help assessing 97 transmission ax4n

Hi I bought a used 97 Taurus wagon with 166,000 miles on it. It was very cheep because the transmission doesn’t shift into overdrive and it had miss (bad coil), and clogged erg passage both of which kept the check engine light on and the previous owner could not solve the problems. Any ways I have fixed the engine problems and moved on to the transmission. I have read that a common problem with the ax4n is a broken clip in the valve body that stops one of the spool valves from moving or a bad variable speed sensor, but since the speedometer behaves and it shifts normally from 1-2-3, I am assuming the problem is in the valve body. I have started to take the car apart to get to the valve body and have drained the transmission fluid. When I dropped the oil pan and examined the magnet it was covered in at least an 1/8th inch of very fine metal dust and oil. My question is this much metal dust normal? I have never seen that much on any other of my automatics. My other question is the amount of metal dust an indication that I should pursue a complete rebuild rather than fix only the valve body? Or can I get away with the valve body fix, new filter fluid and one of the transmission fluid additives?

Thanks

Jeff

Not a good sign. Especially if there was a lot of black gook in the pan and if you think that the filter is orginal. Good Luck

Thanks for the response. I actually just got the car back on the road again. I bought a Sonnax forward valve kit that contained a new foreward vavle, springs and clip. I replaced the old damaged valve and clip and put the everthing back together. Added a bottle of lucus trans fix and just under 10 quarts of mercon to bring it up the correct level now the car shifts into overdrive and seams to idel better than before. Hopefully the fix will last.

Jeff