ATF change and front diff fluid change.

[MrPulldown]

Did a drain and fill, along with a pan drop and filter change. Fluid was pretty dark and gunky. I did a drain and fill about 20K ago. Filled it with 4 quarts of Supertech Merc V and about 1.5 quarts of Maxlife. Though maxlife does not specifically state that it is Mercon V compatible, there has been a lot of documentation on this site that it works fine. I was a little short and did not want to run to the store; I had a jug of maxlife ATF on hand.

My Father in Law must have done a pan drop at some point. Aside from a little grim on the magnet and filter body things were pretty clean. I think the filter was aftermarket too as it was not a motorcraft branded part. Installed a WIX filter and cleaned the magnet. That reusable OE gasket sure is nice. Not sure why WIX included that POS rubber gasket.

I did have something that were a little weird. Ran the engine for 15 min or so and the tranny pan barely got warm. Did get a 85 degree reading off the pan so I figure that was warm enough. I let the ATF dripple out of the center drain tube hole with the transmission in P. I noticed that with the tranny in gear (R or any of the Ds) that the fluid stopped coming out of the drain hole. I suppose this is normal. Or should I be setting the fill level with the tranny in gear? I think most of the write up's say to do so in PARK.

The front diff oil was the only oil that I had not touched since taking possession of this car about 20K miles ago (now at 140K). Part of the reason was the fact that there is no drain plug and I did not want to go through to diff cover removal. Instead I was able to pull a siphon, and get the gear oil out. THat was some dirty fluid with silver streaks. Kind of wanted to pull the cover jsut to inspect and clean. Filled it with a mix of 75-90 and 80-90 w syn and conventional. What is the difference between the 2 weight gear oils (other than the 5w). Both are GL5. Does't seem like they should even have the 2 different weight oils. Am I missing something?

 

[Joe in NY]

transmissions main source of heat is the torque converter. When it's unloaded no heat is being generated. Best to have it idle in gear for a bit to get some heat in. When in gear more fluid is taken out of the pan to actuate the servos and clutch packs which make the "gears" so the fluid will stop dribbling out. What I found is a lot of people have issues when they drain the pan until it drips from the fill port and the shift kit I installed specifically stated that a steady stream needs to be pouring out or else its low. I filled mine up and let the stream run until the first little bubble came through and stopped it. Haven't had a single issue.

Usually, 75w-90 is specific for limited slip diffs or a special synthetic while 80w-90 tends to be conventional.

 

[MrPulldown]

transmissions main source of heat is the torque converter. When it's unloaded no heat is being generated. Best to have it idle in gear for a bit to get some heat in. When in gear more fluid is taken out of the pan to actuate the servos and clutch packs which make the "gears" so the fluid will stop dribbling out. What I found is a lot of people have issues when they drain the pan until it drips from the fill port and the shift kit I installed specifically stated that a steady stream needs to be pouring out or else its low. I filled mine up and let the stream run until the first little bubble came through and stopped it. Haven't had a single issue.

Usually, 75w-90 is specific for limited slip diffs or a special synthetic while 80w-90 tends to be conventional.

I had filled the trans with about 5 quarts. Shifted through the gears and the excessive fluid began to dripple out of the drain level hole. However I felt that I needed a steady stream to be confident that it was truly filled, thus I added another quart.