Hi all
I have just put a 2nd hand engine into the father inlaw's Magna.
I hooked it all up and have got the engine going.
The question is I went to put it in drive and got nothing, tried all other gears and still got no movement.?????

It is an auto
The gear select cable is connected and tightend
There is currently minimal trans fluid, as I didn't want to fill it up only to have to remove it again
(Could this be the problem? is there a sensor?).
The first thought I had was that the gearbox driveshaft somehow wasn't long enough for the motor(gearbox & motor could be different years).

Any way any suggestions would be appreciated.

THANK YOU

Transmission fluid, son. Fill it up and get back to us.

it wont be the drive shafts . is it the origenal gear box. even low fuild you should get reverse .is the nautral safty switch conected.

thanks guys, I 'll get him to fill up trans fluid tomorrow. It is the original box just not sure on the 2nd hand engine year. Not sure what the "Natural safety switch looks like"???

allso called inhibitor. white plastic bit under where the auto cable coneccts to gearbox.

you need fluid, hydraulic pressure is built up in various places.

Low or no transmission fluid means there's nothing in the torque converter, which relies on fluid pressure to transmit the rotational power from the engine to the transmission, hence no movement.

There's also the large number of hydraulic components within the transmission that rely on fluid pressure to operate (perform gear changes, etc), but i'm not familiar with Magna transmissions specifically so i'll refrain from comment at this stage.

Thanks all How stupid am I, Filled up with trans fluid this morning and away she went.

Anyway was a good learning experience by installing my first front wheel drive engine. I,d better just stick to my manual mazdas.

Thanks