff, which isnt very often being in college.

will update later around the 15th of the month when I plan on doing tranny work. thanks all.

also again if anyone lives in the panhandle and wants to fix my truck with me ill pay you! (If i got a replacement tranny) and/or rebuild the current one.
I have a fridge full of about 40 new diff types of beer I could bring over if thats more motivation to help haha.

I was thinking about it later and remembered you will also need a dial indicator to check the shaft endplay. Its a good tool to borrow as they can be expensive.

I would suggest getting an ATSG manual for the A518 and the following book. http://www.amazon.com/Torqueflite-72.../dp/1557883998
The second book gives a lot of tips and tricks to building the torqueflight but it is not step by step on how to rebuild your tranny. The ATSG is for that.