Transmission Fluid Change - Do it now?
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Transmission Fluid Change - Do it now?
Hi-
OK, so I never thought I'd keep my expedition as long as I have, and therefore haven't exactly taken the best care of it. I've never changed the transmission fluid on it. It is a 99 with a 4.6 and 133,000 miles on it.
I've read where changing the fluid now can potentially be more harmful than leaving the stuff in there. I've also read some people that change it out, then change it again a month later, hoping that they flush the gunk out then.
What's a good way to go with this? I'm not experiencing any hard shifting or other issues with the transmission, it runs as good as when I put the first hundred miles on it.
OK, so I never thought I'd keep my expedition as long as I have, and therefore haven't exactly taken the best care of it. I've never changed the transmission fluid on it. It is a 99 with a 4.6 and 133,000 miles on it.
I've read where changing the fluid now can potentially be more harmful than leaving the stuff in there. I've also read some people that change it out, then change it again a month later, hoping that they flush the gunk out then.
What's a good way to go with this? I'm not experiencing any hard shifting or other issues with the transmission, it runs as good as when I put the first hundred miles on it.
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There is NO good reason not to do it. The stories you read are from people who have already fried the trans and as a last ditch effort to avoid the rebuild it needs, they flush the trans, then blame it on the flush.
New fluid and filter can do nothing but good for your transmission.
New fluid and filter can do nothing but good for your transmission.
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Just some trivia since I recently had my tranny fluid changed:
Although there are instructions on how to change the tranny fluid yourself, I recently had mine changed at a Ford Dealership. My 99 4x4 EB has 137k miles, and the tranny fluid was last changed about 50k miles ago, so it was overdue.
My local dealership doesn't have a machine for flushing the tranny, so my understanding is that about 1/2 of the fluids would remain unchanged; they also don't change the filter. Of course, they charge $150 for doing this.
I instead took it to a Ford Dealership about 170 miles away: the have a machine to flush + they changed the gasket/filter + they charged $150. They tried to talk me into only doing the non-power flush approach (as above) for about $100 because of "concerns of transmission problems that can occur if fluid isnt' changed per schedule". The invoice just said "ATF", and I forgot to ask if they used Mercon V (I assume so). It seems to be running just fine.
In case you decide to take it to a dealer (or another local shop), just letting you know that you might want to get very detailed on exactly what they are doing.
Although there are instructions on how to change the tranny fluid yourself, I recently had mine changed at a Ford Dealership. My 99 4x4 EB has 137k miles, and the tranny fluid was last changed about 50k miles ago, so it was overdue.
My local dealership doesn't have a machine for flushing the tranny, so my understanding is that about 1/2 of the fluids would remain unchanged; they also don't change the filter. Of course, they charge $150 for doing this.
I instead took it to a Ford Dealership about 170 miles away: the have a machine to flush + they changed the gasket/filter + they charged $150. They tried to talk me into only doing the non-power flush approach (as above) for about $100 because of "concerns of transmission problems that can occur if fluid isnt' changed per schedule". The invoice just said "ATF", and I forgot to ask if they used Mercon V (I assume so). It seems to be running just fine.
In case you decide to take it to a dealer (or another local shop), just letting you know that you might want to get very detailed on exactly what they are doing.
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There is no reason not to change the fluid. I would get the flush just because you can get all of the old gunk and stuff out of there. Any of the stories you here of people changing their fluid and then the trans going bad are just ridiculous.
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When I bought my 99 Expy. The tranny would slip sometimes. So I had the tranny flushed. No better. Start talking to some mechanics and they said to change the fluid. Took it to DANCO in Fairfield Ohio. They put new fluid and filter in and I haven't had a problem since. Oil wears out over time and adding the additives after a flush like the oil change places do just doesn't compare to new...
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When I bought my 99 Expy. The tranny would slip sometimes. So I had the tranny flushed. No better. Start talking to some mechanics and they said to change the fluid. Took it to DANCO in Fairfield Ohio. They put new fluid and filter in and I haven't had a problem since. Oil wears out over time and adding the additives after a flush like the oil change places do just doesn't compare to new...
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That's pretty harsh calling him a liar without knowing if shops really do this. Go check out a quick lube type of place and that's exactly what they do. They tap into the tranny cooling line and backflush the tranny, or should I say filter the tranny fluid.
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What on earth would be the point of backflushing your trans and not changing the fluid and filter? I have never heard of this practice, you liar
The machine I am most familiar with was made by Snap On. It had two seperate fluid resevoirs, one for the old fluid, one for the new. It was very automated, it would beep at you to turn the engine off, beep to start it up, beep to go through the gears etc. I didn't know there was a machine that didn't exchange the fluid.
The machine I am most familiar with was made by Snap On. It had two seperate fluid resevoirs, one for the old fluid, one for the new. It was very automated, it would beep at you to turn the engine off, beep to start it up, beep to go through the gears etc. I didn't know there was a machine that didn't exchange the fluid.
Fleet Owner
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Here's a fairly decent "how it's done write-up" in layman's terms.
Transmission Flushing
Here's a Snopes page regarding an expose a TV station did on a Jiffy Lube location near them.
http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/scams/jiffylube.asp
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I didn't call him a liar, I said I'd never heard of it and it didn't ring accurately with me. The first article you shared specifically mentions replacing the fluid and the second article mentions how people got scammed by Jiffy Lubes in 2006. Great detective work. Neither supports the position that doing a flush and putting the original fluid back in is a standard prcatice. I stand by the fact that I've never heard of it and it makes no sense.
Fleet Owner
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I didn't call him a liar, I said I'd never heard of it and it didn't ring accurately with me. The first article specifically mentions replacing the fluid and the second article mentions how people get scammed by Jiffy Lubes. Great detective work. Neither supports the position that doing a flush and putting the original fluid back in is a standard practice. I stand by the fact that I've never heard of it and it makes no sense.
The first article I posted was to show how the flushing machine was hooked up to the cooling line in order to flush out the tranny without dropping the pan and changing the filter. So yes, it did back up what I said about that. The second article shows how Jiffy Lube (for one) isn't giving what they promised. That includes new tranny fluid. All of that swindling going on and you think they're draining the flush machine and installing new tranny fluid every time? I know people that have worked there and from their lips straight to my ears, the tranny fluid is reused as long as it still looks red.