I need to change the fluid in the transfer case and have never done it. I see that there is a drain and fill plug so im assuming that its pretty easy but am unsure of the fluid needed. Is it regular oil or something special. Any advise would help. Thanks

 

It should be transmission fluid. Either Dexron/Mercon 3 or Mercon 5

 

'04 manual calls out 2 quarts of Mercon ATF for the transfer case.

I'm no mechanic, but I've never seen a transfer case that didn't have a drain plug and a fill plug.

Getting the fluid out is probably easy. Getting new fluid in may be a real pain without a fluid pump and enough tubing to get up to the fill plug. Auto parts stores usually carry a little hand pump that screws on to oil jugs that costs less than $10 (looks like a big liquid soap dispenser pump) and is well worth it IMO.

 

Use DexronIII/Mercon or Mercon V the reformulated version.

 

I did my 04 very easy drain it from the bottom plug re fill in the upper plug I bought a small pump that screws onto a 1 qt. bottle it uses mercon ATF and it will start to run out the fill hole at about 2 qts. then put the plug in and u are finished.

 

Awesome. Thanks

 

What mileage are you at? Any reason you are changing it? I am trying to decide if I should do mine also...sounds simple to do.

 

Just hit 55,000. I dont use 4x4 that much but figured it wouldnt hurt to change it out.

 

Thanks...I guess it cant hurt with how easy it is to do. I am also at 55k and dont use the 4x4 much. I am thinking I am going to flush the tranny too because of towing.

 

I changed the fluid in my t-case a while back.

It is a very easy process, this one has a drain plug (not all do).
Drain the fluid, it won't take long.
I keep the gear oil containers b/c they make it easy to do jobs like this.

I was at wal-mart, and saw some oil on sale. They had two quarts of Mobile 1 synthetic Mercron V for $2 a quart. Well, not enough to change the fluid in the tranny, but perfect for the t-case.

I just put the fluid in the gear oil container and put the tip in the fill hole and squeezed. Pretty easy, then did it again, and I was finish.

The old fluid was just a little dark, but didn't look bad.... But it didn't hurt!

 

i agree with the posts above.... the quart hand pumps are well worth the 7-8 dollars they cost. i have one for atf, and one for gear oil.

 

Now this is speculation, but if the transfer case layout/function is similar to a Jeep system, the T-case is working all the time, because the rear driveline comes out of it. So, whether or not you use your 4WD, the fluid will need changing. I used synthetic ATF + an additive (MT-10) in mine and changed it about every 15K. I did this because the first time I changed it the oil was brown. After changing to the special mix, the fluid still looked good after 15K and I never had any trouble with that T-case.

 

Your right. I never thought about that. It is setup where the tranny runs through the transfer case to the driveshaft. Thanks for the reply.

 

Thanks for the info guys. Did mine today. The tip about the hand pump was perfect... made life easy.

55k miles and the fluid was a bit dirty but not too bad.

 

Hey guys. I changed the fluid today and used penzoil mercon V. After doing it I took a look at the manual and it mentioned that mercon and mercon V are not interchangable. It said on the bottle that it was ok to use in current ford trannies but now im starting to worry. I know that some of you said that you used mercon V. Im I ok here or should I be making another run the the store for mercon?