My truck is not at my house and I was going to prepare some maintenance items and one being chaning the tranny fluid. I don't want to do a flush as I have heard they could cause more harm than good sometimes and wanted to just drain the pan and then remover the cooler lines to get it out of the torque converter. Does the Expy have a drain plug on the transmission pan? tks

 

My 2000 does have a drain plug in the trans pan. How much fluid did you anticipate using?

 

I figure the pan holds 4-5 qts. If I drain this(through plug I hope) can I drive it a short while just to get more fluid in the pan and drain again. I would hope to get 4-5 qts more out but don't know if this would work. I could then add 8-10 qts of new fluid. tks

 

just do the flush your plan will burn your trans

 

"just do the flush your plan will burn your trans"

Fordtech08 is right, don't drive with out proper fluid level. You can still drain the pan and you can drain your torque converter and it will take most of the fluid. Not sure if your tran have drain plug and torqe converter plug.

I did trans fluid not too long ago on my 00 Nav and so far so good. I drop the pain, put new filter in, cleaned the pan, and refill the tranny to proper level. Mine took lillte more 7 quarter and yet i didn't drain the torqe converter.

I didn't change the whole fluid because I want to see how new fluid work with my trans and if there will be any issue down on the road i am not touching it again.

Jamal

 

if your SUV does not have a drain plug....while you have it off...take it somewhere and have one welded in. Make servicing your transmission much easier and less mess.

 

Draining the fluid is only part of the maintenance, the other part is cleaning the filter. The drain plug will help contain the fluid, but to do a true service you need to clean/change the filter too. I have always gone to a shop to have it power flushed, my thought is that it gets more old fluid out. I think it is an urban legend that the power flush causes problems. I've driven around 600k miles in ym life time and always done power flushes at or slightly ahead of the suggested intervals. Never had a tranny issue. I think the people who claim they have had tranny failures because of it were probably doing it as a last ditch effort to try and save a tranny they destroyed.

 

so true I agree 100%

 

Appreciate the comments but noone ever answered if the 2003 Expy has a tranny drain plug or not? I don't have my truck as it has been stuck at a family members house for 3 weeks due to all the snow on the East coast and not being able to drive to get it. thanks

 

That's like owning a helicopter that's parked on an island and you don't have a boat to get you there.

 

Tell me about it. But I bet you know the answer to my question

 

All fords that I ever changed had / have a torque converter drain plug on them, and Item that GM vehicles do not have. This is why the flush was invented. I don't see how you could ever get all the old fluid out by flushing. I remove the pan, if you start with the bolts at the rear and work your way toward the engine you can drain the pan while removing it. After the pan is totally removed you can remove the filter by gently pulling it off. Some older transmissions used a bolt to hold it in. Newer ones are just held tight with a seal on the tube that slides into the tranny. I have done this without getting fluid on me MOST the time. You also drain the torque converter by removing the rubber plug at the bottom of the bell housing and rotating the engine (with a wrench on the harmonic balancer bolt ). This will remove 12 of the 13 quarts. If you want to get the last quart you remove the bottom transmission line from the radiator and let it drain. On all 1996 and newer ford vehicles you need to use MERCON V which is a semi synthetic fluid even if the manual says to use a lesser grade. By the way I just did this last weekend. PS the vehicle will generally not move if its more than two quarts low on fluid and attempting to do so will ruin the clutches.

WOJO

 

My '04 does not so most likely your '03 does not either. Your better off going to the dealer and having the flush done.

Tim

 

Actually I don't...some have them and some don't. I don't know the rhyme or reasoning for it. Unfortunately, this makes looking at it the only way to know 100% for sure.

 

ah so you do know the answer then I looked at the shop manual and noticed the same thing it gives directions for replace the trans fluid 3 different ways one with and one with out the drain plug the third and ford approved way of using the flush machine