FordJimbo
Active Member
- Joined
- May 7, 2020
- Messages
- 55
- Reaction score
- 18
- City, State
- NYB
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- 1998 Explorer
I have 3 Fords (no ATF drain plugs). Rather than trying to drop the pan, and deal with that hassle and mess, I opted to buy and try a Mityvac fluid extractor. Here's my report. The $100 extractor was an incredible value. It extracted 4.1 liters from each of my Ford Crown Vic cars and 2.6L from my 1998 Explorer 4.0 SOHC. I think I can probably get more out of the Explorer if I park it differently, maybe with either the front on a slight downslope or upslope. I'll be experimenting tying to get maximum fluid out.
The learning curve on the Mityvac takes about 15-30 minutes. After that, you shove the tube in the dipstick hole, pump the MV 20 times, and the fluid is sucked right out of the pan. You observe the amount removed, and replace with fresh Mercon V. You can flip a switch and reverse the system and drain the MV into a empty container and that is nearly effortless. If you are careful this is almost mess free. The first drain and fill replaces the most, about 1/4 to 1/3rd. Successive attempts replace less and less of course.
If you drive it for a distance after each fluid change, you can do this successive to try to remove/replace maximum fluids. Each time you do that it replaces about 20% to 35% of the fluid, but consecutive replacements removes a corresponding amount of the "new" fluids, so to ballpark the math it takes about 5 or 6 drain and fill attempts to replace about 50-70% of the fluid. There are sophisticated algorithms online if you're obcessive about knowing the amount replaced.
While I realize the pan should be dropped, magnet cleaned, and filter should at some point be replaced, that's probably a 1/2 day job for a shade-tree mechanic. It's messy. My local transmission shop wants $200 to do it. So, doing this on a regular basis at least keeps fresh fluids in the transmission and it's incredibly easy. It takes about 30 minutes per vehicle once you learn how it works. Another advantage is doing this BEFORE a pan drop to make it a lot less messy under the vehicle.
Also, I plan to do oil changes, power steering, coolant changes, etc. with it. An excellent $100 tool.
The learning curve on the Mityvac takes about 15-30 minutes. After that, you shove the tube in the dipstick hole, pump the MV 20 times, and the fluid is sucked right out of the pan. You observe the amount removed, and replace with fresh Mercon V. You can flip a switch and reverse the system and drain the MV into a empty container and that is nearly effortless. If you are careful this is almost mess free. The first drain and fill replaces the most, about 1/4 to 1/3rd. Successive attempts replace less and less of course.
If you drive it for a distance after each fluid change, you can do this successive to try to remove/replace maximum fluids. Each time you do that it replaces about 20% to 35% of the fluid, but consecutive replacements removes a corresponding amount of the "new" fluids, so to ballpark the math it takes about 5 or 6 drain and fill attempts to replace about 50-70% of the fluid. There are sophisticated algorithms online if you're obcessive about knowing the amount replaced.
While I realize the pan should be dropped, magnet cleaned, and filter should at some point be replaced, that's probably a 1/2 day job for a shade-tree mechanic. It's messy. My local transmission shop wants $200 to do it. So, doing this on a regular basis at least keeps fresh fluids in the transmission and it's incredibly easy. It takes about 30 minutes per vehicle once you learn how it works. Another advantage is doing this BEFORE a pan drop to make it a lot less messy under the vehicle.
Also, I plan to do oil changes, power steering, coolant changes, etc. with it. An excellent $100 tool.