I Just Can't KILL Her!
 

My truck that is............:-X04


200,700 miles on the OD and the old girl is still kickin'. Not only kickin', but kickin' about as good as she did at 40,000......which is when I bought her.


Before today, she was in DIRE need of basic maintenance. Stuff I'd been planning, but didn't get around to. Took a trip to Oak Ridge (TN) a couple of days ago, and the mileage was about what it was when she was new(er). Roughly 280-mile trip. On the way up, got 18.5mpg...and on the way back, got 20.5mpg.


Yeah. Empty. But still......Pretty good mountain driving along the way too.


So....Took advantage of a NICE day today (mid -50s....sunny)...and gave her some much needed TLC. Changed the oil and filter. Pulled the AFE and cleaned and oiled her up. Cleaned the engine bay some (not a detail job......but knocked some of the oil off the patina. Changed the fuel filter, and let me tell YOU sportsfans, it was frickin' filthy. I'm surprised she was running as well as she was.


LONG overdue. Almost embarrassed to tell you guys......but over 15,000 since my last oil change. Yeah....I've been topping her off regularly, but it was, shall we say, getting a little thin........:o


It had been about 70,000 since I changed the fuel filter. Again......How she ever forgave me I'll never know.........:-innocent


Aaahhhh, WTH. I don't post here enough, so I decided to throw some rookie crap at the board. I'm sure some of you went for periods of time where you didn't dot all the 'I's and cross all the 'T's with your 7.3s.......


Only downside (upon my 160,000-mile reflection since purchasing the old girl) is it's not a longbed.


Dammit

Good thing its a 7.3 that can tolerate some overdue maintenance.

Yeah....


And I'm almost afraid to bring up the transmission.......:-innocent

I get that it's a hassle to be diligent with the fluids and filters. I have other things on my ever-growing bucket list yet unfilled - and changing oil distracts me from that.

I won't pass judgment or lecture you, because we all have our own priorities - God Bless America. I will share some numbers:

• Since you postpone your fluid/filter changes, I assume you won't be the one on the wrench at motor swap time. That will cost at least $10,000 when the blowby starts.
• A brand new diesel Superduty King Ranch is sneaking into the $70,000 range, and getting the base diesel Superduty will pop $50,000.
• A diesel Superduty 7.3L P/U with 40,000 (if you can find one) will draw at least $20,000 on Craigs List, and I've seen trucks with higher mileage sell for $25,000 to $28,000.
• You are at 1/3 to 1/5 the life expectancy of the engine with proper care. 200K is not miraculous... I'm at 300K with good compression numbers and zero blowby - many here are over 400K
• Your injectors with teeny-tiny parts are moving up and down at 1000 cycles per minute on the freeway - while bathed in your oil (the 7.3L HEUI injectors are oil powered). Remans are unreliable and don't last as long as new, 8 new ones are $2600.

If time is the thing, shops can do it for you. If money is the thing, I have given you more data to factor into the "How Much I Save" calculation.

200k? Is that it? Just getting broke in!

I've had her 160,000 miles. Actually, Tug.....Except for this last iteration....I've been fairly consistent with maintenance. Especially oil, of course. I don't do a lot of severe duty stuff (some.....but not a lot), and it's been about every 7500 miles with oil/filter....

Except for this last time of course.....lol.
Actually the stuff I described in the OP is about the extent of my mechanical 'bonding' time-skill level with my truck.........lol

About the only thing I did myself with the beast is change the original airbox over to the AFE cold-air intake...........and change the CPS. Minor stuff with fuses....bulbs. That sort of thing.

I've got a pretty good shop I take her to for more major stuff.....Like brakes......and had both ball joints replaced.

*****I don't want to give the impression I've been a neglectful butt-head the last 9 years........

......I've just been one for the last year.........lol

I've heard that. Which gets to my next point.........(doh!)

OK. Now to set Tugly off.....lol

I've NEVER replaced my tranny fluid or the tranny filter..........Ever. Don't know what, if anything was done the first 40,000 miles with it vis-a-vis the tranny.

Now I've heard one school of thought say 'Steve......leave it alone. The fluid in it is just what your tranny needs........just top off when needed'.....

And the other school which says 'Steve....you IDIOT....change that s--t out now!!!'........

Thoughts?

(and yeah....I've heard the 4R100 is the weak link for my model/year superduty....)

BG PF5 every 30k is your friend....Big fan of amsoil also

Bought 1 of these at an Estate sale for 1k and a 4 hour drive to N.C
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.for...09298bcf80.jpg
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.for...30c69614f2.jpg

Gawd... I don't want to come off as the 7.3L maintenance Gestapo. It's your truck, your life, and your wallet.

Now... come at me about bling on Stinky and I'll break out in Sailor Speak - set to music with a strong downbeat.

Too late.......lol

So. Don't screw with the tranny oil/filter?

Or drain, drop the pan, replace the gasket and filter, and refill?????

Steve....you IDIOT....change that s--t out now!!! :D

ford recommended trans service interval is every 30 to 35 thousand miles.

Yeah....I know I'm wayyyyyy past the recommended intervals........That's a gimmee.........

I've just heard that once you go far enough past the interval, that doing the full service is worse than the disease....(i.e., the 'cure' will kill the patient).......

Is that an old wive's tale? Changing out the fluid, filter, gasket is not going to kill the truck's tranny????

But yeah. To your point. I am an idiot......

If you don't have a pre-fuelpump filter, you need to be changing out your fuel filter every 8-10k miles. It's only $15, and 10 minutes of your time. Gotta do it.

As for your tranny...well....

And now comes the scary part...have you EVER changed out your brake fluid? Spend the $50 and go to a BG shop and have them do it. It can save your life.

And the rear differential fluids?

I know, these things can take some serious maintenance neglect. But fluids break down even without use, and especially with use. You gotta do a little TLC every month or so. Put together a 12-month plan of one thing every 2 months (Brake fluid tomorrow, tranny flush in March, rear differential in May, etc. Do that, and the truck will last you another 20-30 years.

tough question. will changing the fluid now kill the trans? probably not.
but who knows how long it will last if you do not service it?




kinda like the guy that feels because the prostrate cancer he has had for the past 4 years has not killed him so far, so why have it removed?

I'll have to check on the brake fluid thing.....


My rear brakes failed about 100,000 miles ago. I basically had a new rear-end put in (rotors, calipers, the works). Scary time.


The garage has a complete service history. I'll check.


But I've not been changing that stuff out. :-X16

I've pretty much decided I'm going to do it.........


When some of the fluid appears to be slightly 'burnt', that can't be a good thing. :-X16


And that's something I can do myself, of course......which just points to the fact that there's been no excuse.

Here's a better way from our very own Mark K, THE transmission guru

Changing ATF Fluid in a E4OD and 4R100 transmission - Ford Trucks


This will get all the fluid changed

Yep you need to change that tranny fluid out. I changed mine at 80k and it was black. I didn't change the filter but I added a external spin on tranny filter and changed the filter at 120k and that fluid was the same color as what was in the qt bottle, bright red. An external filter is a very good investment imo. Also if you tow heavy I highly suggest a 6.0 tranny cooler too keep your temps in ck.

from what ive read, just drain the pan and refill..(laymen term quoted from a tranny tech)

I can see doing that if the fluid was changed every 30k, but with 200k, I would do a full drain and flush.

Yeah. Sounds like the full flush alright.

I was hoping to do it without having to break out hoses and call up a friend.......

I'll have to look into that.

I don't do a lot of towing........

That was KIND of what I was looking at doing......Except for also pulling the pan and changing the filter......and checking out the magnet to see what's been going on up there.......

OK. So let's say I DON'T do the full flush.......

Out of the 18-odd quarts of tranny fluid, how much am I actually draining if I just pull the plug??????

what is in the pan, maybe 8 quarts.

So roughly half? That's it???

yup. the torque converter and cooler hold a lot of juice.

Yup.

So after reading Kovalsky's instructions.......Part 4 and 5.......

If you drain the pan........replace the plug........Start the engine........

Won't 8 more quarts end up getting recirculated back into the pan???? Which you can then drain making it 16 quarts you've drained??????

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He's disconnecting hoses, putting on the drain hose at the plug where the ATF is returning from the cooler back to the torque converter........and running the engine.........

Just a thought.........And I'm sure not a very good one....lol

yes, it will. but then it will contaminate the new stuff.
another way is to drain the pan, and drain the torque converter. this will leave what is in the cooler and lines. or you can blow out the lines. then you will just have what is left in the trans.

yup....pull plug, then remove pan and replace filter.

That'll probably work. According to Kov's post, My 2000 has a drain plug on the torque convertor...........

I realize I'm sounding 'newbish' here......but I've not spent any time crawling around checking out all the tranny stuff under the truck.....lol.

Some of you guys probably do that every weekend for relaxation......

I'm guessing that would bring me to 2/3.....or 3/4 of the fluid being drained through that simpler process. Probably enough.......

You guys make it sound simple, but I really don't want to run the engine after draining until I've put the new stuff in and I'm testing the level........

This is reminding me of my first posts here about 8 years ago.......lol

'Hey guys! I just changed the CPS! My truck works great now! Thanks! The Ford 7.3L rules! This site rocks!!!'......

i think if you drain the pan and torque converter you should be good to go.
or just take it somewhere and pay the $150 and have it done.
the only thing i make sure of is that they do not do the chemical flush. i specify just a simple fluid change.
i changed the filter when i first got it,it was nasty. now i just do a fluid change.

I would just follow Mark's instructions then you dont have to pull the plug on the torque converter,you will probably put about 3/4 the effort trying to cut corners,I performed that flush by My self with out breaking a sweat,but would have been handier if I waited for Wife to get home & started/killed engine when needed.

I was under the impression that all the schools had concluded you were an idiot? :-wink

Not really sure why you're so scared to turn the engine on when you disconnect a hose. Fluid just kind of dribbles out. It's not like a fire hose or something.

Perhaps you should start with a power steering flush. You disconnect a hose for that too and you'll be surprised at how slow the fluid comes out. Maybe you'll get enough confidence to do the tranny flush.

If not, either pay someone or do whatever fluid you can drain and change the filter. Have a way to measure how much fluid you get out so you know how much to put back in. If you just do 1/3 or 2/3 of the fluid, you'll need to shorten the next drain interval accordingly. (That is the interval Ford recommends at 30k. Not the I'm Steve 200k one).

Starting the truck doesn't just move 8 different quarts to the pan. It shakes it all up and mixes the new and old together so it's just not as worn out as it used to be.

Being content in one's state of idiocy is the path to Heaven......lol

Well when you explain it THAT way......

Zing!

Then again I can be like the smoker who smoked for 70 years and never got lung cancer.......I'd be like "Ha! I never changed the tranny fluid in 200000 miles and NEVER had a problem"! lol

I know, I know.......

In all seriousness, yeah. I kinda got that impression a few posts ago.

***I've got a couple of minor things to be done (parking brake, A/C blower) anyway.........I trust the garage I take it to. I'll just fork over the $150 for the tranny job at the same time. WTH.....They've got a nice lift to work with........

tell the garage that you will give them a get out of jail free card if they give you a good deal.

Seriously, just pay someone to do it. Find a BG Products shop in your area, and I think the tranny flush for these beasts is something like $150-200. The fluid is going to cost you close to $100 anyway if you DIY. The BG machines flush out all the fluid. Only negative is I don't think they normally drop the pan and replace the filter...but find a shop that will charge you $50 labor to do that real quick. Get your brake fluids done first...but you gotta get this done ASAP regardless of the cost...you can make more money tomorrow (this is coming from a guy who pinches pennies, too). I think I paid $250 or so to have a BG shop do my tranny and brake fluids all at once, and it was worth every penny.

If you decide to do it Mark K's way, make sure you're on level ground, the emergency brakes are set, and ALL WHEELS ARE CHOCKED. Your tranny will not necessarily be providing enough resistance to keep the truck from rolling on it's own while you're changing the fluids. So protect yourself with chocks and brakes. It will be worth it to replace the filter and clean out the gunk. But re-read paragraph #1.

i have the local ford dealer do both engine and trans oil changes on mine, they charge the same thing as the area shops.

Just don't let the shop sell you on any fancy snake oil additive or other such nonsense.

I implicitly trust my mechanic to do the job.......


(see below)


OK (deep breath).


I visited my mechanic today......to discuss the parking brake and other issues......and brought up doing the tranny job.


He was willing to do it........and described the job about the way you guys did.........


And said that there's a small chance....based on the fact of the mileage and the fact it's never been done......that it will actually mess up the tranny (I'm not going to butcher up his explanation......but I'm pretty sure the word 'sediment' was in there somewhere.......:)). I'd heard the same thing from another recommended diesel shop just to get a second opinion. A while back. Small chance.....but it's still there.


Bottom line, he said that if HE came into ownership of a similar truck with similar mileage and knew the tranny had never been drained or the filter changed, he wouldn't do it. He'd just check it and top off regularly.


Oh yeah......and he said he doesn't put 'additives' or other 'snake oil' crap into the system when he does a tranny flush.


I'd not heard any of you guys.....over 3 pages......recommend that I consider NOT doing a drain/replace on the tranny.


Have you heard of anything like I described????? For sure, he stands to make money by DOING the job. So why talk me out of it??????


Listening to you, though.....I'm guessing ALL of you dutifully did the 30,000 drain/filter interval.....so you personally never ran into that dilemma.......


And yeah, my mechanic DID tell me the '30,000' route for the change was the way to do it right.........


Thoughts?

Decades ago the old line of thinking was if you changed the tranny fluid on one that had never been changed in way too many miles, it would break up all the sludge inside the tranny and kill it in short order.

Even then it was pretty much an old wives tale. Folks that had ignored their transmission fluid would often change it in desperation when they noticed it starting to slip or make noises. When the already dying transmission finally kicks the bucket, it gets blamed on the "new fluid" not the lack of maintenance that had already killed the tranny.

Old fluid has likely lost much of it's lubricating properties, so leaving it in there longer is just going to continue the rapid wear on some parts.

If by some chance you've cooked all the detergent additives out of the fluid and you do somehow have so much sludge inside the transmission that it will do more harm than just clog a valve body, then you're on borrowed time anyway.

But did you ever notice that not one mechanic who says don't change the transmission fluid if it hasn't been done in too long will ever say the same thing about engine oil?

Have you ever heard anyone say, you waited too long to change the oil in your engine. If you change it now, you'll just free up all the sludge and destroy the engine?

No I haven't. And great point.......

Although you probably haven't run across anyone who's gone 200,000 miles without changing the oil and filter.....lol

Hey. I went 15,000 this last time around. But that's NOT usual for me. I'd been pretty consistent before that.

OK, Chris. Someone died and left you a 2000 superduty psd with 200,700 miles on the OD and the tranny had never been serviced.......and so far as you can tell, it's working OK (no slipping or funny noises or anything else......)

Do you a) pull the plug on the pan, drain 8 quarts, pull the pan, change the filter and check out whats in the bottom of the pan, and put 8 new quarts of stuff in, or b) hook up the hose and flush all the fluid out and put 16 quarts of new stuff in?????

Great post, BTW. Gotta watch out for those old wives tales.....lol