its coming from a car with a seized motor, and im just wondering if there is anyway to tell if an auto tranny is good before i pull it all the way out if not then i guess i will just have to wait till i intstall it

Drop the trans pan and inspect the internals that you can see and look at the fluid color and trans filter. Smell it. At that point if you don't think anything is totally fubar then about the only direction to go is bench testing it at a shop that does trans rebuilds or something or to install and test it.

For both of the ones that I took out of the yard, I first looked for other reasons why the car would be in the junkyard. Yours has a seized motor; that's probably why it's off the road.

 

Another thing to do is check the fluids. Translucent red trans fluid is great. Check the diff as well. Should look like heavy motor oil. If the diff is bone dry, stay away from that trans. If there's any indication of the two fluids mixing, forget about using that trans.

 

Pull the pan and take a look. How does the filter look? One trans that I had go bad had a ripped filter. Not a good sign. Also check the magnet in the pan. If it has lots of metal shavings stuck to it, get another transmission.

 

Pull the governor gear and check it according to these instructions: http://usmb.net/repair/?CurrentDirectory=FOLDER_3f29b58f50d9b8.15492800/&FileType=Article&File=ARTICLE_3f57fdb83de231.34713659.art

 

That's all I know to check, I kind of had a "crash course" in automatic transmission service and there's lots I don't know. After doing all those things I managed to go 2 for 2 with pulling good transmissions from the junkyard, so I'd like to think I was doing *something* right.

Well the Fluid Looked Good, as did the Diff Oil, i almost got it all the way pulled yesterday but it got too cold and too dark so i hafta go back on my next day off and finish getting it off, thanks for the quick replys

pull the governor shaft and inspect it for the gear being stripped, and clean it out while its out for good measure. usually trans that dont shift right have a clogged governor