Tranny fluid Q´s

[SuperSwede]

I have a -96 explorer 4.0 efi with about 200.000 kilometers on it, and no knowledge of prior service history. Lately the fuelconsumption has gone up, and it has started to loose power and gears down under slightest load and light accelerations.

I´ve have minimal experience with auto trans, but thought a ATF change seemed like a good idea.
A shop here charges about 440$ for a ATF change on a Explorer with filter and 12 liters of fluid.

On a budget, I got myself a filterkit and a good amount of Mercon V spec ATF. I dropped the pan and drained out the fluid. Out came about 4-4½ liters, but specs says 9.3 liters !?

Q: Is it ok to just install the new filter and fill her up, or is there any simple way of draining the rest of fluid out?
The fluid was quite dark and smelly and had alot of residue in the pan, the magnetic strip was covered in grime and gunk.
I would like to get as much fresh fluid in as possible.

Best regards

 

[2000StreetRod]

oil cooler

You have one or more ATF oil coolers in your vehicle that also hold fluid. The fluid leaves your transmission and flows to the in radiator cooler via a metal tube. If you have the external cooler in front of your A/C condenser the ATF flows from the radiator cooler to the other external cooler then back to the transmission. If you don't have the external cooler then the ATF flows back to the transmission after the radiator cooler. If you have the external cooler, it is plumbed with flexible hose. Some forum members disconnect the hose, run the engine long enough to collect a liter or so, shut off the engine, add a new liter via the filler tube and continue the process until almost all of the external fluid has been replaced.

Be very meticulous about cleanliness when replacing your filter and pan. I suspect that many of the complaints about transmission failure after changing the filter are due to disturbed crud getting stuck in the valves.

 

[ranger7ltr]

dropping the pan only changes part of the fluid...

The rest is inside the torque convertor and inside the transmission...You can do a tranny flush[or have it done] or I recommend installing an external filter and filter the garbage in the rest of the fluid out through a filter similar to the oil filter on the engine.

I have the same situation with my Explorer with 151k and the maintenance on the truck was non-exisent...I wasn't having a real problem with the transmission but wanted to cleanse the fluid in the unit... I started with a pan drop and added a drain plug to the pan as well as an external filter which I would change every 2k... The stuff inside the filter element was unreal.. After the first time though it has been clear....

And with the drain plug I can drop 4 qts. out of the tranny and replace it as easily as opening the lever on the plug and pouring more fluid back into the unit...