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Do you think TRANSMISSION DRAIN AND FILLS are necessary?

4K views 23 replies 14 participants last post by  rjacket 
#1 ·
Just wanted a few opinions, do you al think Transmission Drain and Fills are really necessary to keep your transmission healthy?
 
#2 ·
Ford says to do that every 30K. The friction modifiers do wear out and wear materials from the clutches get into the fluid. I suck the fluid out the dipstick tube, put it in used 5Q oil jugs and note how much came out. Then put back what I removed. I pull the vent cap off to add fluid, makes it go down faster. Need a special funnel for that. Remember to put the vent cap back on the proper way. Should be wobbly loose. Exchange takes me ~30 minutes.

Ford says 150K on the filter. I can live with that.

-chart-
 
#3 ·
Hard not to think the fluid change is not a good idea when you see how everything has the blackish coating on it.
 
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#6 ·
My old '00 wagon went 212k miles on the original trans. with 50k fluid changes. Sold that car and of last year still on the road. My old '99 Yukon went 190k miles on same schedule and it towed trailers. Sold it and still on the road.
At the junkyard I'll guarantee every non crashed higher mileage car you see there is there due to a blown trans. that was never properly maintained.
 
#7 ·
I've always performed a pan drop, filter change & Full tranny fluid pump out at 30-35K mile intervals on our short tripped/severe service trannies & am always rewarded with improved shift feel. The 94 3.8L Taurus AXODE & 99 4.0L Ranger 5R55E tranny's are still with us without repair so far. The Taurus is short tripped around town, the Ranger tows my bass boat over & through the Blue Ridge Mtns 60 miles each round trip. I use oem tranny filters & licensed tranny fluids. So, yes as has been said, it's wise to change the tranny fluid & filter on a scheduled basis & imo perform a Full fluid pump out, so the old fluid isn't weakening the new fluids ad pack. Base oils get sheared & ad packs get depleted & the fluid gets contaminated with wear materials & other putrids that the filter won't remove. A tranny fluid UOA can determine how we're doing, but that'll cost about half of what a fluid & filter service we can do ourselves, would cost.
 
#10 ·
Any approved Mercon V.

I'm happy with the non approved "Valvoline for Mercon V". Didn't like Pennzoil Multi Vehicle. Others swear by Maxlife. Supertech Mercon V smells awful!

The Motorcraft filter is made by Filtran. They probably make it for several other brands as well, so any major filter brand will be ok if you find the Motorcraft is costing twice as much.

But it only needs changing every 120k miles ..........
 
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#9 · (Edited)
The Taurus definitely benefits from PROPER transmission service. This means approved fluid and filling to the correct level.

The 30k / 3 year change is not a drain and fill but a line off exchange. In my experience, this interval seems right.

Like chart though, I've decided to do periodic drain and fills through the dipstick (I have a Mityvac). I have a spreadsheet where I calculated that 10k miles for a 50% drain and fill works out to be the same as the 30k mile full exchange.

I have used 3 different Mercon V brands and monitored transmission temperatures and right now think the Valvoline Mercon V (not technically approved) is better than the Motorcraft Mercon V. The third fluid I used was Pennzoil Multi Vehicle which claimed to meet Mercon V. I only had 6 quarts and used it for a drain and fill and didn't like the results when it mixed with the Motorcraft.

I've recorded lower temperature with the Valvoline Mercon V and this would technically mean it would last longer. But many believe the important thing is to perform the change to remove debris. My UOA on Mercon V showed it was in good condition at 16k miles but that it held a lot of wear debris.

It is probably overkill to do a drain and fill every 10k miles or sometimes sooner, as I do. Many here have long lasting transmissions with drain and fills (not full exchanges) every 30k miles or even longer. But since I have over 50 quarts of Valvoline Mercon V that I got for $1 a quart, there is very little downside for me personally if I do 10k miles or less drain and fills.

Lastly, I happen to believe that most mechanical failures are because of sloppy mechanics using the wrong fluid or leaving fluids at the wrong level. Enthusiasts are less likely to make those mistakes and on weakly engineered parts like the Taurus transmission, that may be one reason that on this forum you find long lasting transmissions with basic maintenance. In the rest of the world, it seems your Taurus transmission has as much chance of lasting if you leave it alone or ask a mechanic to service it.
 
#12 ·
Gave that a try on my 2000 as well. I have not had any issues with their other fluids in the past and put over a 100k miles on Supertech on the 91 and that motor is fine.
 
#13 ·
I have successfully used Supertech Mercon V for the last fluid change on both the 04 and 05 Tecs, and recently switched the 95 Vulcan to Supertech Mercon V. Never had any tranny problems on any of the 6 Tauri we have / had doing a complete fluid exchanges every 25K to 30 K miles and replacing the filter every other fluid exchange.
 
#15 ·
I have been through the old issue of "railroading" or chatter in the TQ lockup, back at it's earliest in '85 LTD and again '91 Lin Cont. Son inlaw with a '98 F-150. Changing fluid helps. Seems the older fluid design looses it's friction enhancers over time. Newer fluid better the problem of fluid loosing it's grip will always be there. My old '01 started having rpm rise on the 1-2 shift. I am sensitive to that kind of thing. Fluid exchange fixed that.

I figure you can't go wrong with 30K pan exchange and the latest spec fluid.

TQ chatter is a real pain. :angry:

-chart-
 
#18 ·
Being that the tc's don't have a drain plug you will always get some old fluid mixing in. The only way to get it all out is with a "flush" where you fill the trans and run the engine with one of the cooler feed tubes off to pump out the old. What I have done in the past is a pan drop, then in a couple thousand miles suck the fluid out of the fill tube, and replace with new. Still not going to get everything doing that, but it's not going to hurt anything.
 
#22 · (Edited)
Two tests in my book.

Old school published by Ford long ago. Put a drop on a paper towel and let it sit, at least overnight. If you can see the difference in color on the paper where the first drop landed, you need to pull the pan, you have solids in the fluid.

Mine only, suck out some with a plastic hose by mouth up the tube and hold it till I can let it run in a cup. Pic is before and after exchange on 112K mile Sable, wholesale fixer up traded in. I saved it from the auction. Carfax shows some service, day one to sale and no indication of tran service. But since two of the bolts have the hex rounded off, I expect somewhere someone pulled the pan and put it back with impact. Color about the same as my Lin Cont, serviced on schedule prior to my buy. I exchanged it again.

-chart-
 
#24 ·
Two tests in my book.
Tests?! I thought we keep it simple and just change it!

(I'm just kidding).

But speaking of tests, here is an analysis of Motorcraft Mercon V that was in use for 18k miles / 3 years. The Motorcraft was filled during a cooler line flush so it is really 18k miles / 3 years old and not a mixture of 18k mile fluid and older fluid.

The fluid is in good condition. Motorcraft Mercon V viscosity starts at 7.5cst but it is expected and allowed to shear down in use. TAN is 1.9 which is not an issue. I believe an increase in TAN of 3.5 is the limit in one of the Mercon V tests.

But there are a lot of wear materials which is a known characteristic of certain Ford transmissions. Originally I was going to put a transmission filter in, but realized that since I had so much $1 a quart Mercon V, I could just do frequent dipstick extractions with my Mityvac.

Iron 37ppm
Lead 48ppm
Copper 106ppm
Tin 4ppm
Aluminium 8ppm
Nickel 4ppm
Silicon 2ppm
Water <0.05%
Viscosity 6.5cst
Solids <0.1%
TAN 1.9
 
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