Fluid Change

[Stoli]

I have been lurking for a while and doing a lot of reading. There seems to be a lot of opinions on when the right time to change fluids are. I have some time off from work and I want to take care of some stuff on the wife's car. I am going to change out the engine oil, fuel filter, air filter and clean the throttle body. I use the X for hunting on the weekend about 5 months out of the year, which is mainly off road driving, in addition to putting about 15000 city/highway miles on a year. Does this amount of off road use warrant changing the transmission and transfer case oils at 30,000 vice 150,000 miles? Also, I see that the rear differential is good for 150,000 miles but I can't find anything about the front. What is the recommended time for the front diff? I have an '04 4wd Eddie Bauer with 67,000 miles. Thanks

 

[jrford]

I have an '04 4.6L AWD at 40k changed F/R Diffs, Xfr Case at 30k Glad i did they were black, replaced with Full Syn in the Diffs, Regular Mercon? in the Xfr case. I wouldn't wait for 150k. Only thing left is the Trans, plan on doing that before 50k. I also do 5k Oil changes.

 

[trucku]

I changed my F/R Differentials and transfer case fluid at about 50k miles. I bought the truck with 45k miles on it. The fluid was like thick black syrup. Don't forget to add a friction modifier to the rear end when you change the fluid. If you listened to the recommended intervals your fluids would turn to tar...lol.

Our trannys are "service free also".....lol. I changed that fluid too and it was not looking pretty when I drained it.

CHANGE THEM FLUIDS...DO IT NOW..STOP READING...CHANGE IT NOW.!...

 

[Donner]

Welcome Stoli! It seems now would be a good time to have all fluids changed. 150k, where did that come from? Either way, 150k is way to long to not have changed it.

 

[Stoli]

Thanks for the suggestions. I got the 150k from the service manual. Some of the items I listed are up for servicing at 150k while others say that they are good for the life of the vehicle but from what I can tell, Ford considers the life of the vehicle to be 150k. For those of you that change the fluids more often than is called for is it because you drive your vehicles particularly hard or do you just enjoy working on your truck?

 

[rrgone]

For those of you that change the fluids more often than is called for is it because you drive your vehicles particularly hard or do you just enjoy working on your truck?

Neither one. I want my Explorer to last for 150K plus.

 

[trucku]

+1 to rrgone.

Preventive maintenance! Its cheap insurance.

 

[Hitchhikingmike]

It is a good idea to get your tranny flushed and have a new filter put in. When I flushed mine at 40k the fluid was dark

At 40k my power steering fluid was dark as well so I have flushed that.

It would also be a good idea to flush your engine coolant and put new coolant in to prevent corrosion.

 

[jrford]

+2 to rrgone, my jeep is 12yrs and 140k and I always did like 30k change everthing fluid.
One think i forgot about Coolant try to do that at about 50k

 

[crash594]

I got over 250000 mile on my 95 X before I sold it just by changing the fluids on a regular schedule. The only thing that failed was the alternator and the ac pump.

 

[Hitchhikingmike]

I got over 250000 mile on my 95 X before I sold it just by changing the fluids on a regular schedule. The only thing that failed was the alternator and the ac pump.

Holly crap! Your telling me you put 250k on your original automatic transmission?

What about the water pump?

 

[crash594]

All original and I evan tow a 2500 pound boat. I changed the tranny fluid and filter every 60K.

 

[crash594]

Sorry I forgot 1 fuel pump due to towing the boat at 70MPH with low fuel and I evan know better.

 

[Hitchhikingmike]

Sorry I forgot 1 fuel pump due to towing the boat at 70MPH with low fuel and I evan know better.

I don't understand how a low fuel tank can cause a fuel pump to go out?

Neither do I really understand how driving at 70mph can harm the fuel pump.

I think the fuel pump is just a normal wear item unrelated to towing at 70mph with a low tank of gas.

 

[crash594]

The fuel cools the pump. Towing at high speeds causes a high draw on the pump. I am sure the age did not help either.

 

[Hitchhikingmike]

Ok. I did not think of it that way, it does make sense.

 

[fyrfyter612]

Always a good thing to keep up on the fluids. As far as cleaning the throttle body I'd hold off on that. The newer ones have a deposit resistant coating on them and if you clean them then you'll clean that coating off potentially causing additional problems. I worked as a Ford tech for 10 years before getting on the f.d. full time and Ford started using it on the throttle bodies a while ago.

 

[crash594]

Aer the usung that coating on the plastic intake or just the metal?

 

[fyrfyter612]

If can recall right it's on the butterfly plate and where it closes on the inside of the throttle body.