What is the secret behind keeping the transmission of my Ranger good for a long time?

I've bought the truck at 180 000 Km. At 204 000 km, I though it would be good to change the fluid before failure. Besides, I had no clue of the past maintenance... So, I opted for a flush. I know there are many opinions on this, but I opted for that. So, no bashing on this please. Tranny works very well!

From now on, what should be the scheduled maintenance and should I simply do a pan drop/filter from now on?

 

After I got 50,000 miles on my previous Ranger ('01 XLT) I started having the tranny fluid done at 25k intervals. About 138,000 it developed a hiccup and this stuff did wonders for it.

 

Thanks! That is good to know.The 25 K intervals, was that a pan drop or flush?

Did this product last a long time?

 

Started with a drop pan fluid change and after that a flush, and then it was every other time for what ever was not done last time, if you catch my meaning.

The additive comes in 5oz bottles and I had them leave room for one at every tranny fluid change after it was first added at 138k.

That particular service broke the 25k sequence, by the way, as I had it flushed and then added the lube. It was then back on track at the 150k mark.

 

Hold on, that additive looks like the friction modifier specified for limited slip rear differentials, if so, its NOT for automatic transmissions!!!! I'm not aware of Ford specifing Any additives be mixed with their Mercon-V auto tranny fluid as its fully formulated & doesn't need any help!!!!

MisterRanger, just follow your Ford Owners Manual scheduled maintenance guide for fluid & tranny filter type & mileage exchange service intervials, with factory parts & fluids, or ones that are licensed to meet Fords specifications. Most folks drop the pan to change their filter & do a full fluid pumpout every 30-35K miles, or sooner if used in severe service, like hauling or towing lots of weight, or doing lots of stop & go city driving, especially where its hot & or humid. If you don't have the factory installed inline tranny cooler, you might consider adding a temp controlled flat plate type cooler, to keep tranny fluid temps under control in hot weather & being temp cotrolled, most fluid will bypass the cooler in cold weather when extra cooling isn't needed & thus keep the tranny fluid closer to its designed operating temp. All that will likely keep your tranny happy & alive for a loooooong time.

 

Well ... pawpaw raises an interesting point. His counsel is certainly valid, but I want to fill in a bit of background on my suggestion.

When the OD light started blinking and the 1st to 2nd gear shift got sketchy I took my '01 to a local shop and they said, "It's on the way out. Drive it until it quits and then we'll rebuild it for $1,800."

Later that week, while I was mulling the advice, a friend who also drives a Ranger passed through town and I was telling him about the issue. He literally dialed his brother on the cell phone at that moment and said "please talk to my buddy about his transmission issue."

So it turns out my friend's brother is a former Ford tech (18 years) who is now a regional service manager for another company. I knew the brother worked in the industry but did not know any of his history as an auto technician.

The upshot is that the brother recommended the friction modifier and commented in the process that issues like mine are why he no longer works for the dealership in the state where he lives. Too often he said, a customer would come in and have an issue that could have been fixed with a $10 bottle of additive but the system pushed the techs to do the more expensive approaches. He got out of it and into an area where he could give the customer his best advice without being pressured to shade the truth or make an unnecessary buck for the dealer.

FWIW, I followed his advice and it cleared up the shift issues for my '01. At the time I traded the transmission performed as well as it ever had and the issue had not reoccurred. That said, keep in mind I offer this not as expert counsel, but as a customer side opinion. Any risk incurred for taking the approach is yours.

Finally, back to my comments about fluid changes and the change intervals.

The change intervals noted worked for me as I use my truck primarily for a daily driver and only occasionally go off road or pull a trailer. However, in the period between 50,000 and 75,000 miles in that truck I did construction clean up as a stop-gap job after getting out of work in my primary skill set. While doing the clean-up job I pulled a 6x10" dump trailer several times a week and concluded that (1) I was too old to get back into construction work, and that (2) the Ford Ranger with a 4.0L engine and a butt-load of tools in the bed for ballast will tow haul a significant load. The Ranger is a tough little truck.

So the 75K change was prompted in part by wanting to get fresh fluid in the transmission after months of hard daily use. After that I stayed with the 25K intervals as a matter of (personal preference) routine.

So if you are going to be pulling a trailer daily or otherwise pushing the edges of your transmission's performance ability you will need to shape your interval accordingly.

Best to all --

 

Thanks for adding the disclaimer.

Interesting story about the former Ford Tech. He & we must realise that the Dealer & Ford have to warranty their work, so their service has to be designed to yield Known results & changing something as important as a tranny fluids friction characteristics & base line chemistry with ads not specifically designed/formulated for an auto tranny, could be a coin toss, as its formulation in most cases is unknown to us, but must be compatable with & not cause deposits, change nor harm a lot of parts, like seals, gaskets, clutch friction material, nor corrode metals in solenoids or valves that move, ect, so anything we pour in, We must warranty!!!!! lol

I have on three occasions used a couple of after market products for a limited time to try & address specific tranny or power steering problems that popped up, so I'm guilty of using/trying aftermarket ads for specific problems, but only ones that said they were formulated for a tranny or P/S system with symptoms I had & then I used them only for a very limited time until the problem cleared, then the systems got flushed with the specified fluid. The ads were Not employed for extended, or scheduled maintenance use.

Good advise on shortening up the fluid & filter changes during severe service.

Sounds like your use for a while fell into the severe service use category when you were hauling & towing, so were you using Motorcraft, or other Licensed fluids & did your Ranger have a tranny cooler???? Curious minds would like to know!!!

 

Friction modifiers can mask a problem. I work closely with a highly rated trans shop, and they have showed me the effects of using such products.

The trans is slipping because it is worn out. If it is serviced before it fails, a few clutches, seals, and maybe a few other components are required to fix the issue.

If the consumer opts to use a product that masks the problem, the trans will operate further and further out of spec but seemingly continue to function. The last of the friction material wears away, and metal parts start making contact. End result, instead of just replacing worn friction surfaces and clutches and bands, you end up with a trans that is internally junked. You end up having to replace drums, gears, bearings, replacing entire valve bodies, pumps, etc. It basically makes the trans destroy itself internally while it appears to work normally.

When you say a flush, and you mentioned that there are a lot of opinions about it, here is the truth.

A good transmissions shop does not own or use a flush machine.

Flush machines force the transmission to operate in a matter that was never intended, and at pressures it was never designed for. I have seen flush machines destroy low mileage transmissions. The pressures they use force fluid past seals, warp and destroy valve bodies, damage solenoids. And all of this is before you even consider that there might be crud and friction material getting pushed around in there. A flush machine can force this crud to get into places it would normally not be able to get into. This is not opinion, transmission flush machines were invented by an industry that wants to replace or rebuild your transmission. They were designed for use by quick lube places that don't want to take the time to do it right. Most often when they use a flush machine, the pan is not dropped, and the filter is not replaced. The idea that hooking up a flush machine is a is a bad idea is not an opinion. Anyone who actually knows how the systems work, and who actually services the systems can tell you pressurizing a circuit at 50 psi that was only designed for 15 is a bad idea. While I cannot claim to be familiar with every model, every flush machine I have seen operates at much higher pressures than transmissions ever see in normal operation, and that is a bad thing.

The only completely safe method of getting all the old fluid out is the dynamic fluid exchange, which uses the transmissions own internal pump to pump the old fluid out as new fluid is added. This does not expose the transmission to any conditions outside normal operation. All pressures are normal, nothing gets forced to go where it doesn't belong.

I'm sorry to hear you already got a flush done. Even doing that once can shave as much as 30,000 miles off the transmissions life expectancy.

Yes from now on, at not more than 30,000 miles, drop the pan, replace the filter, and refill with new fluid.

 

Pardon, senors'. I snipped a bit to save on repetition.

Yeah, towing that trailer definitely fell into the severe use category. So did that work. I put myself through college throwing newspapers and doing construction work and thought going back to it would be a good standby between jobs. But I later decided to find an air-conditioned job after I dehydrated on a work site one day and came to in the ambulance on the way the the ER.

Regarding fluids, the shop I was using at the time did great work and the founder (who has since died) used OEM stuff. He started out as a GM certified tech, and later completed an extensive amount of Mercedes training. For a while he was the service manager at a large dealership where we live before going out on this own. He was an old school, true mechanic (as opposed to a parts changer) and could walk past a car and feel of it and know more about it than some of the young guys I see today.

After he died the shop went to other management and started down and I subsequently moved my service needs to the dealership. FWIW, everything we own is Ford except the lawn equipment.

The '01 truck was traded before any further problem developed with the tranny. And the guy who bought it from the dealership has not had any trouble with it. In fact, some days I wonder why I traded.

Via edit - Whoops! RE, the other question -- it did not have a transmission cooler.

This has the ring of truth about it, but I will also note that it is squarely within what, from a consumers viewpoint, would be seen as the manufacturer's "party line."

So, while I have every confidence that your explanation is dead on the money, I am nonetheless looking back on an inexpensive fix that worked ($10, as opposed to $1,800) and the previous truck is still local. So I've got to defend the move made at the time.

I traded it with 168,000 miles on it and as a matter of personal practice had a "full disclosure" conversation with the sales guy at the trade, volunteering all service records and any info they wanted about the vehicle. So knowing where it is I'll keep my eye on it and see if it later fails.

Thanks to you both for your insights. I am beginning to like the place...

 

Well the OP just wanted maintenance ideas he could do to lengthen the life of his tranny & it seems we all at least agree fluid & filter changes with the specified fluid or licensed fluids, at least as often as Ford schedules, or sooner if used in severe service, is a good idea. And if we don't have a seperate in line tranny fluid cooler, consider adding one, as hot fluid temps kill trannies.

On the tranny flush, if a pan drop, cleaning, fiter change, followed by a full fluid pumpout of the valve body, torque converter, radiator pre cooler line & external inline cooler & connecting lines was done by the Dealer or a shop that used the Routunda flush machine that uses the tranny pump to have the machine exchange the fluid, you got as close to a complete safe tranny fluid flush, as the origional Ford called out return line disconnect flush proceedure they used before the flush machine, thats linked to at the bottom of the "Tech Info" thread atop this forum. Both of those proceedures are safe to do.

On a Dealer/shop tranny flush, I'd opt out of the solvent injection part of the flush & just have them drop the pan, change the filter, refill the pan & continue on with a full fluid only, flush of the system.

From what I've read, it seems that most machine flush problems come about some time later after a dirty tranny is flushed with the solvent & the pan wasn't dropped & cleaned nor the filter changed before hand.

Anyway, consider adhearing to Fords timely maintenance call outs, or sooner if in severe service, using the specified fluids & parts & our Ranger will likely work real good & last a looooong time!!!!!

 

Thanks for all the input guys! A lot of helpful info! I feel kinda dumb doing the flush, but we all do mistakes. It may have not been one. It didn't seem like a high pressure thing. They just simply plugged a fitting to the radiator while pumping in new fluid while catching the old one out. My truck was running while doing it. So, I am not so sure they used pressure. I think they simply added fluid as the old came out. I dont think they forced it out...

Anyways, since the tranny flush, I do have to say that my transmission worked even better after that. That is a good sign. But from now on, I will simply drop the pan and replace the filter at every 30 000 miles (wich is for me about 50 000 km).

 

On the tranny flush, they likely used a Routunda like machine that uses the tranny pump to push the new fluid in, while the tranny pump pushes the old fluid out through the disconnected tranny return line. That way there is no over pressure & things are completed safely, cleanly, swiftly & completely, it just costs a bundle. We can save about $100 doing it ourselves using the home tranny flush proceedure outlined at the bottom of the Tech Info thread & its the same proceedure the Dealers used before they got the flush machine. Since you like turning your own wrenches, be sure to look through the Tech Info thread, lots of other helpful wrench turning info there too.

Anyway, good job on resurrecting your Ranger.

 

Thanks! I try my best at taking care of it!

That name, Routounda, it is familiar to me. I am pretty sure they used that. It just looked like a huge oil bin on a dolly.

Yea, I like to do my own work when I can and when I have the time. I will look into the Tech info thread. Must be full of good stuff. I guess I could look at my Haynes manual for maintenance schedules. Must be pretty accurate.

 

Look to your Owners Manual for the most accurate input for your Ranger. The Haynes manual for my 99 is full of wrong, inaccurate, or incomplete info, so be aware it isn't the most accurate or up to date info source.

If you'll go to the Ford Owners web site, you can register, log on, input your vehicles VIN # & get all sorts of good up to date info, log your maintenance repair, find maintenance schedules, recalls, ect, ect.

 

Ok, I will make sure to do that!

Thankyou very much you guys for your help and time!