mjeff87

Thanks yall. I've got this stuff, bought it from my local indy shop. Says good for transmissions on the label, but...ya know.

Preface: I loathe auto trannies, but my KJ has one. 545RFE to be exact. Its in perfect condition but has started to drip (like a dime sized spot about every 3 days or so, not bad but its bugging the hell out of me). I have some leak dye that I've used in the focus engine to pinpoint oil leaks in the crankcase. Could I use it to also trace the leak on my tranny? My mind says it would not matter a single bit if I poured an ounce or so into the pan of the trans, but.....I just want to hear some affirmation from those smarter than me that it won't cause any problems. Its leaking from *somewhere* on the trans body, but its dripping from the lowest point, which i know is not the source.

WIthout a long boring discussion of it (which I'm sure pretty much anyone doesn't want to do, LOL), the bottom line is that "inventory" is a business liability, and it ties up cash reserves. The less of it you have to have on hand, the better off (and I'm really stretching the definition of that.....) a business is. You bring in and hold just enough of what you need to get the "whatever it is" done within a specific timeframe, with no extra inventory, then you plan to restock your inventory juuuussstttt before you run out. Rinse and repeat. Like I said, it works great for assembly-line type manufacturing, but NOT for any kind of business that has exposure to any kind of variation (grocery stores are a perfect example). If demand suddenly changes, or if there's ANY kind of disruption in your supply chain (and there's a 1000 different things that can affect that, trust me), and you don't get your new inventory "just in time", you're screwed. And then it compounds, especially if you are a public-facing type of business. Thankfully, I only have about 8 more years of putting up with crazy theories like this happening, caused by somebody with a buncha' book-smarts that think they are the business world's saviors. Hah. edit: another small part of it is that inventory takes up physical space, and the more of it you have the more space you need to store it in. Most businesses consider that space as non-revenue generating, and thus not worth having or paying for. That's a whole 'nother argument/discussion, but it's related. And it's horse crap.

I may still have my old one down in the shed. If you want, I can take a look for it this weekend.....that will give me the excuse I need to do some spring cleaning in there. It's become a "catch all" over the last couple months and I need to clean and organize it a bit. If I still have it, you can have it for shipping costs.

Better known as JIT, or "just in time" inventory management theory in the industry (kinda what I do for a living). This methodology was born around the early 2000's in American business, or rather "discovered" by some that shouldn't have. It's pretty standard in the manufacturing industry, a good example being the automakers, and it's an excellent model for that type of environment. Problem is, it does NOT translate well across different business sectors in our economy. It works perfectly when you can predict demand accurately, quite unlike.....say......a grocery store. I could go on for hours about this, I fight with it every day. In my personal life, I'm just like probably most here, and stay prepared for the SHTF moment all the time. 'Cause you know it's gonna happen, eventually.

Yes. For what it's worth, when I swapped a 4.0 into my 87 2.5L MJ, I used an 89 MJ engine wiring harness. It plugged right into my 2.5 interior harness/C100 connector, and it also eliminated the dreaded C101 altogether. When I saw the thread title, I thought that's what the OP did also and was talking about. Swapping the whole underhood harness might not be an option for everyone, but it's the best way to get rid of the C101 once and for all.

Yep. My (only) brother is 58 and is on dialysis. He just got discharged from the hospital last Thursday after a 2 week stay. He had a mini stroke and pretty much has lost function on the right side of his body. My biggest fear in my life, by far, is to lose my physical abilities but still retain my mental capacity. I watched my grandfather go through Parkinson, althsizers and dementia. I told my wife if that happens to me to just push me in front of a moving bus. I don't want to see it happen. This thread took a left turn, lol.

Well, I got to ring out the Focus on a roadtrip Sunday/Monday. Had a funeral to go to up in Pittsburgh....750 miles in 24 hours (round trip). She ran like a rocket, lol. Averaged about 35 mpg and not a single hiccup. 5th gear in this thing is DEEP. It loves 72 mph @ 3000 rpm, it can live there all day. If I pushed it up to 80, I was only taching 3200. Not too shabby for a 20 year old vehicle with 186K on it.

I just made a 750 mile round trip to Pittsburg and back in 24 hours. One of my old friends from up home died suddenly last Wednesday. 58 years old, dropped dead in his living room from a massive coronary event. EMS was able to get a rhythm at the house, but he passed en route to the ER. It gives you pause, when you get around this age.

I did BCT way back in 1986, things didn't change much back then either (can't say what its like today, what with the "stress cards" and all, lol). We went into a little cinderblock pillbox structure in squads. We all de-masked and had to say name, rank, SSN and company motto before we could exit. It was CS gas, i remember a little stereo flame under a hot plate kind of thing, and one if the DS's scooping out some powder and sprinkling it on top. Good times, lol. Ft. Jackson, Old Hollywood.

You share the same birthday with my wife.

You need to keep bleeding that dreaded internal slave/throwout, sounds like you've still got air in the system somewhere. I just used a Motive power bleeder for the first time ever on my other vehicle a few weeks ago (FWD car that also has a similar internal slave setup). I've got to say, it's a pretty dang neat tool, and is a great way to bleed these things. My buddy ponied up and bought one and we gave it a test run on my vehicle. For the price, I'd definitely recommend anyone pick one up. I'd buy one of my own, but I can borrow his anytime I need it now, lol.

The engine side harness completely separates (via multiple connectors) around the relay center area. There are 2 sub-harnesses per se, one for the TCU and NSS (if auto equipped) that plugs into the "upper" main harness that runs from the CPU either directly through the firewall or via the C101 connector on older Renix models, and the headlight harness that plugs into the lower harness around the driver side headlight/front right radiator header area. That part of the harness runs from the C100 connector (engine side of the fuse block on the firewall side, under the brake booster). When I swapped an 89 4.0 harness into my 87 2.5 MJ, I disconnected the main harness and removed each corresponding section of MJ old harness and replaced it one by one with both sections of the new harness, then plugged it all back up together again. You can label all of the connectors if you want to, but outside of the injector wires, each connector is pretty much unique and only fits the same other side connector, so it's pretty easy to figure out what plugs into what, and what sensor hooks up to what connector. The harness pieces should be well molded/shaped to where the entire harness falls right back into place, making things pretty logical. The only issue I had was the HVAC blower connector on my "new" harness was a different design than my old one. I just swapped in the new blower motor that had the newer style connector on it and plugged it up. All that said, I did have the liberty of swapping harnesses while I had the entire drivetrain out for a swap, which did make it much easier....I did label all of the connectors as a precaution, but I really didn't need to. Good luck edit: there's a tiny captive bolt in the center of the C100 connector on the engine side that you have to unscrew (it's captive, so it won't come the whole way out). It's kind of a PITA to get a socket on, use a 1/4" drive with a universal or a swivel socket and a short extension to get on it. IIRC is a 6.5mm bolt head. You won't be able to separate that bulk connector the whole way without unscrewing that (very cleverly hidden) bolt.

My wife (works in the VA hospital with spinal cord injury patients) has had both of her shots already. Second one nearly put her down for the day, but she survived and to date hasn't started growing any new appendages out of her forehead. I got to spend 2 weeks out of work thanks to my HR department, though. I was shooting with a buddy of mine at the range all afternoon one Saturday, then Sunday night he texts me saying he's Covid positive. My boss and HR kept me out of work for 14 days, some of which I teleworked (more like checked my e-mail every couple of hours) or just took leave days for entirely. Didn't get sick at all. My buddy had a couple rough days with fever and general malaise, but nothing too serious. Most of the kids around here have started back in-person in some capacity, but still not back to a regular 5-day schedule. Our governor announced reduced restrictions starting on Monday next week, some are freaking out. It's a crap show all around, in general.

Those things are just pressed into the BH. You can remove them if you have to, then pound them back in after you get the cover slid back up. Or you can try bending the cover with a screwdriver to get it over them, one at a time.

It slides up behind the flywheel. It actually hooks onto those hollow alignment dowels I mentioned. The two bottom bolts for it are small 1/2"/13mm bolts that thread into the BH. You don't have to pull the flywheel to remove/install it, but you can't install it once you get the trans all snugged up and bolted back in, otherwise you have to unbolt everything and slide the tranny back a hair to get it back in. Hence, the "don't forget" part. edit: note the very bottom edge of the plate is curved on one side. Make sure that curve is pointing away from the engine, toward the front side of the BH when you put it back in. It should slightly overlap the bottom edge of the BH when installed correctly.

It helps to have a helper for this, but I like to wiggle the aligning tool around in tiny circles while tightening down the clutch cover bolts to the flywheel. The best alignment "tool" is actually an old/broken input shaft from a scrap tranny (which I never seem to have handy).....those cheap plastic tools have alot of slop in them, or like Pete says, may even be crooked from the jump. Smear on a *light* coat of grease on the input shaft splines and tip, and it should slide on relatively easily. Remember to keep the trans in the same plane as the engine is, which is usually slightly slanted backwards/down. Getting the tip of the input shaft into the pilot bushing/bearing is the hardest part, but just keep wiggling the trans around and it will eventually just "plop" right in. There should be two hollow alignment dowels on either side of the bellhousing, around 9:00 and 3:00 (bellhousing bolts actually pass through them when you bolt it all up), that you have to make sure slip into the holes on the bellhousing also. If your bellhousing is not 100% flush with the back of the engine, the trans is not fully seated. DON'T try to draw it closed by tightening the bolts....you risk cracking the bellhousing trying that. Also, be careful of the CPS if you have it installed in the top of the bellhousing already. You can damage it very easily on install as the tip of it sits dangerously close to the flywheel. Oh, and don't forget to install the metal dust shield, too. I've forgotten that little thing once or twice.

I learned how to pick the right lines early on.....because I had to. You can put a Ford Maverick pretty deep into the woods too, until you can't.

You'd be surprised just how capable a wheeling vehicle a 4 speed VW Rabbit can be. And how easily you can remove the entire exhaust system in one shot, lol.

I'm not the oldest in the club, but I'm far from the youngest. I'll be 52 in 23 days

Front driveshafts are overrated.....

The kicker is that there's 3 engine/trans mounts on these things, and I replaced all 3 of them less than a year ago. The most common one that goes bad is the passenger side upper mount, because it's hydraulic and usually pukes all the fluid out. I didn't buy Motorcraft mounts, but I didn't buy cheap white box specials either, so.....my only guess is that I munched this lower mount when I did the clutch swap. I didn't unbolt it (it was the only thing holding the entire driveline in place, LOL) and that trans was next to impossible to get out and back in, and I had that whole driveline in some pretty serious "not supposed to look like that" positions. That's where I think the center section decided to rip/tear a bit, and it just took this long for it to tear the whole way apart. We'll see. It's cheap enough and realtively easy to swap (about 20 minutes and not even one beer), so if it craps out again I'll spring for a genuine Ford replacement. Hah.

I will say that out of all the mods I ever did to my MJ, the booster/MC upgrade was one of the best ones. But it was an absolute PITA trying to do it solo. Do yourself a favor and get an extra set of hands to help, one person under the hood moving things around and another under the dash to get things lined up and bolted in.

Not much going on with the Focus lately, still have the little oil leak. Developed a strange rattle underneath it though, and noticed a bit of slop in the driveline, kind of like a feeling of too much backlash in a differential. Ended up being the lower trans mount (aka "dogbone" mount), that helps to prevent torque twist in the driveline. Mine was completely hashed. I think when I put the new clutch in it I might have stressed it out a bit too much, wiggling around the driveline to get the trans out and back in. The center section was completely ripped out. Surprising what a little $25 mount does, lol.