Tranny fluid question

[scottieD]

Just tried to buy some ATF from Ford for a fluid change utilising the cooler lines, but they told me it would be a complete waste of time and money as I wouldn't get the fluid out of the torque converter.
Does anyone have any thoughts on this, I would like to do it myself as they charge 220CDN for a fluid change??

 

[kit352]

changing out all the fluid is damn near impossible. you can do most of it yourself. start by dropping the pan and change the filter. youll lose alot just by doing that.

 

[Anime]

It's perfectly fine to do it yourself, but the old fashioned way of using the transmission drain plug works fine without messing with cooler lines. You won't get all the fluid out on the first change, but that's why the better way to do it is change the fluid again after a few weeks. If it's got high miles and the fluid has never been changed, it might be a good idea to drop the pan and change the transmission filter, too. But on the next changes, you can just drain the fluid without dropping the pan. You'll get most of the fluid changed out, and have saved a ton of money in the process.

 

[91-Exploder]

I love it when the S^HDealer lies to you. When you do the cooler line transmission flush the pump in the A4LD is picking up fresh fluid from the source bucket and depositing used fluid in the waste bucket. This is the ONLY way you can do a complete exchange of all the ATF in the transmission.

Go to a reputable job shop (not Autozone, Checker, Advanced) buy 5 gallons of Mercon-II ATF and a empty 5 gallon bucket and some rubber transmission hose connect the suction side of the tranny to the fresh ATF and the discharge to the empty bucket. Start the engine and put it in gear while holding down the brake and having a buddy watch the bucket when the bucket gets 7/8 full stop the engine and reconnect the cooler to the lines. 30 Days after doing this change the transmission filter as it will be full of crap as ATF is 10 weight oil with a attitude skipping this last step is usually what blows transmissions after a flush as the filter clogs and the excessive pressure from the pump blows out seals in the tranny.

 

[icymikeak]

I installed a drain plug in the tranny pan about 80,000 miles ago. Since then I drain the tranny pan at about every other oil change period. Although this does not change all the fluid it does "freshen" it some what.

Mike

 

[Maniak]

Does the a4ld actually suck up the fluid. I remember trying that years ago on a different ford (way before we had the explorer) and we learned quickly that the pump will pump the fluid from the pan into the cooler but it would not suck it up from another bucket back into the transmission.

Once we had the cooler line disconnected.. we had to fill the pan (through the dipstick tube), start the truck for a few seconds and let it push the fluid into the bucket. Then fill the pan again and do it again. We did that for about 3 gallons of fluid then changed the pan filter/fluid in the pan.

I no longer do this.. What I do now is change the pan fluid more often (about every 10k miles).. I figure this is just as good, if not better than doing a flush every 60k miles. BTW.. I also have an external filter installed just in case.

~Mark