AODE transmission oil, is it clean?

[Road_Runna]

I checked the transmission oil dip stick to see the color of the oil, and as usual it was redish clean.
But when I took the Metric trans oil pan out to install the transgo shift kit, the valve body part towards the pan was dirty, with a muddy film. So my question is:
How worried should I be about the muddy film, when I stoped driving the car, the transmission seemed to work fine except for the shudder on 3rd gear, but that I found out is caused by the Torque converter.

Can the tranny shop's do a flush if I were to only take the transmission by itself and not the car?

One other thing, for all that have had the TC shudder, does it also mean immenent transmission overhaul will be needed in the near future?

 

[earleys94gt]

The shop should be able to do the flush with just the trans. but it might be more of a pain, transporting and working on, if it was not in the car.

I would clean the "muddy film" off the valve body, as it could hinder operation/performance.

I think the shudder is just from the TC itself, and can be easily solved by a new TC.

 

[Zero_chance]

Ford issued a TSB about the shudder recommending to replace fluid with Mercon V and it should correct itself as long as its not too far gone.

 

[reddy351]

I would recommend against flushing any automatic transmission. The chance of loosening some garbage that will dislodge itself and destroy the trans after all the work is done, is too high.

The "mud" you mentioned is probably the wearing surfaces of the clutches and what not, in the trans. That doesn't mean it's no good. Just that it has some miles on it. (There is no place for the debris to go, in an automatic. Just into the pan.)

I would clean the pan really well. Change the filter. Put it all back together and use the Ford TSB recommended trans fluid in it.

That's all.

 

[Road_Runna]

phew, I thought id might have to go through a rebuild. I've got a new Torque converter (3k) stall speed from red line torque converters, got the 20,500 gvw trans cooler, and the shift kit all going in possibly saturday maybe sunday.