Trans. Fluid Change ?? or Not ??

[Rmorgan711]

So what is the fact ??
I have 145K on my Trans. , gathering info it is pretty much a split on to leave it alone or drain & change completely ...it is not giving any troubles at all and fluid is still quite clean ...It was changed by a recycle type machine at around 60k but pan has never been off to replace filter .
I have read where quite a few folks have had troubles after doing changes at over 100k ..
Anyone here got some good hard facts and insight on this ??

what about just dropping pan ,install new filter & topping off again ??
or for that matter.... catching old fluid from pan and putting back in after new filter .....if fluid properties are the issue ??

[brianjbeach85]

i had 104k on mine took it in for fluid power flush havent had any issues. I didnt have an issues before the flush, so its kinda hard to tell.. but i know at 6 years old and 104k was a good idea to get new fluid in there

[shu873]

It's a no brainer... have it serviced. Drop the pan, new filter, new fluid. If you had been regular with the 30k service interval I wouldn't bother with the flush, but since the filter has never been replaced and the fluid change was far between get it done all the way. Get it flushed and refilled with all new fluid. Make sure you use Mercron SP and nothing else.

[t-ray-4ray]

Just changed mine at 166000 changed filter and refilled then drove around for a hour drained the fluid and put fresh fluid no issues for me that was a month ago and I'm far from easy on her

[MWilbur516]

Originally Posted by shu873

It's a no brainer... have it serviced. Drop the pan, new filter, new fluid. If you had been regular with the 30k service interval I wouldn't bother with the flush, but since the filter has never been replaced and the fluid change was far between get it done all the way. Get it flushed and refilled with all new fluid. Make sure you use Mercron SP and nothing else.

Mercon LV is what Ford is now recommending. Its the direct replacement for the SP.

[sbarbee54]

Change it, all this BS about not is crap. Putting better clean oil in something in my mind is always better. That is like say I have never change my engine oil 100K later should I do it now? F&^% you should! Just my .02

[pizza pig]

i can assure you that is not the case, the second I changed my fluids was the second i ran into problems...

sure I had bad shift flare before which prematurely wore out the direct clutch, but it was fine until I changed the fluid, then it started slipping

[Tennesseepowerstroke]

I changed mine today with 20,000 miles on it. Mine was changed at 25,000 with both filters being replaced. I changed again at 45,200 and changed the remote filter. The fresh Mercon SP going in today definitely had a much more red tint to it than what come out. Different strokes for different folks but I am a firm believer in keeping fresh fluid in the transmission. Take it for what its worth, but I have changed my Ford Gold Coolant 3 times in 60,000 miles and I have not had the egr/oil cooler problems that others seem to have. Transmission fluid and Ford Gold Coolant are cheaper to replace than transmissions and oil coolers.

I would change it.

[Country Mav]

I was told by a local shop (about a C-4) that if you're gonna change fluid do it every 30-50,000 miles. If you go 100,000 don't change it unless you're intending to rebuild or replace your tranny... I've got 91,000 miles on mine and I'm wanting to do a flush and change on mine... But I'm on the fence too.

[sbarbee54]

You solidified my point by saying this

"i can assure you that is not the case, the second I changed my fluids was the second i ran into problems...

sure I had bad shift flare before which prematurely wore out the direct clutch, but it was fine until I changed the fluid, then it started slipping"

The problem was there it was just masked by poor maintenance. So no matter what you would have had the problem, just came to a boiling point when it was done. The issue could have started the next day, just like saying you could have changed it and it could have started a week later.