Thats what I was thinking. My suspicion is on the clutch packs and bands.

if you are losing oil and coolant at any rate it could also be head gasket as much as i know you dont really want to hear that

Did he say he was losing oil and coolant? I haven't read too much of the thread. OP, if you're routinely having to top up your fluids, it might be worth looking at the head gasket after trying everything else. How hot does your car normally run? To get an exact indication of the coolant temperature, put your dash into diagnostic mode and drive around one day as you normally would, then jot down the peak temperature. Your car might be running hotter than it should (the same thing was happening with my car until I discovered the previous owner had tucked the mudguard up over the front of the radiator for some reason.)

Is your oil milky? Is your coolant a colour other than green? There might be a deeper issue here.

EDIT: To put the dash into diagnostic mode, do the following steps in order;

1. Turn the ignition on to accessory.
2. Hold down the odometer reset button for 10 seconds.
3. On the 10th second, switch the ignition on (don't start the car though.)
4. As you do this, press the reset button 3 times quickly, holding down on the 3rd press.
5. Wait until the seatbelt warning light is off, wait a second, then quickly let go of the button.
6. Your odometer should go blank before flashing 'FORD'.
7. Press the reset button to scroll through the different readouts. I'm not sure which screen number the coolant temp display is, but it'll be set to 30C at the lowest when the car has cooled down completely.

Whoa back up a bit..

While i do expect with my luck and this car so far I will be doing a head gasket at some point in time, Theirs no reason i should suspect it just yet. I don't really lose coolant or oil, and even 67RCE had a look over the engine with me for the 'usual signs' and failed to see any.

Admittedly not long after i got it i had topped the coolant up, drove it to work and had the coolant warning go off on me.. But i just topped it off.. walked into work.. came back a few hours later and its held its fluid since then. My coolant is green.. Although still for the most part just water (Yes i know.. Run coolant through it.. I'm getting to it.. I'm just still finishing my course for my job so I'm still on trainee ship wage and still recovering from the debt iv put myself in buying a car that had "Little needed" done to it.)

My oil was another thing 67RCE had looked at and it was pretty obvious the cars been previously run into the ground and the oils been changed as much as id expected by the look of the rest of the 'regular maintenance' it clearly got.. But its not watery or tar black at all.

As for how hot it runs.. If you believe the guage.. It's running about right.. Needle usually sits on A or L of normal. The motor itself is hot to touch after a bit of driving but i would have thought that would be expected?

Think I'm going to have to face it and find another box for it. But either gumtree is out of boxes or I'm searching with the wrong keywords.

Yeah, A or L of normal sounds fairly, well... normal haha. Mine runs at just below the L on the highway, around the A in the city. Generally with EF/EL Falcons, you don't really need to start inspecting anything unless it habitually climbs over the M.

EDIT: As for searching Gumtree for transmissions, generally just a "falcon transmission" or similar will suffice. I find it hard to believe that there wouldn't be any for sale regardless of what state you're in.

changed fuel filter today.. no change.

Time to start saving for another box.

$250 later & 186,000ks

Good pick up.

Sounds to me (as mentioned above) that the clutch packs are fried. I had mine go not that long back. 1st was slloooowwww, roll completely off throttle to get it to change to second. Second & third were fine, 4th at highway speed was massive slip I was able to maintain 100ks to work & by the time I got home, only 70.

Got to the street before mine with a long stretch of road between two hills put the thing in third & hauled like a freight train.

Box change later, all good.

It's horrible isn't it? Did you find fuel consumption was pretty bad to due to trying to keep the speed up?

I could just about watch my fuel gauge sink every time i have to give it the beans to keep it engaged going up hill.. The other day an excel overtook me and he was not speeding.

Anyways, It's still in the boot unfortunately. Awaiting until the stars align and myself and the guy coming to help me are both not working and its able to be done.

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Not sure if you’re still on here mate but did fixing the exhaust really fix the auto? That’s insane!

Hey man, This'll be going back some many years now but if it was the EL I was talking about that ended up having an issue with timing. It was pretty retarded. Once sorted that it was a very different car. It had some rust when I brought it which ended up getting worse so I eventually sold it to a wrecker. Brought an NF Fairlane that I did an AU swap on cause it ended up having a head gasket leak from previous owner.

Don't recall an exhaust fixing anything.. I think maybe the EL I had suspected the Cat converter but yeah that ended up being a timing issue