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Buick Dynaflow Transmission


Dynaflash8

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I've been looking at a 56 Buick Roadmaster with a Dynaflow transmission.  It works okay now, but what if it has a problem?  The only shop I know of in South Central Florida has stopped doing transmissions altogether.  Does anyone know of a transmission shop in Central or South Central Florida that will do an old Buick Dynaflow (prior to 1961 the rear end has to be pulled back to remove the transmission)?  It would be dangerous to buy a car that nobody will work on unless you can do the work  yourself.

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On 1/21/2020 at 11:46 AM, avgwarhawk said:

It it is working ok and not slobbering pint after pint on the ground don't worry about it.  Just a cursory look on the internet I find several classic car shops in FL that will work on the Dynaflow. 

But you didn't say where.  Maybe Jacksonville, Miami, or even Orlando.  Sarasota would be nice.  But I'm in the vast wasteland of south Central Florida.  Shops here have never even heard of a Dynaflow.  I don't want to buy a possible future dead in the water car. 

t

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No, I haven't even heard of them.  I use another shop in Sarasota for restoration work, but that is 90 miles from here and I've never asked him if he has a source for a Dynaflow.  The last Dynaflow I had I couldn't find anyplace, but I was lucky to find a retired Buick mechanic who did it.  A friend helped pull the transmission in my garage, but both men can no longer do any work....one is in a Alzeheimer nursing home.  I haven't seen the other old guy in years but I know he, like me, is sick with problems from age.  If I can find a shop I think I can find a restoration shop in Winter Haven who will pull the rear and ship off the tranmission.

 

Thanks for the advice.

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6 hours ago, Dynaflash8 said:

But you didn't say where.  Maybe Jacksonville, Miami, or even Orlando.  Sarasota would be nice.  But I'm in the vast wasteland of south Central Florida.  Shops here have never even heard of a Dynaflow.  I don't want to buy a possible future dead in the water car. 

t

 

 

6 hours ago, Dynaflash8 said:

 

t

 

 

  You worry too much.  Buy it and drive it.       My wife has worried for 46 years I would die and leave her alone.  46 years! I am still kicking. Wasted worrying.

 

  Ben

Edited by Ben Bruce aka First Born (see edit history)
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8 hours ago, JohnD1956 said:

If you have that many concerns then don't buy it. You'll never be comfortable in that car regardless of how reliable it really is. 

Look for something from '64 forward.  '63 was the last Dynaflow.  

I concur.  If the mechanical workings of the Buick will keep you up at night it may not be a good car for you.  My father purchased a 25th anniversary Mustang as a fun car. He never driven it much. He was afraid of a scratch or dent.  It bugged him much he sold  the car.   For me, I purchased a manual Buick thinking the manual transmission would never be a problem.  Well, the manual has been out of this Buick twice for work.  My Dynaflow equipped Buick has been nothing but great. 

Edited by avgwarhawk (see edit history)
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3 hours ago, avgwarhawk said:

I concur.  If the mechanical workings of the Buick will keep you up at night it may not be a good car for you.  My father purchased a 25th anniversary Mustang as a fun car. He never driven it much. He was afraid of a scratch or dent.  It bugged him much he sold  the car.   For me, I purchased a manual Buick thinking the manual transmission would never be a problem.  Well, the manual has been out of this Buick twice for work.  My Dynaflow equipped Buick has been nothing but great. 

Yes, I agree that a Dynaflow is highly reliable....I should say very highly reliable.  I had many of them back in the day without a problem.  However I bought and restored a 1956 Special 46R, and the transmission reverse went up.  Some said it was because I took it to Texas in my trailer for restoration with the lever in Park.  I don't know.  But, it went up again (a shop in Texas "fixed it" for the restoration guy).  I couldn't find anybody who would work on it.  Finally, a fellow in my area who was a retired Buick shop mechanic offered to do it if I would buy the parts and do the take out and removal (that was really a chore).  Fatsco had the parts, and the old mechanic rebuilt it...we put it in and it didn't work, so we took it out again and he was successful on the second try.  I sold the car and swore off Dynaflow's.  Then a friend told me about a shop in Eustis, FL (about 125 miles away) and I began to reconsider.  Earlier this week I called the shop and they said they didn't do any transmissions anymore.  We have four transmission shops in this town and none of them will even talk to me about a Dynaflow, much less pulling the rear.  I had a 1964 Wildcat and found out that is not really a full Hydramatic like the 1965, but it gave me no trouble.  1949 Riviera and all 1956 (especially the Roadmaster) are my favorite Dynaflow cars.  I like a 1958, but it has many more engineering problems I don't want to deal with than the transmission.  I owned two of those back in the 1960s and it was one weird problem after another.  I have to wonder where one would find a new vacuum oil pump today?

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Tranny mechanics that works on Dynaflows are a dying breed around here. Mine was repaired by an old Cuban born man that used to work on them back in The island. Did a good job. He used to have a tranny shop in Miami but has closed since. I will attempt to get in touch with him to see where and how he can help me. 

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Miami is 155 miles from me and I am a member of the So. FL Region of AACA.  My other FL Region is 200 miles away in Lake City.  There is one or two Regions in Tampa and I've been an off and on member of Hillsborough, but the traffic is too bad to deal with except for our 91 Park Avenue.  I was a member of the Florida Region in Orlando for a long time, but it's 100 miles and the traffic is awful.  I was a member and shared driving with a man from Winter Haven, but he wanted to go  to meetings early and I was spending 8 hours with meeting, eating, and driving, so I dropped out.  The Region in Lakeland folded and that was 55 miles one way too.  There is a restored '57 Buick 56R for sale in Miami now, but they have the same engineering problems of the '58, and worse, one year only ball joints.  When I was selling a lot of NOS Buick parts I got '57 ball joints new in the box and they were loose when they were new.....of course grease might have fixed that.  When the '57 first appeared on the showroom floor I thought they were beautful (I also thought that of the '56 and lusted for a white '56 Century 4dr hardtop on the showroom floor in Arlington, VA only days after I graduated high school, but, of course, was starting my first job another week later making $3651 a year 😁).  Later my wife and I suffered with an A/C 1958 Buick Special, followed by my Dad's '58 Special I got in '67 and those two kept us broke for what seemed like forever).  I would welcome any knowledge of somebody in Miami who would work on a Dynaflow, but what Elpad says doesn't seem to sound too likely.  The old mechanic I used the last time worked for a Buick dealer in Ft. Lauderdale before he retired here.  The closest place I am located to with any size is Winter Haven.  The '56 Roadmaster is in Jacksonville, FL, 3.5 hours from here.  I think the tranny is okay now, but you can never tell with any used car

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I am signed up with the 1991 Buick Park Avenue.  Going to all the banquets, School, Judges Breakfast.  Hope to meet you there.  I'm good friends with Jean & Maurice, Manny, Ira and Mel Mann.  The car I was thinking about was an AACA Junior in 2002 in Georgia.  I was there with a 1948 Super, but I was judging and doing other work, and I never saw the car.  It either didn't win a Senior or was never shown again.  The A/C needs to be  updated and repaired, as it doesn't work.  It's a 4dr hardtop, one of my favorite cars, but I don't like the Peptobismal (s?) color much.

 

Thanks Earl Beauchamp, Past National President AACA 2004

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1 hour ago, avgwarhawk said:

 

This is true but the limited miles put on these cars yearly it should not be of great concern.    

It's too big to haul (especially since I'm 81.  I've got a old 24-foor Haulmark and I've had a '71 Riviera in it, but I was younger then) and all the shows and tours are way up north and I'm stuck in the dead town in central Florida

 

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”am signed up with the 1991 Buick Park Avenue.  Going to all the banquets, School, Judges Breakfast.  Hope to meet you there.  I'm good friends with Jean & Maurice, Manny, Ira and Mel Mann“

 

This will be my 2nd year sitting on the board. I’m sign up as well with the 54 Roady and trying to get a Jr. I will also be at the judging school and will be extremely busy with all events specially arranging a line up of vintage police cars to show law enforcement transportation history. I know all those characters that you mention plus my buddy Tomas which is difficult to get lost! Ha, ha.

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1 hour ago, Elpad said:

”am signed up with the 1991 Buick Park Avenue.  Going to all the banquets, School, Judges Breakfast.  Hope to meet you there.  I'm good friends with Jean & Maurice, Manny, Ira and Mel Mann“

 

This will be my 2nd year sitting on the board. I’m sign up as well with the 54 Roady and trying to get a Jr. I will also be at the judging school and will be extremely busy with all events specially arranging a line up of vintage police cars to show law enforcement transportation history. I know all those characters that you mention plus my buddy Tomas which is difficult to get lost! Ha, ha.

I also consider Tomas one of my friends and I meet at shows often, even the Lake Placid Caladium Festival show in August.  I went to the doctor this morning and am feeling really poorly today/tonight.  I just picked up a new medicine he gave me for Ulcerative Colitus.  Nasty stuff.

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35 minutes ago, Dynaflash8 said:

I also consider Tomas one of my friends and I meet at shows often, even the Lake Placid Caladium Festival show in August.  I went to the doctor this morning and am feeling really poorly today/tonight.  I just picked up a new medicine he gave me for Ulcerative Colitus.  Nasty stuff.

Attended the Festival last year without a car. I now have a 24 enclosed trailer that I would probably Use to take the Buick this year. Get well 

Regards
Al Padilla

 

 

 

 

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8 hours ago, Dynaflash8 said:

Peptobismal (s?) color

 

You mean Tahiti Coral?

 

https://www.autocolorlibrary.com/pages/1956-Buick.html

 

I love that color! I painted some '56 parts Tahiti Coral for a friend years ago.

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Certainly not my favorite color, but my '56 Special was three tone and the hood and top area was pink (I guess Coral), bottom yellow, top yellow.  I repainted it the original colors.  Pretty cold up in Fredericksburg today isn't it?  I wish I still lived in Montross.  I also was a member of the Historic Fredericksburg Region and I started the Northern Neck Region in 1993.

 

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10 hours ago, Elpad said:

At one point we have to meet!

I would look at that '57 Buick Super in Miami that is on eBay, but it's too much money and '57s had a lot of mechanical engineering problems.  I think the '53-'55 was the cleanest Buick of the late fifties insofar as mechanical problems is concerned.  If I bought one of the '55s that "Old Tank" has I know it would be good all the way through.  He drove one all the way from Texas to Allentown, PA and back for the 50th Anniversary show of the Buick Club

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It was cold yesterday, but warm today, even with a sprinkle of rain I was working outside at work. Should be warm in the daytime for at least a week now. That 32 degree high was NO FUN! When not at work I'm roughing in my daughter's house. For a week it was too cold to glue pipe together.....😡

 

Northern Neck still going. Got an email from them yesterday asking about our HFR show. April this year.

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 1/21/2020 at 9:21 AM, Dynaflash8 said:

I've been looking at a 56 Buick Roadmaster with a Dynaflow transmission.  It works okay now, but what if it has a problem?  The only shop I know of in South Central Florida has stopped doing transmissions altogether.  Does anyone know of a transmission shop in Central or South Central Florida that will do an old Buick Dynaflow (prior to 1961 the rear end has to be pulled back to remove the transmission)?  It would be dangerous to buy a car that nobody will work on unless you can do the work  yourself.

 

If you happen to find someone who works on Dynaflows in Florida, please let me know. Mine has a leak and I may be looking to overhaul it in the future. 1950 Buick in the Lakeland area. 

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21 minutes ago, MoparMadnz said:

If you happen to find someone who works on Dynaflows in Florida, please let me know. Mine has a leak

 

Everything I have read on this forum suggests that you need to start worrying when your Dynaflow stops leaking!

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23 hours ago, EmTee said:

 

Everything I have read on this forum suggests that you need to start worrying when your Dynaflow stops leaking!

There is a 1956 Buick Super that just came on Ebay, sitting on flat whitewalls in the middle of a collection of cars that will not move.  It looks like a nice car and is located in Dalton, GA.  Man says Dynaflow is shot and it won't move under it's own power.   This is a collector or dealer and he can't find a place to fix the Dynaflow?  Point made.

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Doesn't look like he has tried to find a repair either. But that is a nice car overall. And worth a bid or two. He says the tranny slips. Dynaflow owners know that symptom and can likely fix that situation in one trip to Walmart.

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Not unusual for ANY automatic transmission to dump fluid over the floor after it sits a looong time. Some not so long.😁

 

The torque converter seal gets weak, and it finally shrinks enough to let a little air in, and the fluid flows out.  Used to happen in my shop with long term projects of several makes. Just top up the fluid, drive them and they are fine. 

 

Just  another older car issue, part of what I call "sitting disease", which includes evaporating DOT 3 and gasoline.

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