I have a 03 F150 4.6 2WD ... a little over 29K on it. Which route should I go .. a Trans Flush and don't touch the pan at this time or just go "old school" and drop the pan / change filter / refill 5 qts or so ??

The truck has not done any hard towing / racing /etc. The fluid seems ok, but I guess Ford recommends a 30K service. I called the dealer where I bought the truck .... said they don't have the flush machine yet, but still will do the pan option. Although, he was not against doing a flush. They just don't have a machine to do it. Plus, on a 03 the torque converter does not have a drain plug any longer.

I went to another Ford dealer today and they push the flush for $139. That is the only thing they do. Told me Ford recommends this and the pan should not be removed. They warranty it ( I guess the flush process from any damage incurred by this process) ... plus they said (who knows if this is true) that it will benefit my extended warranty by having this done. I have the 6yr/75000 mile extended warranty and by following this type of trans service, if I ever have trans issues the extended warranty should never be questioned because I followed the Ford recommended service.

Just for the heck of it ... I called two trans shops in town and they both said just drop pan/filter/refill. One for $85 & one for $110.

Now if that doesn't make things more confusing. I agree with the drop pan method because that is what I have always done in the past and have always had good trans life with doing that at regular intervals.

I am really confused .... seems you can find a different opinion at every turn!! I guess I'm not "sold" on this flush process, but then again I am not that familiar with it. I would greatly appreciate your advice!! Thank You.

 

My opinion is that only dropping the pan is a waste of money. You will change less than half of the fluid like that, so why bother? The filter doesn't need to be changed at that low mileage. It's a pretty coarse filter, so if there is enough junk in it that it needs to be changed, the rest of the trans needs to be changed, too.

Either have the flush done or do it yourself with this:

https://www.ford-trucks.com/article/...nsmission.html

 

The flush machine method will give good results as far as moving out the old fluid, flushing through some solvent and pump in fresh fluid. I was having trouble with the transmission in my Taurus and was hoping that a fluid change would help. I asked the shop to drop the pan, but they hooked it up to the machine anyway.

A few days later I was back at the dealer because I had the tranny light on the dash blinking. They dropped the pan found lots of chunks and shavings. The flush DID NOT cause these problems, but if they had done it the old way I wouldn't have been out the cost of two fluid fills - once for the flush and once after the rebuild.

The flush machine will give good service, but it's no good as far as inspection goes. At your mileage I would just have it flushed, but as it gets up in age I would want the pan dropped every time.

Calvin

 

I agree .... seems the best route is Flush at 30K and Pan/Filter/Flush at 60K

Also, this is what the dealer was saying about the "warranty" Its a BG Protection Plan that come with the Trans Flush

http://www.bgfindashop.com/bgprotectionplan.htm