Packard Forum Index » Post-War (1946-54)

Hello I have a 51, 200 with the ultramatic transmission and it need fluid. Witch modern fluid is best? Thanks Brian

The original fluid was known as Type A, used by Packard and others but it's no longer available. The closest modern fluid to Type A is Type F (readily available), followed by Type FA (also quite common). You'll find some folks who say they switched from Dexron/Mercon to Type F and noticed considerable improvement (I'm one of them), yet you'll find others who have found Dexron/Mercon more suitable. I'm not convinced its a critical decision unless you have clutch groan on shift into direct drive with Dexron, in which case I'd strongly suggest you go to F or FA.

I've found that the best fluid after trying Dexron, and Type F was B&M TrickShift. My trans never shifted so well, and the groan I had dissappeared. The reason why you get the groan is the car sits so long that the direct drive clutch dries out and becomes hard. Changing fluid won't fix it, but the right fluid puts off the inevitable for a while so you can drive the car and get used to it's characteristics.

On the subject of the "groan", I did what PackardV8 advised me to do, when it does it, instead of letting off the throttle, push it down harder every time it does it. Eventually you'll burn off a thin layer of the hardened clutch material, and it'll work a lot better. I'd change the fluid as soon as it starts appearing black when you do this. The best option of course is to just pull the trans and install a new direct drive clutch, then you can replace the gaskets and seals that cause 99% of all Ultramatic leaks.

One other thing, and I know this is a lot more than you asked for, but pull the pan and clean the filter, it's reusable. The gaskets can be found on eBay all the time from Ron's Gaskets and several others. Ron's is the one that comes to mind right now. I can't remember Peter Finch's eBay handle, I think it's UltramaticDynamics, but I'm not certain.

I second Turbopacman's recommendation of B&M Trick Shift, having had the exact same experience with it after having tried both Dexron-Mercon and the Type F. Also dropping the pan and cleaning the reusable filter. While the improvement in direct-drive clutch lock-up and elimination of, "groaning," noise was almost immediate after switching to the Trick Shift, I had to drop pan, clean filter and replace fluid three times before it stopped turning colour.

What about a transmission flush to start out with? Especially a car that has sat for a long time. I've read that it can actually harm an older trans. Anyone have any input or experience with that?

The harm comes from knocking loose all the crap that's collected in the bottom of the trans after sitting, which is why it's best to drop the pan and clean it out, along with the filter. Flush comes later, after many miles of driving, draining the fluid, refilling, driving some more, repeat.

My car had been mostly sitting between 1989 and 2004. One of the first things I did was to drop the tranny pan, flush the transmission, replace noticeably bent/worn linkage parts (already knew that direct-drive clutch was slipping because I'd driven it across town from delivery site), reinstall pan w/new gasket and put in new fluid (Dexron-Mercon, first). Drove the car for a time with the Dexron-Mercon in it, checked the fluid for level and colour regularly with no apparent changes in either fluid colour or performance. Then changed to Type F fluid, replacing gasket and cleaning filter again. Shifting improved very slightly. Drove car for a few months with the Type F, still experiencing direct drive clutch slippage although less severe. If I remember, the Type F fluid was drained once during this time with some darkening of fluid. About three months after that, read on (I think) this forum someone's recommendation of B&M product. There are two - one synthetic and recommended for vehicles built after 2002 and the original (I assume) petroleum based product. I used the latter. Improvement in performance was almost immediate and, within a week, the fluid had turned very noticeably darker. Repeated the draining, filter cleaning process until the fluid stopped changing colour. Don't know what's in this stuff but it appears to dissolve old varnish build-up and counteract glazing. Automatic shifting is smoother in, "Gear-Go," and direct-drive clutch no longer slips, either in, "Gear-Go, or, "Mush-Drive."
(I actually LIKE the uniqueness of this transmission. These are my own private nomenclatures for the drive ranges in it and are not meant to offend anyone.)

I've no experience with the B&M fluid and have no comment on that, but if your habit is starting in "L" and then manually shifting to "H" under power, it does give some more spirited performance but as almost anyone with much experience with an Ultramatic (Twin or otherwise) will tell you, the result will be a very shortened transmission lifespan.

Interesting that you should bring that up, Owen. The Packard service garage was just a few blocks from my grandparent's home when I was eight to about twelve years old. It was located several blocks away from the showroom and new car lot. All of the new cars were delivered there for prep before going to the showroom and, of course, all service work was done there. Both management and mechanics seemed to tolerate me making a pest of myself because I stayed (mostly) out of the way and it must have been apparent to them that I was interested in and loved the cars. Several of them knowing my grandfather probably didn't hurt either.

I recall quite a lot of what I saw and heard there and owners' manually upshifting the Ultramatics from low into driving range was evidently pretty prevalent and the cause of much work for them. Recall, too, that the general consensus of opinion was that the Twin Ultramatics did not stand up well to heavy, extended towing, being prone to severely overheat under the increased load in their original configuration.

When maintaining or repairing my car today, I tend to go back there in my memory, first, and then come here to this forum to refresh my declining memory of those happy days when there were still new Packards and to take advantage of the considerable knowledge that has become available since. The guys that worked there were mostly old Packard hands, having worked almost exclusively for Packard dealerships for nearly all of their lives and, were any of them still around, I have no doubt that they'd appreciate ALL of our efforts to keep Packards on the road.