Trans Fluid Change

[peterbrown77]

I have 97,000 on my '00 SOHC w/automatic and figure it is about time to change the transmission fluid. I was going to swap it to synthetic at the same time. Does anyone have a good procedure to get ALL the fluid out, short of removing the torque converter?

TIA
Peter Brown

 

[aldive]

A complete flush is what you need; here is how I do mine:

It is best to drop the pan ( at least once ) and change the filter, Refill with ATF of your choice and then do the following flush procedure:

I disconnected the "to transmission" hose from my remote filter housing. I plugged and clamped the disconnected line and added and hose clamped a 6 ft length of 3/8? line to the housing. The other end went into a calibrated water jug ( 1 gal size ).

The the truck run at idle while 1 quart is pumped out. Stop the truck andd add back 1 quart of new ATF.

We used 15 quarts of Amsoil ATF.

Even though this ATF ( Amsoil ) has about 50 k miles on it, it still looked remarkably good, just slightly darker in color.

After the flush/fill was completed, I added a new K & N filter to the housing and reattached the hoses.

The procedure took my son and I about 15 minutes to complete. There was no mess since we were well prepared for the flush; nary a drop was spilled.
__________________

Good luck ........

 

[peterbrown77]

Remote filter housing?

 

[aldive]

Remote filter housing?

Its the base for my remote filter.

 

[peterbrown77]

So is disconnecting the cooler lines at the radiator accomplishing the same task? And, if so, which is the return?

Mine seems to be shifting a little funny; hanging onto a lower gear during acceleration if I take my foot off the gas. Kind of like a little engine braking going on. The fluid looks completely clear and no burned odor though. I have only had the car for about 5K miles so I don't know when it was last serviced.

Regards

 

[aldive]

So is disconnecting the cooler lines at the radiator accomplishing the same task? And, if so, which is the return?

Yes, the cooler lines will serve the same purpose.

Disconnect both lines and start the truck for a few seconds and see which line flows. Use catch pails.

Good luck ........

 

[Lloyd10977]

I now found this to work for me:
- disconnect BOTH lines to the radiator and attach a length of clear hose to each.
- clamp right on the flare to minimize leaks and mess.
- start the engine and let the fluid flow into a catch pan. (I use the same one for changing the oil.
- Just as the fluid begins to slow, start adding fresh fluid through a large funnel.
- Keep adding until clean fluid just begins to flow through one of the hoses.
- Stop engine, remove hoses, reattach lines to the radiator.
- Start engine, shift tranny through all gears, check level and top off with fresh fluid.

Takes only a few minutes, simple, less mess, and I can do it again after about 100 miles or so to ensure all clean fluid.

 

[Lee S.]

As Aldive suggested it is recommended that you drop the pan and replace the internal filter. With the SOHC and 4wd you will need to remove the front driveshaft (or disconnect the exhaust) to drop the pan.

The flow goes like this: Hot fluid leaves tranny thru the lower of the lines on the tranny. It then goes to the upper connection of the radiator. It leaves the radiator thru the lower connection and goes to the driver's side fitting of the aux cooler. It leaves the aux cooler from the passenger side fitting and back to the upper tranny line into the tranny.

If you have an aux tranny cooler there should be rubber hoses connected to it which carry the tranny fluid. You can also disconnect them to do your flush.

 

[peterbrown77]

Well, the funny shifting got worse and worse - and it wasn't humorous "funny" either. I never got to change the fluid - except peripherally when the new transmission was installed. A happy ending, though - the first owner of this car bought the extended (and transferable!) warranty, so Ford put a brand new transmission in for a $50 bill (the deductible). 98,700 miles on the odometer, so I cut it pretty close!

I didn't even know of the warranty when I bought it and I thought my goose was cooked.

I guess this is the ideal time to purge it and put synthetic in.