'64 Le sabre transmission fluid????

[Guest trevor ward]

Hi Guys...,

This has maybe been covered before, but i couldn't

find anything relevant in using the search option!!

Simply...what fluid do i put into my ST 400 three

speed auto transmission I am figuring

that you will say Dexron two, but i would like a

cast iron YES or NO to that before i start pouring!!

And on the subject of pouring, and this is going

to sound a lame question....but where do i put it??

Down the dipstick hole would be the easy solution,

but maybe you will have other info on this???

Thanks in advance...

Trevor.....

'64 Le sabre....finally out of storage and ready to go

[BUICK RACER]

You answered your own questions.

[Guest 70 Electra]

Several other posts have covered this, but Dexron III replaced Dexron II a long time ago. Any fluid found today with only Dexron II spec is likely some swill second rate stuff (or worse). Stick with Dex 3 and use a respected supplier (i.e. name brand).

[Guest sixpack2639]

Trevor,

Assuming you don't know what is in your tranny now, ie. Type A, Dexron II/III, I would advise you to use Dexron III since it is advised that once you start using Dexron III you DO NOT revert to Dexron II or Type A. I would also advise you to service your tranny if this is the case as you probably don't know when the last time if ever it has had a new filter fitted.

OH, and yes, you add fluid to the tranny via the dipstick tube.

Cheers, Carl

[Guest trevor ward]

Thanks for the replies,guys...,

Perhaps i should have worded it differently, as

this is more for a top up to bring the level further

up the dipstick, than a complete fluid change!!

I know..... you are going to say i had best do a

complete change, but right now i have so many other

things other than this car i have to be doing, that

topping it up is far and away the easiest for me right

now!! The fluid that is in there right now, does not

look at all tired or burnt and is a lovely pinky red

color... and so i am pretty happy to top up!!

Now that you know this and have reccomended dexron III

will it mix with Dexron II if this is what exists in the

trans right now????

Thanks in advance for your input!!

Trevor.............

[Guest sixpack2639]

Trevor,

Dexron III is totally reverse compatable to Dexron II, Dexron IIE, and Type A according to the manufacturer. They just don't recommend reverting to use of any of the older fluids after using Dexron III.

Cheers, Carl

[Guest trevor ward]

Thanks Carl...that is a pretty definitive

answer!! Also thanks to the others for making

the time to post

Much appreciated

Trevor... Off to buy some fluid!!!

[Guest invicta592]

Trevor,

Are you by any chance intimating that despite me going into great detail about Dexron II, and even posting you a pint of the stuff!!, that you never got around to believing me, let alone topping the tranny up with the free, correct spec fluid????

[BamaWildcat]

My Wildcat gets a steady diet of Detrox III.

[Philippe Racicot]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Simply...what fluid do i put into my ST 400 three

speed auto transmission </div></div>

Your 64 LeSabre has the 400 transmission? Does it have the 400 package? I have seen many 1965-69 LeSabres with the 400 badges but I have never seen a 1964 LeSabre 400. I know that the 64 Estate Wagon had a 401 engine and a 400 transmission but I thought that the other 64 LeSabres had the 300 engine and the ST-300 (or manual) transmission.

[Guest trevor ward]

Philippe...,

It is a three speed auto.... what do you mean by the

400package??? There are no badges to signify anything

at all, but it is indeed the 300CI...but the 355 wildcat

high compression motor with the aluminum heads and 4

bbl carb!!( which ,i understand is unique to the '64 year, as an option)

Everything is original to the car...and it is definately

NOT a manual ( as if i would mix the two up!!!!!)

I went through this with Mark..AKA "dcm422@aol.com" who is a forum user

and he concurred after seeing photos etc!!!!

Just maybe the 355 motor which i have also had the manual box as an option

and i got an unusual option mix....I dunno??????

Okee doke...gotta go to work... I'll be interested to hear more on this,

but i KNOW what the car has!!!!!!

Trevor..... Now i'm gonna be late!!!

[NTX5467]

It would not matter which automatic transmission was in the car, either one would have come out with Type A fluid and will now use Dexron III fluid (full oil change or just to top it off).

On the '65 full size Buicks, when you ordered the THM400 3-speed automatic, additional "400" name plates were added immediately adjacent to the normal model nameplates on the quarter panels (and possibly other places too).

Seems like the THM400 transmission was first used in 1964 in the higher GM carlines (Buick, Olds, Cadillac) before Chevy and Pontiac got it in 1965. Considering that Buick and Chevrolet had their own in-house automatic transmissions, which were normally used in the bulk of their full size cars back then, I would think that the THM400 option in a '64 full size Buick would be almost as unique as the 300 cid V-8. Perhaps I'm wrong in that suspicion? One look at the transmission oil pan gasket shape and location of the vacuum modulator should nail down which transmission it might be.

Either way, which automatic transmission would not make any difference regarding use of currently-available automatic transmission fluid.

Curiously, what is the shift quadrant sequence for the transmission in your vehicle?

Just some thoughts,

NTX5467

[Guest trevor ward]

Hiya...,

Thanks for the input guys...

my shift pattern is as follows...

P - R - N - D - L I am guessing

that this will help narrow it down!!

The modulator (as you have your head

under the hood, looking towards the

back of the car)is on the left...

(passenger side) It has a hard line

coming up to connect to the carb

Thanks a bunch...

Trevor...

[NTX5467]

Thanks for the shift quadrant information.

Just to make sure of some things, when we talk about how many "speeds" the transmission has, we are talking about the "geared, forward" speeds only. From your supplied information, it would indicate a "two speed" automatic transmission -- not a "three speed" automatic. In the case of the Buick ST300 and ST400, the two different "pitch" angles in the torque converter do not count as an extra gear.

As I recall, from a friend's '64 LeSabre, the DynaFlow shift quadrant would have been "P-N-D-L-R" . . . as some earlier Chevy PowerGlides were in the earlier years.

The ONE exception to a shift quadrant of "P-R-N-D-L" being a three-speed automatic would have been the Ford Cruise-O-Matic in the pre-1965 time frame. It was different, though, in that it was really "P-R-N-D2-D1-L" in that the "D" had two green dots under it, one for "D2" which had the transmission start forward in 2nd gear whereas "D1" had it start in "low" and use all three forward gears (I might have the "D2" and D1" positions reversed, but things still work the same). In the earlier versions of the transmission, the original Ford-O-Matic (in the 1958 era) had "P-R-N-D-L" on the shift quadrant, but IF you floored the throttle from a standing start, it started in the "real" low gear as the valve body was set up to use only the top two gears of the three speed in normal driving (in "D"), but it was really a three-speed automatic (i.e., an entry level automatic to compete with the Chevy PowerGlide, but had the "ace in the hole" of a normal 2.48 low gear when you floored it from a dead stop, rather than the normal 1.48 2nd gear start, compared to the PowerGlide's low gear of either 1.82 or 1.76, depending upon which engine it was behind). The Cruise-O-Matic was the "upgrade" automatic transmission that could be the equivalent of the Chrysler TorqueFlite or the Borg-Warner three-speed automatics (operation-wise), back then. In 1965, the old Cruise-O-Matic became known as the "FMX" after the new and improved Ford C-6 and C-4 automatics came out--with the USA Federally-mandated "common" shift quadrant of "P-R-N-D-2-1" for a three speed automatic transmission.

Hope this might 'splain some things.

Enjoy!

NTX5467

[Aaron65]

I think LeSabre 300s had the ST300 2 speed, 400s got the Turbo 400 3 speed.