Hey People, 1st post! I've been reading about tranny service, whether to flush or not to flush. Some say It causes to many problems, And I'm talking about transmission shops, and some say it's the way to go. Is there a way I...me personaly, can just take the pan down and some how emty the torc converter without any special machines? are there drain plugs on them? I have a 2000 EB Expy 5.4 4x4 with 73000 mls on her. The fluid is still pink with no smell to it, but I purchased her 2 yrs. ago and I tow a 5500 lbs boat with her in the heat of the Fl summer, once or twice a month. all flat no hills in Fl. ( under 65 mph and not more that 25 mls at a time ) and figured it's time for some sort of maint. She does have a tow package, well I see a tranny cooler in frount of the rad. Oh! I haven't worked on cars or truck in probly 30 yrs. and have no specialized tools either. What do you think, Flush the tranny, or just the simple drop pan clean filter and fill what came out. And have a proffessional do it, or do it myself?

 

I take my 98 Expy to Valvoline Instant Oil Change and have them flush it. I have had the pan off of many vehicles but the way that they change out all of the fluid is much less of a mess and for about $90 it is a good deal. The filter usually just a screen anyway and usually does not need to to be changed.

 

Tileman,
I have basically the same truck as you do. I am assuming you have a 4R100 tranny. The TC has a drain plug. You remove the rubber plug and rotate the engine (or have someone do it for you) until you see the plug through the TC hole. However, I have done it 2 times and it is very straightforward:
1. Go for a drive and get your fluid hot.
2. Drain the fluid from the tranny fluid pan by removing the drain plug. You can get @ 5 to 6 quarts, maybe a bit more.
3. Undo the TC drain plug and drain the fluid. It drains slow (even dribbles) and takes a while, but you get out @ 10 quarts, give or take a quart.
4. Remove pan if you want to go all the way and replace the filter as well. The filter is @$20 on-line, more at the local dealer. The pan gasket is reusable. You will be able to get out another 0.5 to 1 quart in this manner, and install a new filter.
5. Remove the filter. Make sure that the sealing o-ring (actually a ~0.5" wide ring washer on the filter extension that goes into the hole) comes out of the hole the filter is inserted into. Clean up traces of fluid and install the new filter, ensuring that the sealing ring washer on the filter inserts fully into the hole.
6. Reuse the pan gasket, and mount the pan. Torque the pan bolts (progressively and in a logical order (diagonally across etc.)) to @125 inch-lbs.
7. Reinstall the torque converter drain plug. I used some plumber's teflon tape (1 turn) and installed the drain plug to snug plus another turn. You have to do this by feel - do not crank down and over tighten.
8. Measure how much fluid you removed and replace with ~equivalent volume of Mercon tranny fluid. Some folks use Mercon V, but my information is that Ford cautions against using Mercon V in 4R100 tranny's.
9. Start the truck and let it warm up, take it through the various gears and check the level while idling. Static levels always appear high on the dipstick and inaccurate. You may also progressively add fluid, i.e. @13 quarts, start the truck, take it through gears, check level, add more as needed etc. Do not overfill - this just helps if the truck was overfilled at the start.
10. It is messy, takes a bit of time - but once every 30K miles, it is well worth my time.
Regards,
aba4430

 

Great response, thank you. How do I know which tranny I have?

 

I looked up my special order paperwork from early 2000 and the 4R100 tranny code was listed as 44E. The door tag on my truck reflects E under TR. Perhaps someone here will give you more obvous leads.

 

Clean the metal filings off the magnet while you are in there

 

I had to change fluid in my Expy (4R100) and my F-150 (E4OD) recently and somebody posted this method and I tried it on both and was REALLY pleased at how it seemed to completely flush the old fluid and was a heck of a lot less messy than dropping the pan. Check it out at http://www.7point3.com/Writeups/TransFlush.aspx

BTW - The best price I found on Mercon when I did mine 3 months ago was at Pep Boys and it was in gallon jugs - was a lot easier than opening 20 quart jugs.

Some tips I discovered:

1. You will be catching 20 quarts of ATF - get a big pan and an appropriate container to take it to recycle. I used one of those big yellow pans Autozone sells that has the spout on one side with a cap.

2. There is no reason to clamp the hose to the return line. I used a section of hose large enough to slip over the flare in the line and just pushed it up 6" or so over the line and had no problem.

3. Also, I only used about a 16" long hose and put the pan underneath the tranny - I could not see the need to mess up 10' of hose. Just keep looking under the truck for the bubbles.

4. Buy some extra ATF just in case - you can always take it back if you don't need it.

 

Wow , thaks for all your input guys!