ErichExplorer
New Member
- Joined
- April 30, 2019
- Messages
- 6
- Reaction score
- 0
- City, State
- Boston
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- 2013 Explorer XLT 3.5LV6
My 2013 has about 84k miles and based on many of the threads I have on this forum I decided to do a flush of the transmission fluid. I tow a snowmobile trailer about 175 miles about 8 to 10 times a winter so I figured no harm in doing a flush at this point.
This weekend I drained 4.5 qts of fluid from the transmission drain plug and added the same amount back in the dipstck tube. Quite simple. That is until I started the engine again. As soon as I started the car I heard a loud, very concerning thunk. This was followed by two terrain management faults, the traction control “off” light coming on as well as the traction control fault light coming on. And just for good measure, the check engine light came on as well. So I was now staring at five warnings in my dash. I let the car idle for a few minutes and shifted into R - another very loud thunk, I shifted slowly into N - another loud thunk. I shifted slowly into D - you guessed it, another loud thunk.
The same thunks repeated on the way down back to P. I checked the fluid level with the engine running and it was perfectly centered in the middle of the Hash marks. I shut off the engine, waited a few minutes and then started it again. The same thunk repeated in startup as well as the same thunks moving through the gears.
I have read many posts and watched many YouTube videos about draining and filling transmission fluid in this car (I used MC Dextron LV) and there is not a single mention of anything like this happening.
So I now fear I have taken 100,000 miles of life out of my transmission. I can’t figure out what I have done wrong.
I have exchanged the fluid in the PTU in this car without issue, which is much more complicated than the transmission fluid exchange. Also, the Explorer transmission seems much, much simpler than the BMW and Jaguar transmissions I have completed without a single issue.
Is there a critical step I missed in what seemed like a simple process of draining some of the transmission fluid and filling the same amount back in?
This weekend I drained 4.5 qts of fluid from the transmission drain plug and added the same amount back in the dipstck tube. Quite simple. That is until I started the engine again. As soon as I started the car I heard a loud, very concerning thunk. This was followed by two terrain management faults, the traction control “off” light coming on as well as the traction control fault light coming on. And just for good measure, the check engine light came on as well. So I was now staring at five warnings in my dash. I let the car idle for a few minutes and shifted into R - another very loud thunk, I shifted slowly into N - another loud thunk. I shifted slowly into D - you guessed it, another loud thunk.
The same thunks repeated on the way down back to P. I checked the fluid level with the engine running and it was perfectly centered in the middle of the Hash marks. I shut off the engine, waited a few minutes and then started it again. The same thunk repeated in startup as well as the same thunks moving through the gears.
I have read many posts and watched many YouTube videos about draining and filling transmission fluid in this car (I used MC Dextron LV) and there is not a single mention of anything like this happening.
So I now fear I have taken 100,000 miles of life out of my transmission. I can’t figure out what I have done wrong.
I have exchanged the fluid in the PTU in this car without issue, which is much more complicated than the transmission fluid exchange. Also, the Explorer transmission seems much, much simpler than the BMW and Jaguar transmissions I have completed without a single issue.
Is there a critical step I missed in what seemed like a simple process of draining some of the transmission fluid and filling the same amount back in?