Okay, so I did some reading here earlier this morning. I had decided to get the nifty IPD flush hose (because I personally love purpose-built tools) knowing full well that I could do the job with some cheapo leveling tube . . .

I read the IPD instructions and the FAQ on how to do this and was alarmed to read about the (albeit uncommon) problems with some VERY burnt fluid keeping a ruined clutch pack working and then the tranny slipping horribly after replacing the old stuff.

With some real trepidation I cranked my 740 over and let it warm up.

I went through all of the gears slowly two or three times and then sat for two minutes. Then I got out to pull the stick and take a look at what it said about the condition of my transmission.

The freaking dipstick was STUCK!

OMG!

So I carefully noodled with that thing for about five full minutes until it finally slid free.

I was really starting to worry at this point.

But when I wiped the stick to reinsert it, the fluid was grayish-pink. It had only a very mild burn smell to it, if any at all. I have smelled fresh ATF at close quarters for years, as we use it as a corrosion cracker on brass musical instruments in my repair shop, and what I smelled on my dipstick did not smell exactly like the Type F that I am used to. Do different ATF's smell different from one another? I would not classify what I had smelt earlier as akin to "burnt".

So am I safe for a flush?

And what should I put in there if I continue to use Castrol GTX 10W-30 in the red brick up front? Does dino/syn in the block matter to the transmission? I would like to use Amsoil in my tranny, but do not know which one to get.

Also, she shifts pretty hard, sometimes between 1 and 2 (mostly) and also between 3 and 4. The shift feels like someone dumped a load of bricks into my trunk . . . umph! No noise, just the dropping feeling.

Will the flush help this?

Thank you all in advance.

Wade
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Mama always told me to eschew obfuscation . . .