Pretty simple. Drill hole. Install.

Dorman® AutoGrade™ 65241 - Universal Transmission Drain Plug Kit | O'Reilly Auto Parts

 

Thanks but that's not for the converter where they are missing. Anybody install a converter plug?

 

Converter plug would have to be welded in.

Sounds exactly like the 2-3 videos I have heard of other broken or cracked flex plates posted here over the years.

 

Its just a generic drain plug kit. I just put one on my 96 Blazer. My 5R110 already has one.

Basically you drill a big hole in the pan (the right size hole for the kit). The kit comes with a through bolt with a hole in the middle, a washer, a nut for the other side, and the through bolt has a drain in it.

Its a bit nerve racking drilling a hole in a perfectly good pan. The biggest thing to watch for is clearance inside the pan so your new drain plug doesn't interfere with the trans internals. I spent a lot of time measuring the depth of the pan, how much all the trans parts stick down, and looking for a spot where it would fit. The drill the hole, install the plug, get everything nice a snug and you're done. I've read not to use any sealant as that can get into the trans fluid. Also, when you next go to drain the fluid, hold the the assembly itself with one wrench and turn the drain with another, that way you don't risk loosening the whole thing up. If you do, you'll have to drop the pan and tighten it again.

I used this one:


Hope that helps.

PS

PS AFAIK this only works with steel stamped pans.

 

Sorry those other threads came up while I was typing.

I'm sure you could take out your converter and get a drain welded into it, like Snowseeker said.

 

I'm wondering if you could just drill and tap the converter without it weakening. Maybe too thin. A fix would be a good invention.

 

Drill yes . Tap, I don't think the converter wall is thick enough. You might get one or two threads. Not enough to hold. But wouldn't that be nice!

I don't think my 5R110 torqshift has any way to drain the converter or even see it from under the car.

Its weird how some your transmissions have the plug and others don't. I'm not sure what Ford's reasoning was for removing it at some point.

 

Hmmm, when I start mine it makes a noise too. Turn off the key you may notice it is quiet then.

 

When they flush it they just tap into the cooler lines. The machine drains the old fluid while adding the new. You can do the same thing without it but it can get messy.

 

There are flushes and there are flushes, different ways of getting the fluid through the transmission. From what I know, the fluid exchange should be moved by the transmission pump with the engine running and basically a pool of fluid to suck from. You don't want the type of flush where a machine forces the fluid through. That's what I've been told by a few sources outside FTE.

 

You mean you don't know? (pet peeve). I think they wanted to save some time and money and make some money by flushing it at the dealer. Another "better" idea by Ford

 

Mark Kovlowski posted the how to long ago here somewhere. I did it and didn't spill a drop. Trans has been shifting and acting the best its ever been at 170K!

 

Don't understand the pet peeve comment. I honestly don't know why they stopped with the drain plug.

 

We may never know for sure, but a couple of possibilities:

1. It is another unnecessary point of failure... ie, not torqued correctly, no use of loctite, wrong use of loctite, not replaced with new plug that has built in loctite, replaced with new plug of wrong size, stripped by careless lube jock, over tightened by careless lube jock, forgotten by careless lube jock (lube jocks are often the lowest paid, least trained techs in the service bay)

2. It is another unnecessary cost in production. All of the fluid in the transmission can be exchanged without removing the torque converter drain plug, without removing the sump drain plug, and without using a flushing machine of any kind. You can even do it without a friend. In your own driveway. It just goes a little faster with someone else helping. Could be a spouse, or even a child. Or just Father Time.

The flushing machine pumps the fluid, but the transmission already has a pump. So why not use it? Attaching a clear vinyl tube to the fluid return line at the rear of the transmission, routing that clear tube to a 5 gallon pail by the driver's door, and staging about 16 pre opened quarts of fresh fluid near the dipstick with a funnel in it, turns your Excursion into it's own flushing machine. Start the key, let it run till a couple of quarts flow out, then have your friend steadily add more in. Or stop the engine, pour a couple in, restart, let a couple pour out. Repeat.

The new fluid pushes the old fluid out. Eventually, the color of the old fluid being pushed out of the clear hose will change into the same color as the new fluid being poured in. Keeping track of what has been pushed out and what has been poured in will keep the fill level reasonably close to what it was when you started.

Draining the bottom of the pan first is good, dropping the pan to check the magnet is good, even changing the filter in the sump is good, but not really required as often as the fluid itself should be changed. But draining the torque converter? Completely unnecessary using the self pumping procedure briefly described here, and fully described in Mark Kovalsky's write up that he first posted about 12 years ago, when the TC drain plug was deleted.

Strongly do not recommend drilling and tapping a TC. The extremes of heat the TC is subjected to would very quickly compromise that white seal seen in that Dorman drain plug pic posted above. That would be a very unforgiving mistake. The damage would happen astonishingly quick from a fluid loss at that point. Don't do it.

 

I love good informative post, supported with facts, common sense and practical experience. Reps sent