Did the tranny fluid change the other day on my 01 F-250 using the method detailed by Mark Kovalsky. I gotta say, I was skeptical of the method the first time I read through it. But, after I figured out what was happening, it seemed simple enough. It was. The most difficult thing is getting the ATF fluid back in the pan down the dip-stick tube (even with the tranny fluid funnel). 19 quarts, 6-7 quarts at a time takes awhile to get down there. Made a little bit of a mess on the driveway. Make sure you clamp your tube on the tranny cooler return line snugly. I had a little trouble doing this because of the barbed fitting on the cooler return line, and the nut/bolt? that holds the return snug. I bought the tubing based on the diameter of the return line, not the barb that I couldn't see. Got the tubing to fit over the barb and clamped on the barb. Couldn't get enough tubing over the barb to be able to clamp behind it because the tubing was bumping up against the nut/bolt deal, which I couldn't move out of the way because of a 90 bend in the return line.
Anyway, a little ATF ended up squirting out from that connection, but that was the only problem. Job took better than 1 hour. I will go much better next time.

So I ended up paying $46 for a 5 gal pail of Valvoline DecronIII/Mercron ATF fluid, and about $3 for 10 feet of 5/8" clear vinyl tubing. What does this cost at the dealer?

Bottom line, pretty easy job. Thanks Mark!

SMB