There is a company that makes a kit that gives you the aftermarket pan with drain plug AND a traditional style fill tube that can be accessed under the hood. It's pricey, but if you can afford it I think it would be a nice addition.

I bought a $7 oil drain pan that holds 8 quarts from my local auto parts store, and then loosened the rear trans. pan bolts first so that the fluid would drain out in a slightly more controlled manner. It really didn't turn out to be that bad.

I spent a total of around $100 on the job, which included a 12-pack case of Mercon LV, heat glove, 8 quart catch pan, shop towels, and Motorcraft trans. filter. The job took me about 1 hour on my back in the driveway, and that's because I spent time cleaning the magnet and pan really good and inspecting my bulkhead connector for leaks. If you've got some tools and a little mechanical knowledge, it's worth doing it yourself. You end up saving money and getting a better job done because now you know your filter is new and your magnet is clean which means that going forward you're keeping more contaminates out of the fluid, thereby extending the life of the transmission.

If you do it this way every 50,000 miles you'll end up with fresh fluid in the trans. all the time without paying big money for a "flush".

 

I understand the drain plug, that's a big help. But help me understand the added fluid, how does that help with your peace of mind? I don't get how more fluid is better.

 

Our shop dropped the pan and filter on my 2010 at work recently. I was amazed what a difference it made in shift performance.

According to Ford tech maculoco dropping the pan will get you about 7 quarts out which is about half the capacity.

IMO, 60k Is a really good interval for this type of service. If you change out about half the fluid at that interval, your trans will never fail due to fluid break down.

If I had a 6r80, I would add the aftermarket pan with the drain plug just so future changes are easy.

Filters are a matter of opinion. Mark K says they don't need to be changed, and that's good enough for me. But that being said, I am considering changing the filter on my expedition at 200k. But so far, with 180k I'm on my second full fluid exchange and original filter with no signs that a new filter is needed.

 

I've changed my stance on the never change the filter issue.

Starting with the 2008+ TorqShift the internal filter was GREATLY improved, and now it does need to be changed. See your owner's manual for the recommended mileage.

Previous filters were coarse enough that the only way they could plug is if the trans failed first. The newer filter is a very fine filter and it can get plugged if left in place too long.

 

Pig mat works good for keeping your garage floor shiny and untainted.

http://a.co/7NRzAvo

 

Mark,

How much do you know about the filter on the 6R80? Is it a similar style? I would assume so we'd want to change it? Wasn't sure as Ford says the fluid & filter are "lifetime".

 

One must remember that "lifetime" to a vehicle and "lifetime" to a human being are two very very different things.

Ford considers 150,000 miles to be "lifetime" for one of these light duty vehicles, but truth be told what they really care about is getting you to the end of warranty period.

The filter for the 6R80 is fairly good at filtering. I thought I'd put pictures up in my thread last year when I did mine, but now I can't find them. It's critical to make sure the O-ring on the filter neck comes out with the old filter, and then the new one seats properly when you pop the new filter in.

 

I'm going to do a pan drop, fluid and filter change tomorrow on my truck. If you wouldn't mind sharing your procedure for filling and adjusting the fluid level with me I would appreciate it.

Im planing on filling until it comes put of the hole, starting truck and adjusting to cold level line, then driving until transmission reaches 175° - 180°, then checking and adjusting a final time. I already have the hot gloves, filter, fluid, and pump to remove and add new fluid.

 

I know nothing about that filter.

 

I did exactly what you just described. I think it took between 4 and 5 quarts to make it start coming out of the fill hole with the engine off. I then started the engine, and added one quart at a time, checking the fluid level after each quart. Most guys end up using between 7 and 8 quarts total and I think that's exactly where mine ended up too.

Make sure you wipe down the pan and metal gasket really well so that they are dry when you reinstall. I didn't and had some leakage for a day or two before it finally stopped. But it worried me for a while.

FT-188 is the filter I got I'm pretty sure...it looked slightly different than the one that was in the truck, but all the vital measurements were the same.

If a guy spent the time to install a drain plug into the pan while it was off the truck that would be a real time saver in the future. Most of these trucks will have catastrophic engine or transmission failure before 300,000 miles probably, so a guy should in theory only have to drop the pan once. But having a drain plug would make it simple to do fluid exchanges every so often.

 

Thank you. I read everywhere that it's between 7-8 quarts total. This is the only time I'm planning on dropping the pan just to get at the filter and magnet. I won't install a plug, but the one benefit of having a short dipstick is that now it won't take much tuning attached to a pump to suck it out in the future.

I bought the FT-188 for my truck. There was some confusion on that as everywhere I looked had other filter numbers. Went to the Ford parts site with my VIN and it listed that filter. Amazon said it wouldn't fit my truck but the Motorcraft equivilant is fine. Filter came in with both numbers on it 😂😂

 

what color is transmission fluid supposed to be again? This is with 65,000 miles, I couldn't imagine leaving that I'm for another 75-80k. The new fluid was bright red.

I was able to pump out 5.5 quarts before even lessening the pan through the fill hole using one of those pumps for that is used to pump gear oil into a lower unit on an outboard. Was really nice to take the pan down and not receive a face full of fluid. Everything went smooth and went back together easily.

That dipstick is useless though. I measured what I took out and it was 7.25 quarts. I was able to put 5 in before having to start the truck. After starting the truck I was able to put 2 more. At 145° I still wasn't getting a reading on the stick so I added the other .25. Still no reading. The Mercon LV expands tremendously from what I read so the transmission needs to be hot. At 145° it was very uncomfortable to try to coax that dipstick in the hole, even with the oven glove. There's no way to get it in or out without wedging your hand between the cat and the side of the transmission. I went for a drive and let the temp climb to 201° which is the range it normally stays at. I checked underneath, no leaks so I am happy. I took 7.25 out and put 7.25 back in so I'm not really concerned with a dipstick reading. Not a bad job, but not one I'm doing again on this truck. Next time I will just pump out as much as possible and replace fluid, no pan drop.

 

Fordtechmakuloco talks about color of the Mercon LV in this video. I guess it gets discolored really fast!