trans fluid
Senior User
Joined: Sep 2003
Posts: 335
Likes: 0
From: NJ
I personally do it every 15,000. Probably over kill, but having replaced a trans in my old Explorer, I think it's worth it. The only pain in the process is having to disconnect the front drive shaft to get the pan out. Out side of that.... remember to replace the seals on the filter when re-installing.
Freshman User
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 35
Likes: 0
From: CT
I'm with 99Xplr. The maintenance schedule never talks about changing AT fluid/filter. I drop the pan every 15K or so and change the filter at 30K. Then I do a complete flush and fill at around 60K. That's what most tranny shops will recommend. You can do it yourself but it can get real messy if you don't do it right. remeber, just dropping the pan only changes out about 2 quarts of the 12-14 that's actually in the tranny and torque converter.
Senior User
Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 229
Likes: 0
you can drain the fluid from your tranny cooler (if you have one) lines from the front of the truck, I forget the exact steps but someone suggested it here.
You get the truck jacked off the ground running, with the line disconnected, put it in Drive and the fluid will be pumped out through normal operation. As soon as you begin to see bubbles (air) in the fluid, shut her down. Now you can flush the tranny with more fluid or just add to it. Of course this will make your life cleaner if you are going to drop the pan and change the filter after. I was told, if you do this right, no damage will occur.
You get the truck jacked off the ground running, with the line disconnected, put it in Drive and the fluid will be pumped out through normal operation. As soon as you begin to see bubbles (air) in the fluid, shut her down. Now you can flush the tranny with more fluid or just add to it. Of course this will make your life cleaner if you are going to drop the pan and change the filter after. I was told, if you do this right, no damage will occur.
