Update : 1987 Buick Transmission gear shifting problem...?

Question

1987 Buick-Lasabra - 3.8 L eng - standard auto transmission - 87000 total miles.
Original Tranny ( never been into)
Update; Dropped T oil pan / T oil was a burnt dark red color / Oil pan magnet had a lot of fuzzy metal shaving attached / removed & installed a new T oil filter / replace T oil pan.
/ FLUSHED & added approx 7 QTs of Premium T oil / plus added approx 6 ounces of Marvel Mystery oil / rechecked the T oil stick for capacity / Cranked up & drove around the blockS & all gears & Transmission worked perfect !
Note; This is the 2nd time i replaced Tranny filter & cleaned magnet & metal shaving.(approx 1200 miles earlier)
Now, my immediate question is what is the thoughts on life of this present transmission ? Should i trade or sell the car ?
Thank You.
Luke.

Correction;
The old drained tranny oil did not have a burnt smell to it .
But was a dark dirty looking red color.
This was the first time any one had pulled any type maintance on this transmission or any type of rebuilding.
A (one owner only)real old lady owned the vehicle before & me never had any major eng or tranny problems.

Answer 1

one thing you need to realize is that it's not like when you do an oil chage. what i mean is this: when you drain your oil, ALL the oil is in the oil pan so when you drain it you're able to drain all 4-5 qts. However transmissions are different, when you remove the pan your only draining about half of the old fluid. the rest is still in the torque converter.

that's why even though you installed a new filter and 6-7 qts of fluid, it's still a dark color.

the only way to completely "flush" with new fluid is to let a shop perform a Transmissions Flush. at my shop, we put a can of "cleanser" in the transmission, hook up to a machine and let the car get up to normal operating temperature. this cleans the valve body and other ports and passages.

Then we "flush" your old fluid out while the new fluid is added. and lastly we put a can of conditioner in with the fluid, this conditions all the seals and bands inside the tranny.

this service is recommended every 30,000 miles or 3 years, which ever comes first.

if your not having trouble when the car shifts while driving, then just keep it!!

Answer 2

Sounds like you have a lot more than "regular wear " going on here, -that is unless this is only the second time it has ever has the oil changed in it! If it has never been done before, (and it would be prudent to do it every 40K miles or so).. It could have had so much stuff all over inside the transmission, and when new oil got in it washed it down into pan. However there is an unusual "marker " here, - in the fact that the "burnt red" oil color is present..... You aren't talking about just "darker red" than the new oil? Since the oil will get darker from "sludge" as oil gets dirtyer. Did it smell kind of "burnt" also, or about like new oil?

Summation, -if it is really burnt (and smells burnt), - it would be due to "clutches" slipping in side of transmission (probably from restricted flow of oil to hold the servos "locked" in position). This being the case, it would probably be a good idea to get rid of it, -- unless you just want to drop the pan again and check in a thousand miles or so, and see if the same thing has happened again! If it is relatively clean this time, - you can probably trust it for a little while longer!

Answer 3

sounds to me its doing the job. old buicks run forever. the dark red fluid is normal. it will darken just like motor oil will after a period of time. the shavings you are getting out are also normal. i wouldnt use the magnet tho. theres a good chance of magnetizing the unit pump unit and catching all the metal dust in it. causing a lot of trouble. as long as its shifting good running good id keep it.