Transmission in a SORRY state

[kayweb]

The story:
Bought a Festy for $350 about a week ago:

I pulled the valve cover and cams to clean some of the varnish and sludge off of them:

Odometer says 160k. Purchased from a teenager who had apparently learned to drive a standard on it. The kid said that the previous owner had replaced the clutch and "did it wrong, I just had to fix the clutch cable". I then drove it in third gear about 80 miles to my house, where it has remained.
The symptoms:
- 1st, 2nd and 3rd engage, but make a nasty clattering/grinding? noise, which gets louder dependent on engine load.
- The noise becomes slightly quieter if I apply pressure to the shifter.
- Neutral with clutch in makes no noise, clutch out makes an... unsettling noise.
- 4th + 5th will shift, do not engage at all.
- If I throttle up the engine with the shifter in 5th, there is a loud wheeeeow noise (which aligns with broken teeth?)
- Reverse will absolutely not shift, even with shifting from non-synchronized to synchronized gears, then into reverse. It worked once, to back it out of the parking space it was in at the beginning of the drive)
The information that I do know:
- Quart of ATF in the back of the car, along with a quart of oil and a brand-new fuel filter??
- Oil all over the sump.
- Oil all over everything, really.
- Like, actually everything:

- Also, inexplicably brand new plug wires (the grey Bosch ones?)
- Oil in the intake, the engine may have been overfilled.
- Filthy FRAM air filter.

THE QUESTION:
What do you think is wrong with the transmission, and how do I fix it?

[XFSE71]

I think you'll have to open the tranny to do a visual. Maybe start shopping for a replacement. The noises you are hearing sound to me like input bearing. Maybe pull the drain plug and look for shrapnel.

[bravekozak]

I wish you would have show us a picture with the varnish and sludge under the valve cover. The passageways under the baffle are probably plugged too! This is what it should look like between the baffle plate and the top of the valve cover.
If not, the crankcase gases will not make it from the PVC valve to the just past the middle where it gets sucked into the engine again. That way it won't sludge up all over again.

As far as the transmission goes, I believe you are going to have to re & re (remove and replace). Good luck.

[XFSE71]

IIRC Ford had a campaign when Festy's were in warranty where we pulled the VC and used a specially designed "depth guage" they gave us to measure the amount of sludge build up the top of the engine. We laughed at the guage, a little metric scale on a stick. Too much (>3mm) meant a special engine flush cleaning procedure and replacement of the tstat. The issue was that with a cooler tstat sludge builds up very quickly creating acids which etch the engine bearings causing other warranty problems. We didn't like the job because it didn't pay very well, just saying.

[kayweb]

XFSE71: I plan on doing that, I just don't have a hoist so removing the transmission will be... troublesome. Most likely (since I already have a DD) I'll take everything apart and clean it, maybe at least get the bores honed.

(apologies, I had enlisted the help of my roommate, she never wears a shirt)
This was taken about halfway through the scrubbing process. Not the best condition.

[kayweb]

Also, I think I may have found part of the oil leak:


The pulley immediately adjacent to the timing belt cover ate a chunk of the cover, it appears.

[XFSE71]

You belt cover looks like mine ... all rubbed through, but that is not an oil area, so no, that's not your source of oil leak. I'm having the same blow-by issues. I see oil everywhere, blown and flying around under the hood. what a mess. I had previously replaced the cam seal. Crank seal was dry so I left it alone. I resealed the VC, but it is still soaked. I think I'll put a guage on the crankcase and see just what kind of pressures we are working with here. As you may be able to see I'm still in denial about base engine concerns. I don't see puffing, or smoke. Engine makes good power and runs smoothly. I haven't done any bottom end testing at this pont. BTW nice GF to want to help.

[FestYboy]

pulling the trans requires a jack and 2 stands, no hoist needed. the only worry need be weather or not the crossmember bolts come out or not. if the bolts don't come out, the trans has to come out the top (a bother, but not impossible). in either case, no hoist needed.

[kayweb]

I mean, I guess it's not that big of a deal having a hole there, not being an interference motor and all. I'm having difficulty determining where everything is coming from though. I drained all of the oil that I could from the engine, I plan to meticulously clean every surface (maybe with a bead blaster or something) and watch very carefully for drips. I got more out than the engine's max recommended fill and it's still dripping. Also I think the trans is full of ATF so at least a leaking transmission will be easy to spot since it's dyed.

[kayweb]

Hey there, anybody have pointers for splitting the case open?