When should the filter be changed?

 

i do trans service every 30-35,000 miles.
and regularly get 500,000+ miles out of automatics.
i have never had to rebuild an auto trans i took care of.
every vehicle was either wrecked, the body rotted off the frame, or the engine blew before the trans died.

 

When the transmission is rebuilt.

If there is enough junk in the filter that it needs to be changed, it means that the trans has failed.

 

Thats encouraging. I'm at 255k with a 96' E4OD, regular fluid changes, shifts great even behind a mildly built 5.8. Temps stay nice and low, nothing points to failure but I've basically been wondering when it'll just die. Currently running mobil 1 full synthetic as per Mark's advice in an old thread.

 

Thanks for the information gentlemen. If I were to drop the pan and drain the converter, how much fluid needs to go back in? Measure out what came out of the trans and put back in the same amount?

 

You should get 15-16 quarts. Measuring what came out is a good plan, as long as the fluid level was right before you started.

 

Thanks for the information. Any recommendation on ATF fluid? Was leaning towards Mobil 1 but looking for a cheaper alternative if available. Perhaps Motorcraft Mercon V?

B

 

mercon is what it calls for.
mercon LV is full syntheric and can be used, but you should not mix V and LV.

 

I am not an engineer but as a tech I have dealing with e40d and 4r100 since their inception maintaining a fleet of city transit vehicles and ambulances,I have also stayed in a holiday inn before,lol. I understand what is being said about filter changes being unneeded but in my experience this just isnt the case with these transmissions. Fluid breaks down with high heat the higher the heat the faster the breakdown.
We started with the factory recomended severe service table and changed fluid and filter every 20,000 miles and the average tranny lasted 75,000 to 80,000 miles with the e4od. We decided to do an experiment as this was getting expensive with a fleet of 15 e45o cutaway busses running 50,000 to 80,000 miles a year.We took two identical new busses changed one over to fully synthetic fluid left the other as delivered,the as delivered bus got the fluid and filter changed at factory intervals.It failed at 78,000 miles as expected the other received no filter or fluid changes until 100,000 miles then was refilled with synthetic fluid again it finally had mechanical breakage at 250,000 miles.
After that all busses received the synthetic treatment and most lasted the life of the vehicle.The fluid we used was allison transyd it works.
Also in regards to flushing don't do it what happens is varnish builds up over the life of the transmission and does no harm where it is but the flush machines clean to good and this previosly harmless varnish is broken loose and can and does find its way into fluid passages and causes issues,it doesen't take much to mess up a shift solonoid .
This is my experience over twenty years with a fleet averaging 600,000 miles ayear of combined in town and highway driving with the most abusive drivers on the planet. They are so bad they turned me from a chevy guy to a ford nut because I figured if Ford can survive them they gotta be tough.

 

IMO what you should of learned here,was the importance of keeping trans fluid within it's correct temp zone.What was most likely the cause here,was the fluid was getting too hot and by switching to synthetic,you helped the trans live longer because it can handle higher heat without breaking down as quickly as regular atf.
The same results could of been achieved,had you installed larger aux coolers (preferably with temp gauges) and the results could of actually been even better with more frequent fluid change intervals.With proper fluid change intervals,there never should be any "varnish buildup" in the first place.So really all you ended up doing was put a bandaid on the problem( using fluid that can handle higher heat) ,rather than properly maintain the trans (install larger cooler to maintain correct temp and regular routine fluid changes.)
Don't take this wrong but rather than experiment,all you had to do was research instead and you could of done a better job.People like Mark have already done this experimenting for us.

I'm sure Mark is going to have a few comments on this one too.

 

I prefer Mobil 1 Synthetic ATF. Any MERCON V will work, but Mobil 1 offers a lot more protection than conventional MERCON V.

MERCON V replaced MERCON. Nobody makes a licensed MERCON fluid any longer. Don't use MERCON LV, I can almost guarantee it will destroy your transmission.

Other than this sentence you never mention filters. How will changing the filter help the trans? If there is enough junk in the filter that it needs to be changed, the trans has already failed.

Exactly.
E-Series run hot. That program was too cheap to pay for proper cooling, plus things are so tight under the hood that it's really difficult to get airflow through the coolers.

And that's why I continually recommend Mobil 1 Synthetic ATF.

Yes, that's the common wisdom. Unfortunately it isn't based in fact, just speculation. It is NOT true.

 

Mark, is this for all fords?
because they put LV in my 2014 truck when hte trans was serviced last month

 

If the trans was spec'd for MERCON SP or LV, then LV is the correct fluid. If it was spec'd for MERCON or MERCON V, DO NOT use LV.

By 2014 almost all Ford transmissions required MERCON LV.

 

oh ok. thanks.

 

i got my A.O.D professionally rebuilt last year (with aftermarket upgraded c.packs v.bod and t. conv) any ways it was a done by a respectable transmission place long story short putting that rebuilt trans in to another truck so i gave the owner a call i had a few questions chatted with him for about 15 min or so
pertaining info on the truck the good trans is going in i.e the bad trans

he said "if the atf is getting dark drop the pan drain and CUT THE FILTER OPEN AND CHECK FOR FILINGS no filings no problems new filter fresh fluid"

"if there is filings, debris, steal shards in the filter it its doomed"

for the price of a $25 new filter its worth knowing whats going on there by inspecting the old filter