Tranny Shifting Like New From Simple Fluid Swap

[jonboyb]

Background, bought my father in laws 2003 2wd Mountaineer to use while building a house. 130k miles and really nice, but transmission had a bizarre 5th and OD shift....sometimes hard, sometimes a shutter, etc. Of course assumed normal 5r55 issues like solenoid pack, servos, etc. The weird part was it is so smooth in reverse and all gears up to 5th. Anyways, was about to start looking into a rebuild or at least the solenoids and servos, but decided to service it and limp as long as possible. Almost added some snake-oil treatments too Decided to dilute the old fluid and see what happened instead. Drained as much as I could (maybe 3.5 quarts) and replaced with fresh Mercon V. I couldn't source Motorcraft locally today so had to buy Castrol. Fast forward an hour, finished pumping it in and cleaning up the substantial mess, and took it on the road. I can't MAKE it shift funny now no matter what I do....it's butter smooth. It's like a brand new tranny from 3.5 quarts of fresh ATF. My mind is blown. Gonna put some miles on it any maybe swap fluid a couple more times.

I'm actually wondering if my FIL got suckered when he had the tranny serviced and they used the wrong fluid. Either way, happy day Knocks wood!!!!!

 

[apenland01]

Awesome to hear! Glad a simple solution solved that problem for you!

 

[jonboyb]

Time will tell if I dodged a bullet.....I was expecting the worst. But for right now all is right with the world.....lol.

 

[Number Twelve]

Here's an idea: Change out 3.5 quarts of tranny fluid every time you do an oil change for a couple of years. Four of five of those and you will have the fluid 78% changed, which drastically beats no fluid changes at all for 100,000 miles.

 

[apenland01]

I fall into the category of "don't mess with happy"......

I'm at 227k and have only changed the fluid once at 30k at the dealer way back in 2007. Haven't touched it since. I'm completely convinced the sludge is the only thing holding it together and I'm not messing with it until the tranny falls out of the Explorer.....

I'm still dealing with my random misfire issue and hope to have some resolution in the next week or so.

 

[Tech By Trade]

Do mine annually due to towing. If its good don't mess with it. If it does start acting up a band adjustment does wonders as well and is simple maintenance.