Yesterday I went to remove my tranny pan and found that it started leaking as soon as I took off a half dozen of the bolts. So I used a jack to put slight pressure on the pan to try and hold the pan tighter to the tranny so it wouldn't leak when I took off the bolts but that didn't work either.

Anyone have a good way to get the pan off without it leaking all over the place? Can I somehow drain the fluid through the cooling lines in the front?

 

Uh, no. It just goes everywhere. Just leave the bolts in the short straight end slightly in and tip the pan.

 

Yip, its a mess. When i remove the pan, I install a drain plug so I can just drain it next time without the mess.

 

Same here.

 

Yes, definitely. I already have a drain plug on order, just was trying to avoid making a mess to get the pan off to put in the drain plug.

 

Where do you get one of these so called drain plugs and does it require any welding?

 

Drain Plug Kits - SummitRacing.com

No welding required.

 

They make the kits, They work just fine. i just drill a hole adn weld a nut to the bottom of the pan and install teh bolt with a crush washer. Workes the same way.

 

You can use a 6-10 feet long 3/8 transparent hose with a clamp in the return line from the ATF cooling line, place a big enough recipient in the other end and run the engine. Kill the engine as soon as you see ANY air in the hose, that should take a lot of fluid out of the tranny. Then you will be able to take down the pan without making such a big mess (thx again for the tip, Mark). There is also a procedure to refill the tranny, don't pour 16 qts. of ATF at once, so ask if you need any help.

Installing the drain plug will make draining the tranny a lot easier, so do it , and since you're already in there, replace the filter and the gasket with a quality rubber one.

I did all this about a month ago, it was great and i managed to stop most of the leaks my tranny had, be VERY careful with how much torque you apply to the bolts when re-installing the pan.

 

I have heard of people using that method, and I have heard of people doing it and causing the front pump to burn up doing it that way.

Not saying tis wrong, but i wouldnt chance it personally. Transmissions dont like being ran low on fluid.

 

This procedure was described to me by a former Ford Transmision Technician with over 18 years of experience, so i would trust it with my eyes closed. The persons that burn the pump do it because they keep the engine running even after there is air in the hose.

 

I bought a new trans pan from RockAuto.com and it came with a built in drain plug. Cost me a total of $33 shipped to my door.

 

For every tech you find that tells you doing something like this is OK, Youll find 2 more that will tell you its not.

If it owrks for you then thats great. But a transmission doesnt like being low on fluid Ever. Even for that moment when air comes thru, your depriving something from fluid.

 

I worry about the pump or rest of tranny running dry. So i don't do it, but I really don't KNOW if it is good or bad.

What I do is leave a screw on each corner of the pan tight. Loosen and remove all the other screws. Have a BEEG drain pan, remember you may get over 3 gallons of fluid depending on tranny.

When you are ready to make a mess, unscrew one corner of the pan almost completely and then carefully loosen the other screws on the other corners with the one corner completely diagonnaly opposite NOT loosened as much as the others. This should hopefully allow the corner of the pan without the screw, to drop and drain most of the fluid there.

After you do this a couple times you learn how much to loosen the screws.

Have a bag of Kitty litter handy to soak up spills.

If you also drain the torque converter, be SURE you have a big enough drain pan or drain it before opening up the converter.


BTW, those drain plugs sometimes come with a plastic washer. These can be squished too much if you torque to spec and actually cause a leak. I have had to go by feel and eyeball on my last two pans. Also, be SURE that the location where you plan to put the plug has clearance inside the tranny case so that the plug doesn't interfere. Had this problem with a Chebby 4L60, not much room in the pan there. I think the E4OD has plenty of room and even think the factory made some ridges inside the pan where it is obvious a drain plug would go but the factory saved a buck.

Good Luck,

Jim Henderson

 

I found this post with some pics about where to put the plug - Added drain plug to E4OD trans - F150online Forums

I was going to drill a small hole as a drain hole just to remove the fluid, then remove the pan, then drill a larger hole for the drain plug. Seems pretty straight forward that way.