[Maxion$Mulla$]

tranny fliud question

I have 96 with 113,000 miles not know if its ever been changed before. Im i taking a risk because i herd on the 94and95 if you change when it hasnt been changed for a long time it will screw up your tranny. thx for the help l8ter

 

[FordMan77]

Well, while I'm sure anything is possible, I always thought that if you had it power flushed at a shop is when you could possibly screw it up, because that knocks all the junk that is sitting in it loose and it gets stuck in places that it shouldn't.

I changed the fluid in my 95 to Mercon V at about 65K, and it worked fine up until the day the intermediate clutches gave out, which was not caused by the fluid change. This was at 95K when it died. I will note that the reason I changed it out is that I had TC shudder and it solved that issue.

I would say drain the TC, lines and drop the pan. Change filter and all that and refill w/ Mercon V and be done. I am by no means a tranny guru, but I don't see why changing the fluid on a perfectly good working trans. is going to kill it. If anything, by switching to the Mercon V you will be helping to extend the life of the trans. Adding a cooler is always a good idea as well.

Just my .02

Jay

 

[girdnerg]

My wife's 98 Crown Vic P71 had 145K on it and had the TC shudder, so I let the tranny pump most of it out, then drained the TC. When I dropped the pan, the factory dip-stick tube plug was still in the pan, yikes! This told me that it had never been changed or some fool thought it had a purpose and put it back in the pan. Since I didn't have a choice, I went ahead and filled her back up (took 13 qts). It's been about 1k since this and has had no problems. It did fix the TC shudder.

I personally would do no matter what. Worst case; the tranny is weak and it makes some symptoms start showing up, then you can start saving for a new one. To me that's better than it dieing on you when on the road. Best case; you have done it some good and it will last longer.

Hope that helps,
Rob

 

[JustinH]

Drain it as per the tech articles.

Make sure you have a new pan filter on hand, and a full can of brake kleen spray.

You will want to clean up that pan and the valve body with the brake kleen, just spray it all over then wipe it with paper towels.

Let it dry, bolt it up and refill per instructions.

 

[Maxion$Mulla$]

thx guys, yea im deffently hooking up a tranny cooler since i just got the xcal tuner. Ill let you know how it turns out. L8ter

 

[Stinkfist04]

Might as well do the mild j-mod while you're in there and even further extend the life of the tranny at the same time getting a nice little kick in the shifts. The tech article is very simple to follow and if your dropping the pan and doing a complete fluid change it'd be almost foolish not to spend another 30-45mins. on the j-mod.

 

[Maxion$Mulla$]

yea man defently thx

 

[Grog6]

The only reason changing the fluid will kill a tranny is if the gunk in the fluid is all that's allowing it to hook up;

If you check the fluid, and it looks brown, and like it is full of little black chunks of fine particulate matter, you might not want to change it just yet; find a good transmission and put the good fluid in IT.

At ~$50 a case for mercon V, it's worth checking.

 

[Maxion$Mulla$]

Sup guys, i changed the fluid completly and added a cooler too. still shifts the same but what bothered me is when i pulled down the pan to see that the filter was siting at the bottem because it came loose from the gasket.