What would cause an automatic 4l60e tranny to have brown colored transmission fluid at 62,000 original miles? truck is a 1995 and the fliud has been replaced once before in year 2000 by the dealer....

 

should the fluid be changed by just dropping the pan? or disconnect the tranny line at the radiator and flush all of it out?

 

brown means trans is burning the fluid,can just drop the pan to change the fluid but if its burning the fluid your going to be looking at a rebuild or getting another trans.also smell the fluid cause id put money on it that it also smells burnt.

 

what are those particles? they were at the bottom of the pan. and look like they were there for a long time... could they be old gasket material?

 

That is clutch material, and from the looks of it, a lot of clutch material!

 

So shouldn't the truck not drive if thats clutch material? before i dropped the pan the truck still drove and i only noticed that the lock up was dragging a bit in reverse. and when in drive the lock up would engage prematurely in other forward gears... but the truck still drove. why?

 

Clutch material gets worn away over time. That doesn't meant that there isn't still material left on the clutch plates/bands inside the transmission, it just means there is less material.

 

oh ok thats good to hear. just curious, when i clean those small bits up what color are they supposed to be?

 

They are usually black because of heat. The color of the clutches when new depends on the materials used. Some aftermarket clutches are red. Some are blue. Some black. etc.

 

will a magnet stick to those little square pieces? or are they not made of metal?