Yes it does. You don't have to drain the converter.

 

Kewl! Saves me a ton of Oil Dry!

 

Mark, I have an E350 6.0 diesel. Can I disconnect the cooler line in the front to the transmission to drain it?

Thanks,

Mark

 

Yes, you can, but if you disconnect it at the trans the fluid is going to come spraying out of the trans side, not the cooler line. Don't even bother with something to catch it, it's just going to spray all over.

If you disconnect the rear line at least you have some hose to be able to aim it at a collector, such as a drain pan or my favorite, a 5 gallon bucket.

The other problem is that there is an internal thermostat. If the trans isn't at least 170F the flow to the coolers is cut by 90%.

 

Mark, I will shoot a photo of my cooler line so someone can point to the correct line to disconnect. I have a scan gauge to monitor tranny temp. I don't want to take the van to jiffy lube or a shop as so many mechanics are afraid that flushing the tranny will ruin it.

 

<p>Hope you have a heated flush machine coolfeet, otherwise you're wasting your time. &nbsp;</p>

 

That is juat a fallacy. A flush will not fix or break a trans,

 

Very, very true---in fact Mark address some of the bigger fallacies and myths about transmission flushes a few years back here in the vans forums.

We kinda have to equate this process to changing motor oil----assuming its done correctly there's no damage or magical repairs performed. Failing to do it has grave consequences.

Without bashing the Jiffy Lube people too much they're not trained to do much more than dump fluid, replace a filter and add new fluid. Of course they're geniuses in assessing your wiper blades---have replacements for like $20 each, can re-fill you washer fluid reservoir for a nominal charge---can even do belt inspections if they're not too busy.

They're equally adept at stripping out oil pan drain plugs and never telling the customer, leaving the removed oil filter gasket still on the block and install the new filter without hesitation.

Not sure I'd trust them for anything more than how to change out my air freshener hanging from the rear view mirror.

 

Updating my own thread.

Just completed another of these full fluid flushes, this time on a 4R70W with 275, 800 miles, last 5qts & filter service about 35K miles ago.

Same immediate improvement, not a single indication the mythical damage due this process was present at all.

I am noticing this takes about 15 quarts in order to complete the flush and show a good level on the dipstick after a few miles test drive. Could be I'm flushing a bit more than is actually necessary. Even if that's the case it's not an issue as doing this chore correctly is more important than the few dollars more for ATF.

Next up is a quick replacement of the radius arms----they're rusted enough to make this a dire need. Parts on order, installation to commence later this week.

Anyway do this----your transmission and wallet will thank you in the end!

 

Glad to hear it went well J W! Probably better than the last time I had a pan off. Changed 9 quarts after removing the valve body and it made quite a mess!

The 4R70W in my Lincoln just rolled over 176,000 miles yesterday on the factory pan gasket and filter. I'm a HUGE fan of fluid flushes for these things.

 

Also becoming a huge fan of the complete flush----simply no reason to not do it.

I've added drain plugs to nearly every transmission pan I've owned in the past 10 years or so----that's an absolute must because I rent, not own my home. Engine oil is easy enough to drain mostly mess free, trans not so much. Even the $8 drains are better than nothing even if they're used once or twice while owning any one vehicle.

BTW there are home laundry washer plastic catch pans intended to reduce floor damage in the event of a water leak in one of those appliances----they'd be great for driveway transmission services----relatively cheap too. Worth looking into maybe?!

 

That is a good idea, never thought of the laundry pan.

I've never made much of a mess doing one of these flushes though. I liked the procedure so much that I used it to drain the pan before removing it to drop the valve body a few months ago. Was almost mess-free until the valve body came down, at which point it was all over the place. Who knew there were almost 5 quarts above the valve body?

 

Back again to do one more of these full fluid exchanges or "flush"---this time out on a reman'd 4R75E that has just turned somewhere over 52K miles since renewal. This is installed in a 2005 E-350 extended body with 5.4 engine, just over 192K miles on the chassis. Thinking I'll change things up this go around ever so slightly to maybe obtain a more thorough fluid exchange. Not even sure that's possible but maybe?

Previously I disconnected the hard line from the transmission(s) where it enters the radiator. It seems the fluid first flows from the transmission through the radiator cooler, up through the factory auxiliary cooler before heading back to the transmission itself. I'll now remove the factory return hard line and fitting from the case, plug the inlet while using the return line as the way to pump fluid into a catch jug while at the same time emptying the radiator and auxiliary cooler and replacing it with the fresh fluid.

I won't be replacing the factory installed filter because according to Mark K it isn't necessary for pretty much the lifetime of the transmission. I fully anticipate doing this again in the future at which time the factory filter will be changed. I do have a new Magnefine (NAPA 1-8721) in-line fluid filter that'll be replaced, possibly moving its location to the return line, currently in the line feeding the coolers. If this happens I'll end up replacing the factory hard line that had this same in-line filter spliced in--will have to check if there's a factory replacement line complete. There would be too many bits of rubber hose between the transmission and coolers if its just spliced again as a repair as it is now.

Since Blackstone will analyze ATF I'll send them a sample for their report, it will be shared with the guy who does my transmissions.

BTW the two previous transmissions I did this are still running quite strongly, one E-250 was sold and the 2000 is still mine. As before this is a practice I highly recommend to extend the life of an expensive part.

 

I know on some 4R70 transmissions there is a thermostat in the cooler line from the trans to the cooler. When the trans is cool most of the fluid bypasses the cooler. I do now know if the E-Series had this or not. If it did, I recommend opening the line before the thermostat.

 

Thanks for the heads up Mark----I don't believe my vans have such a thing but what does this thermostat look like just in case? I see nothing other than the supply and return lines all along their paths.

TIA