Had this truck about 3.5 yrs, & 75,000km=about 47,000 miles. Never had a transmission issue but am wondering if I should flush the fluid and change filter yet? Manual says not till 100,000. Seems kinda long though.

So should I spend the $250.00 yet or keep truckin awhile cause it ain't broke? We live in a cold climate, but drive it to Florida for a month every winter, and tow a 19' boat a bit in the Summers. Thoughts?

 

If it were my truck I would.

 

If you aren't having a problem with it and not doing any rough duty activity. I would wait and go to the recommended 100K.

 

You look like you have better credentials then the average good 'ol boy
on our forum.
Why exactly do you recommend he do this, at only the half life of the
fluid according to Ford?


Thanks

 

factory service interval for fluid is 150,000 miles regular duty or IIRC 30,000 miles severe service.

I have 58k miles and a blackstone UOA showed no reason to replace at this time.

 

Actually, if you follow this link https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...79184187,d.cGE for Ford's fleet service, you'll notice that the only thing that changes with towing is the transfer case fluid change interval. It changes from 150K normal to every 60K if towing. The transmission fluid change interval never changes according to this link.

Having said all this, I'll never run my ATF or transfer case for 150K miles. I'm looking at 100K miles for both as Ford is using the LV or lifetime fluid.

 

Nice link tseekins. I'll have to ask my dealer about the transfer case fluid change. I rolled 60K today and rolled 20K towing last Saturday. I had asked my dealer about changing the transmission fluid. He said he would do it if I wanted but if it was his truck he would change it according to the owners manual.

 

Theoretically there isn't any harm you'd do to putting fresh fluids in. I had trans fluids changed every 50k in my old Xterra and did the transfer case every 30k or so. If you're worried about it and don't mind spending a couple hundred bucks it can't hurt.

 

Previous generations of trans fluids were pink and an off colored fluid was a good indication that timely service had been neglected. Of course, the only way to tell is to have it tested by a lab.

The LV fluid is already off colored as compared to it's MERCON siblings. My 2010 Focus has the LV fluid with a 150K mile service interval and the car has a trans dipstick. The fluid is interesting to look at.

Toyota, a car builder that I have a great amount of respect for has a 100K mile trans service interval on the Tundra trucks.

I think Ford's motivation here is lower the cost of ownership, at least to the original owner.

 

On my '07 Explorer 6r60, I suck out 4qts of trans fluid when doing my oil change sometimes at home in the driveway. I did this till the fluid went from black, back to red. I have never changed the filter or "flushed", truck is @ 120k. I may just do the same with the F150.

 

I recommend keeping up with the guidelines contained in your manual, Big-Red-Lariat. Your local dealer can also give insights on your inquiry. Please let me know if you need anything.

Kwasi

 

Because when I was at Ford we changed the fluid recommendations from 30k to 100k on many products. What changed that made it possible to move the change requirements out so far? Consumer's Reports started reporting cost of required maintenance as part of the cost of owning a vehicle.

Engineering didn't like the change, but upper manglement told us it was going to change whether we liked it or not.

 

That's kind of ironic Mark. My 2004 Expy has a 30K mile trans service interval and the 2005 models came out with a 60K mile service.

I called the dealer one day to find out if the '04's changed as well and the service writer said no, follow the owners guide. After pressing on him for a while for a straight answer, he said that nothing changed between the 04 and 05 models and that nothing would be hurt by following the 2005 owners guide. So, I cut it in half and I have it flushed every 45K miles.

It's a shame that Ford caved in to the likes of CR.

 

I'll 2nd that.

Darrin

 

I was an engineer at a steel mill. We were always under pressure to figure out how to save money. One of the easiest ways to save was have less down turns. We worked with many oil & fuel engineers to figure out how to get longer life from our lubricants. It was shocking to find out how much better oils and greases of today are then those from just a few years ago. Add in some better seals on moving parts, keep air flow out of the oil reservoir and we only needed 1/3 of the down turns or as we called them blow, wipe, check & change.