Took my 04 to dealer for tranny service(32k miles). I can see where the remove the external filter and the drain plug on the pan, however I can tell they did not drop the pan. I thought there was a screen that needs to be cleaned under the pan and where do they flush the entire system from? They charged me $335.00 for this. 16 qts of sp and external filter. Does this sound ok to you guys? Thanks for any input.

 

The only time the trans oil pan needs to be dropped is when there is a problem, no need to replace the internal filter/screen. The $335 you paid was on the high side, my Ford dealer would charge around 200-225 for the same service.

 

Unless the trans has failed there is no need to do anything to the internal filter. It can't be cleaned.

 

Your dealer is high. Mine charged $133 minus the filter for 16 qts. SP and 1 qt. conditioner. He has been the cheapest one that I have found on these postings. Normal is around $200 to $225.

 

To your question on how the system got flushed: They remove the lines going to the tranny cooler up front. They hook these line up to their machine. One line takes in the new fluid while the other spits out the the old. No need to drop the pan.

 

That accounts for the extra cost.....using the flushing unit instead of the old "drop the pan" method!

 

That is true because you are replacing more fluid which costs more. With the machine you are replacing close to 100% of the fluid which is about 16 quarts if I remember correctly. Dropping the pan only removes about 7 quarts.

 

Dropping the trans pan to change the oil would be the same as dropping the motor oil pan to change the oil. Both have drain plugs on them. My Ford dealer charges between $145- 170 for a hot flush, depending when there is a special going on. Special's would be $145 the inline filter I do because for the last 20K miles I have been draining the pan and adding 8 quarts of fluid every 10K plus changing the inline filter.

 

Thanks guys, sounds like I should of shopped around and saved me a 100 bucks.

 

Not trying to argue but dropping the oil pan gets all the oil. Dropping the trans pan gets approx. 8 qts. out of approx. 16 to 18 qts..

 

The point I was trying to make is instead of unbolting the transmission pan as someone mentioned in an earlier post, just remove the drain plug to drain the 8 quarts. Some owners including myself will drain the 8 quarts every X amount of miles and replace it. I just did this again a few weeks ago using the new LV fluid.

 

How often are you guys draining the pan and refilling the fluid instead of getting the flush done? Up here in Canada I called 2 dealerships for a quote on getting the tranny flushed and filter changed. One said approx $500 and one said approx $400. I was then going to call some dealerships just across the border and see how much cheaper it would be and if it would be worth it for me to get it done across the border.

But now I am thinking about not doing the flush and just draining the pan but not sure how often it should be done?

 

Anytime I service the tranny, my preference is to do a pan drop and check the condition of the pickup screen.....then do a flush to move all the old fluid out of the torque converter.

My truck does a lot of heavy towing, so I am a bit fussy!

By the way 1957F100.........I live in Langley also!!

Cheers

 

I drain the 8 quart method every other motor oil change, which is 10,000. I also change the external filter at the same time.

 

Do you do the flush yourself? Or do you take it in for a hot-flush by the dealer?

If you do it yourself, sir, how do you heat the fluid to get it into (and out of) the converter?

Thanks for your reply!