99 xlt 5r55e trans maintenance ???

[ademon]

just picked up a 99 xlt in great condition 140k, put about 400 miles on it so far and it seems to shift just fine. Previous owner said the fluid was exchanged on a machine around 90K or so, it looks fairly clean not bright red but still reddish. Not sure what the shop used for fluid but i think changing it now would be a good idea. I picked up two cases of castrol mercon v, a purolator filter with pan gasket and the small motorcraft inline filter to install between my external cooler outlet and trans return line. I'm planning on dropping the pan and replacing the filter then refilling it, loosening the return line and doing the one quart out and replacing one quart at a time until it comes out like the new fluid then installing the inline filter, maybe 16Q total i guess. anyway what would you do if anything while the pan is off??

 

[BrooklynBay]

Check the torque of the valve body bolts, the condition of the valve body gaskets, the internal wiring harness, and the EPC bracket.

 

[ademon]

Just to update I dropped the pan and it didn't look bad,
The magnet had about a thimble full of grey sludge, no chunks or big particles. The filter looked like the original but clean. I cleaned up the pan, added a drain plug, installed the new filter, wires and everything else looked fine. I decided against disturbing the VB bolt torque. I then refilled with about 5q of Castrol Mercon V. Then used cooler flush and back flushed the aux and rad cooler. Then began the fluid exchange using 22q total. I also added a Magnefine 3/8" magnetic in line trans filter in the return line just after the aux trans cooler. Shifts nice and smooth hope she goes well over 200k!! I plan on on draining the pan and refilling after 5k along with a fresh Magnefine filter. Then every 30k after that.