Changing ATF doesn't ruin a tranny, not ever changing it does.

 

on the synthetic or regular oil debate, i have found synthetic leaks and regular does not.
case in point. my 2002 diesel. i took it in for a trans fluid change because it was close to 30kmiles. toold the shop to use regular trans fluid. .for some reason the "tech" put in synthetic, and tried charging me $275 for 19 quarts of synthetic ATF, and 75 for labor.
i went into the office and refused to pay for the ATF, because it was clearly printed on the invoice use regular ATF.
3 days later the shop paid for a wrecker to tow the truck back to the shop and replace what was left of the synthetic with regular ATF because 5 quarts leaked out of it while it sat in the driveway.
that was 2 years ago, and i have not had to add a drop of ATF in over 25,000 miles since i got it back.

 

while we are on the subject of auto transmission maintenance ...

the manual calls for band adjustment every 15,000 miles, while fluid changes are recommended every 60,000 miles. one can easily infer from this that band adjustment is even more critical to tranny life than fluid changes, yet i would wager that once a vehicle is out of warranty, band adjustments are a very rare occurence.

mileage-wise, my truck is certainly due for a band adjustment but i am a little reluctant to go after it because a) i have never done it before, b) it's kinda rusty down there and i am afraid of rounding off a fastener and c) the truck shifts like new.

should i subscribe to the "if-it-ain't-broke-don't-fix-it" theory or should i get under there and perform the recommended service ?

 

i have never done band adjustments, just fluid and filter change every 30-35k miles.

 

Glad you chimed in Mark. Myth dispelled.

 

Isn't that exactly the point being made?

That's the point I was trying to make, anyways.

As far as second hand, yea, yea.. second hand. I've never actually had an automatic fail on me. I've built a few for projects, and I've built a couple from cores, but the only transmission I've ever had fail personally was a M5OD in a 93 Ranger 4.0 (the death ranger from my user name). It failed from not knowing about the shift rail plugs failing. That also happens to be the only time I've ever paid someone else to do the work for me.

My friends constantly had transmission failures, though.

 

I'm thinking we're on different pages on what point we're trying to make, The basic point I was getting at was new oil won't damage the transmission and continuing to use old oil will only shorten the life of the transmission. The part I think we do agree on his new oil won't fix a damaged transmission.

 

How many quarts does the E4OD take including draining the torque converter?

 

not positive, but probably somewhere around 16 quarts.

 

If it smells burnt, and you don't fix what made it smell burnt, new fluid won't fix it for long. I actually had an old Honda Goldwing that I let get too hot. After that, I had to run Mobil-1 Blue Cap (a No no for wet clutches...supposed to use black cap). If I didn't run the blue cap, the clutch wouldn't let go. Still have the bike, but no carbs...project. Maybe one of these days.

 

My 94 F150 used 14 quarts but an extra quart or two isn't a bad thing to have on hand.

 

is the tranny pan gasket reusable?

 

yes if rubber.no if cork.

 

Well,guess I'll buy one to be safe,can't really tell looking from under the truck.