2005 sport trac XLT transmission slipping when cold

[touchmenot24]

Hey everyone! My sport trac started having this problem for a few months now. I noticed that this only happens when the engine is still cold. I'll let the engine run for about a minute or so, put it on drive and sometimes it feels like it's still in neutral, press on accelerator and it won't go for a couple seconds, and then suddenly lurch(shudder) forward.

Sometimes it engages smoothly from park, I turn two corners and suddenly I feel like I slipped in neutral again(foot on gas and I'm not going any faster despite the RPM going higher on the tachometer), then a couple seconds later; I lurch forward again. Has anyone experienced this issue?

My truck did start leaking transmission fluid, so the reason might be that my transmission fluid level is low. I fill it up a little every week, but I find it hard to properly do so cause I can't accurately check the levels using the dip stick and I really don't want to end up overfilling the transmission fluid. I plan to drop the pan, change the filter, replace the gasket(which I presume is the cause of the leak), and refill the transmission fluid.

I tried searching on this forum, but I can't seem to find the right transmission filter for my truck. All I can find is for the 4WD, I have a 2005 Ford explorer Sport Trac XLT 2WD V6 SOHC Auto-trans. Does anyone have a link or a part number?

Picture of leak:

 

[ptf18]

How many miles on the transmission and when was the fluid last changed? Just my .02 worth but going by your picture if I was going to do ANY work on your S/T the first thing I would do is get the ENTIRE belly of your vehicle spotlessly clean. I'd use canS of engine cleaner and the CAREFULL use of the local drive-in car wash pressure washer.

But that's just me YMMV.

You could be correct that your fluid level is low.

 

[touchmenot24]

How many miles on the transmission and when was the fluid last changed? Just my .02 worth but going by your picture if I was going to do ANY work on your S/T the first thing I would do is get the ENTIRE belly of your vehicle spotlessly clean. I'd use canS of engine cleaner and the CAREFULL use of the local drive-in car wash pressure washer.

But that's just me YMMV.

You could be correct that your fluid level is low.

Hi ptf18, mileage is at 219k, fluid was last changed more than a year ago. About the dirt, yeah I will clean that before I do anything to it, my truck developed an oil leak earlier that we fixed, the dirt is from the leftover oil that we couldn't clean.

Do you know if the part I need is the motorcraft ft 134 or motorcraft ft 133? Also, since it developed a leak, do you think it's necessary for me to change the pan cover as well or just the gasket?

 

[ptf18]

Don't know the p/n of YOUR transmission filter. You check Rock Auto? What about ford.com? I doubt you have issues with your cover unless the previous fluid changer over tightened the hardware and warped the flange.