Transmission Fluid Change Issues.....HELP!!!

[Austin's Girl]

I bought my 94 Limited a month ago. I took it today to have the transmission fluid flushed and changed. After comparing prices, I took my truck to Champion, the big Ford dealer in town. They told me it would cost about $100. and take about an hour and a half. I dropped my truck off and went to take care of a few things. They called me from Champion and told me they couldn't change my transmission fluid. The reason was that they had to drain the fluid through the coolant hose which connects to the radiator...?! They said they tried to get the hose loose and when they did, my radiatior flexed. They said if they changed the fluid, it would break a piece off my radiator, then I would have to replace that. I have never heard of this happening before. Is this possible? Someone please help me understand. Keep in mind, my truck is a 94 Limited with 4.0 v6 automatic transmission. Thanks!

 

[Glacier991]

There is a steel line from the transmission to the radiator... inside the radiator is a smaller one for the transmission - (no the fluids do not mix). The radiator end caps - where these lines screw in, are plastic. There is in that plastic end caps places where the line(s) from and to the transmission screw in. What I am not recalling with certainty, is that there is a metal piece (a long "bushing sort of) that screws into the radiator, and the line flare fitting screws into THAT. You *ought* to be able to hold that fitting with a flare wrench and then using a smaller one undo the line without ANY pressure being applied to the radiator...others ?

 

[Glacier991]

I had just replaced a radiator in a 93 Sable, and was relying on that to make my reply above. When I got home, I looked at my 92, and sure enough, same same. To help here's a picture.... the end cap on the radiator (the thing all this is screwed into), IS plastic. there is a place the thing I referred to as a "bushing" gets screwed into.... then the line fitting screws into that... here is a pic of an extra bushing from the Sable job I recently did... this is what can be held still while the line fitting it loosened..

here is the actual fitting in my 1992 Explorer

ALl of this assumes that your 91 is the same as my 92, which i *THINK* it is. If I am correct, then it would seem to me that if you used the proper wrench (called a flare nut wrench) on that big fitting, it should be easy to put a lot of torque on the nut holding the line into it (using a second, and smaller flare nut wrench), without bending ANYTHING. I always hate to overcall someone else's work when I am not there, but this one has me mystified. Go somewhere else.

The operative thing here is to use, whenever you can, ONLY flare nut wrenches on fittings like these!

 

[Albino 94LTD]

'94 LTD's should all have an auxillary tranny cooler in front of the radiator. There would be plumbing connecting the output of the cooler inside of the radiator to the Aux cooler. Mine routed under the radiator.

There are a couple of threads on flushing tranny fluid, try searching. You can probably save $60 by doing it yourself. I also added an aux filter w/temp sensor since I tow a ski boat in the summer.

I'll post a couple pix of the filter mount tomorrow, if you'd like.

 

[Opera House]

I'd keep a watch on your tranny fluid for foam and coolant level for drop. Concerned about this "flex" they talked about. They don't put the smartest people on fluid change detail. When I replaced my radiator, I was unable to get this adaptor off. It was very easy to snap off the threaded section in the radiator. If this guy didn't use two wrenches first to get off the line, he may have introduced stress cracks into this very thin brass in the heat exchanger. It is not unusual for these thin aluminum radiators to go start leaking coolant at this age anyway.