I want to get my coolant and tranny fluid changed. the Dealer wants to back flush both with Wynns fluids. Should I do that? It doesn't make good sense to me to push all the bad stuff out of the tranny filter and back through the system. The back flush will keep the old filter in use. I think it should be replaced.

What's wrong with draining the stuff replacing the filter and replacing with new fluid?

Sounds like a the lazy way to do this.....hook the truck up to a machine, let the machine circulate the fluids, until clean, and charge me manual labor.

Anybody had problems after the back flush? Any recomendations on which way to go?

And one other question. should I replace the rubber brake lines from the axle to the caliper? 53k miles on truck. thanks.

 

Run Run Run. The wifes cousin is a tranny mech. (indy shop) He sees one car a week after performing the back flush trick. What it does is knocks all the build up loose, and more often than not will cause a failure of one part, or the whole tranny.


Ryan

 

A "tranny flush" is not a back flush... my dealer did the entire fluid change on my '96 t-bird, they disconnected the output line from the tranny and pushed new fluid into the cooler, not back into the tranny.

Of course, some idiot could do it backwards But I've never heard of that being done intentionally.

 

ford considers the filter a liftime filter . there is no need to change the brake lines either. a tranny flush is hte best way to change fluid and it is not a back flush a cooling system flush is a backflush.

 

It would take quite an idiot to do it backwards.

The flush machines (and the excellent article in FTE's Tech Articles section) use the transmission's pump to change the fluid. Unless the idiot can run the engine backwards there is no way to do it backwards or to back flush a transmission. It's impossible.

Even if you found some way to turn the engine backwards the trans pump isn't going to pump backwards.

 

Casey, thanks for clarifying that, I didn't know what they used to pump the fluid, I had assumed it was an external pump.

I know when Ford did the 4R70W in my '96 t-bird, they got tranny fluid all over the driver's side catalytic converter and I had to wait for it to burn off.

 

I prefer dropping the pan. This was advice from several tranny shop owners I have come to know over the years.

Dropping the pan allows you to take a good look around and spot problems before they get too expensive to fix. You can tell a lot about the tranny by what kind of particles are in the tranny pan, the drain pan and the magnet. Every once in awhile you will also find a screw or two loose on the valve body, just tweak them snug or better yet, get an inch pound torque wrench and torque to spec.

I don't believe in anything lifetime anymore. Lifetime just means it will blow up after the original owner has sold it.

The filter in all the trannies I have changed over the past 30 years have had some clogging more or less. Some just maybe 25% some 80%, all of them on normally maintained cars. My 94 F250 has a spun fabric type filter and I would guess it was maybe 30% covered in brown debris after about 50,000 mile. The shop recommended 12K changes as best, 30K barely adequate. I am lazy. I usually do 50K changes unless factory specs less, and even then I forget. Only one tranny has failed unexpectedly with that maintenance. The others failed because I was/is stupid.

I had a chebby with "lifetime" fluid. I changed at 50K with Valvoline semisyn. The manual said no need to change fluid except under police duty. The original fluid was very nice at 50K with normal debris. At 90K the tranny blew with subtle warnings. The tranny shop reminded me, yet again, I should drop the pan every 12K, that way I would have caught the well known weakness of that tranny before it had a chance to do the damage it did. So either the replacement fluid that "exceeds" factory spec failed or dropping the pan is a good routine maintenance item.

BTW, my current Lincoln LS with the 5R55(?) tranny has lifetime fluid. It has already had a minor rebuild at 14,000 miles due to fluid overheating and debris. This was a known factory problem with that model tranny. Lifetime fluid. Fooey. Actually not the fault of the fluid, but something regular maintenace checks might catch.

Just my opinion and that of the 3 tranny shops I have given way too much money to over the past 30+ years. Or maybe they are fooling me to get my money ;^)

Jim Henderson

 

Ford does not recommend brake lines (I assume you mean brake fluid)?? Even though Ford does not recoomend brake fluid changes as well... I would do it every 30,000 - 50,000 miles!!! I just did mine at 55,000 miles and the brake fluid was dirty and black. It cost me $65.00 at Midas to have my '03 Excursion LTD 4X4... which is cheap insurance/maintenence in my mind!!! Brake fluid does not last for ever and wears out just like oil, coolant, tranny fluid... it does its job then goes bad with moisture and dirt.

If you flush your tranny every 25,000 - 30,000 miles you will be fine. I have the tourqu-shift tranny and have the external spin-on filter (that need to be changed). There is so much detergency in ATF fluid, that regular flushing will be fine and it moves the fluid "forward" so nothing will harm or clog anything.

For the cooling system, I removed lower radiator hose, drained, reconnected lower hose, refilled with distilled water, drove until up to temp (thermostat opens) and repeat 5 times. Eventually, you will only have distilled water in your system. On the final drain, refill with the proper coolant for your motor to allow for a 50/50 fill of your cooling system.

Good luck,

Jeff

 

Watch your tranny shops. I have my SD truck and a 97 Explorer with the 4r55 tranny, I think. We had it rebuilt and new valve body put in at 97,000 miles. We picked it up on 10-27-03. Since then it has been back in the tranny shop 12-14 times and been rebuilt again, now with a lifetime warranty from this shop.

I have had to threaten to sue him by taking in the filled out warrant and laying it on the desk with the information of what I hadnt received what I paid for yet. He said he would be glad to go to court and show how much work he had done and I would lose my case. I wasnt impressed. He called me back while I was on my way to the courthouse to file it, and asked me to bring it back in to him.

He didnt know that I had been in court the week before and watch a tranny shop lose their case as to the had not provided service that the customer had paid for. The judge ordered the shop to repair the tranny or replace it with a new one with 30 days. If not done properly they would have to pay the customer back no matter how much they lost.

Good luck,

Anthony

 

After listening to the dealer tell me that all we had to do was the flush and not drop the pan\change the filter I spoke with a local tranny shop. They said it is just like changing the engine oil and only changing the filter every other time. I still don't buy that one.

From now on, unless it is warranty, the tranny shop is doing my work. Flushing and dropping the pan\changing the internal filter. At least once a year, but then we plow and tow trailers all summer, so they get worked hard. So some of them are getting changed twice a year.

This shop has been in business for over 30 years, so I'm more confident in their recommendations than Ford's.

PS I have my '100K' coolant flushed and changed every year also.

 

Yup, my mother-in-law has a '95 Buick, which at 4 years old had it's "long life" coolant turning almost completely to rusty sludge. I caught it just in time...

And like Ford's 100K mile plug-change interval. Just because the plugs can last 100K miles doesn't mean you shouldn't remove them, clean the holes and reinstall with anti-sieze at least every 40K miles or so...

 

Another idiot (me) never changed the fluid or filter and the tranny in my 99 SD went at 114,000. It gave me about 1 mile notice before stopping dead. The replacement is still going strong at 260,000. I change it every 50,000 now. I had an expensive lesson.