30,000 miles and I plan to use syntehtic fluid.

Do I drain the torque converter and pan myself.
Take it to a shop, provide the fluid and let them do the flush ($80 plus fluid)
Or take it to Ford were they flush and drop the pan and replace the filter. Replaced with Motorcraft ATF.


Which should I do?

 

Taking it to the Ford Dealer would be a fantastic thing to do, as your Ford dealer would tell you. My Ford dealer would have been happy to do the 30k service for $250, and somehow, somewhere in there, they figured in the coolant flush. What? Hello? I have the yellow coolant in there, thank you. That would have been $50 of the $250 total. Now I'm not saying all this to bash Ford, just the dealer. They were trying to squeeze every dollar they could to do unnecessary work. Sorry if I seem CHEAP Notice the cheap cigarette.

Now on to your tranny question. Call around to other shops in your area. I called a local Midas shop and they quoted me roughly $100 for the 30k service. I asked them what all do they do for this service and they listed everything that I saw in my scheduled maintenance guide, so they seem to be pretty thorough. I just need to make sure they use the right tranny fluid and engine oil. They said they follow OEM specs. We'll see.

I don't know about changing the tranny fluid myself. Frankly, I don't feel confident enough to do it right, and I want to keep the warranty valid until the very end.

 

Well, I took mine to the dealer, and while it was about $120.00 I found out after the fact that when they do the flush, they do not drop the pan and replace the filter unless you tell them to

I haven't had any problems, but I am gonna have the pan dropped and the filter changed anyway.

 

My nearby dealership has two prices. one for the flush and pan drop....One for just the flush.

 

Please DO NOT allow anyone to flush your transmission:
1> The filter is not replaced
2> Can not tell what is is the pan (early warning signs)
3> It cost me $1300 to repair the transmission after two flush jobs at my local ford dealer. What I found out was that the pressure they use to force the new fluid , in reverse of the proper flow, to remove all the oil and trash deforms the seals and the line pressure drops causes poor clutch engagement (surge) at the green light, and the transmission hunts for a gear while driving at approx. 40-50 mph.
Find yourself a good mechanic that changes the fluid the old-fashioned way. You will find that it will cost you arround $70-$80 with Merk V and a new filter (if you have a 4R70W). The conterter can be drained (not real easy) there is a plug that can be removed if you have the right extension.
These people love to let you pay for their new play toys, it saves them time even though they charge you for the full book price.

 

hixonium

I am also in AR though LR area. Where did you take your truck? Did they powerflush or drop the pan/change the filter? I need to get this service done on a truck I just bought used.

Thanks.

 

BigBologna

I have not taken it in for that service yet, but I probably will in a couple of weeks. As for changing the filter, that's something I should have them do.

 

The torque converter plug was eliminated shortly after the start of the 2002 model year. If you have a very early 2002 it will have a plug, but 95% of the 2002 models and all newer models do not have a plug in the torque converter.

The flush is the only way to get all the fluid out. They can drop the pan and change the filter and inspect, too.

 

i changed mine last week including dropping the pan and changing filter , also drained converter .

( best part , honey can you crawl under my truck look at this hole and tell me when the bolt lines up , so i can drain the converter .
she did it , but im still hearing about her getting dirty hahaha )

not that hard , you can do it yourself .


i got the 100 tranny so 19 quarts of fluid .

used amsoil , a little more expensive but extends the time between changes .

 

Midas says they'll do the fluid replacement the "right" way plus change the filter for $119.