Well, I took my '99 F-150 4X4 into the local dealership today for cruise control work, and they told me that since I had 89,950 miles on it, that I should schedule a transmission flush. They felt that the fluid looked red enough to safely change it. I told them that I'd already bought a transmission filter at NAPA and also 13 quarts of Valvoline high-mileage Mercon V ATF, so I'd be doing it myself. I bought the truck two months ago, and have no idea if the fluid had ever been changed. It had the plug in the pan when I dropped it today, so I at least know that the pan had never been off.

Anyway, I drained the torque converter into a bucket with quart hash marks, and it drained out 7 quarts. When I tried to remove the pan, I didn't get all of the old fluid into the bucket due to spillage, so I couldn't accurately assess how much fluid had been drained.

I'd read here that it should take about 12 quarts to refill it, and that you should fill it up about a quart low at first to avoid overfilling. I poured in 6 quarts, started it up and let it run for 30 seconds. I then shut it off and added 5 more quarts, to bring it up to 11 quarts. I then drove it on a 7 mile loop out here in the country. About 4 miles into the drive, it started making a terrible knocking sound. I shut off the key and pulled over. I then crawled under it, and removed the rubber torque converter plug to make sure that the drain plug was still in place. There was no fluid in that area, so I was good to go there. I also checked for pan leaks and found none.

I then started it back up, and it drove home just fine. I let it idle out in the driveway for some time, then checked the fluid. I had to add another 1 1/2 quarts to bring it to the mark at the top of "hot". This made the total fluid added 12 1/2 quarts. I then drove the 7-mile loop again, and it drove fine. What in the heck was that terrible noise?

Anyway, when I removed the old filter, the orange o-ring stayed on the filter as it should. I then installed the new filter and its o-ring, and shoved it up into the transmission as far as it would go. Is this the correct method to install it? Pushing it until it won't go any farther? I'm going to be nervous for a while when driving it. Thanks for any advice offered.

 

Sounds like everything is done pretty much the way it should be, actually, I put in about 6 quarts, then run through the gears, adding about 2 quarts doing the same each time. The filter goes on just as you did it, just make sure it goes in the right position.

 

I put it into each gear for about 15 seconds each after adding the remaining 5 quarts before the test drive. I put the filter on in the exact same position that it was when I took it off. The side of the old one was running parallel with the pan's mounting surface, so I put the new one on in the same manner.

I called and spoke with a friend of mine in Michigan tonight after starting this thread. He was a mechanic for decades, and now heads the service department at a Ford dealership. He said that he could only think of two things that would have caused that sound. One would be if something on the road was thrown up into the fan and got flung around. The other would be if the quart and a half low was just enough for the torque converter to temporarily suck air (cavitate) while negotiating the s-curve where the knocking occured.

I told him that I'd heard horror stories about people flushing higher-mileage transmissions and then having problems, and he said that if a transmission chokes after changing the fluid, then it had problems to begin with.

 

Your friend is right and I wouldn't worry about it. You did a drain/fill not a flush and you did it correctly. People who have trouble after a flush don't hear loud noises right away. Problems from a flush, which I think are rare and overblown, vary and are gradual in nature.

 

Best thing to do is just go on, nothing was done incorrect so what can you do. I've done mine on a reg basis and my o/d band went belly up on me. I had the whole thing rebuilt and beefed up so hopefully it's stronger and lasts. I'll never forget the sound it use to make, like it was dropped in neutral, revved, a screetch then shift.

 

Thanks for the reassurances, guys. I'll be putting it to the test today, as I'll be putting about 80 miles on it.

 

Well, I put 35 miles on it so far today, and it wasn't picture perfect. The first half of those miles were pretty uneventful, and I was quite pleased. Then it happened:

I was stopped at a stoplight, and when I tried to accelerate, it was like it was in neutral, then clunked into gear very hard. Immediately upon the truck moving, a clanging sound came from under the vehicle that sped up with the speed of the vehicle -- faster when I accelerated, slower when I decelerated. This went on for about a block and ceased.

I then drove around the block and pulled into a gas station to fuel up. I left the truck running at the pump, and upon trying to drive away, I got the "neutral situation with the loud clunk" again, although I did not get the clanging sound that time. I drove the 12 miles home with no noticeable problems. Fluid level hot was just slightly over the full mark.

It's rather strange that none of this started until I changed out the fluid. I used the Valvoline Max-Life ATF fluid, which clearly states Mercon V on the back label.

http://www.valvoline.com/products/Maxlife%20ATF.pdf

And I used a good quality filter from NAPA:

http://www.napaonline.com/MasterPage...+(Filter+Only)

This also happened today:

 

Was the transmission filter for a 4wd or a 2wd? I know the E4od has different filters for them, the 4wd filter has a longer suction tube (about 3" long) than the 2wd filter(about 1" long). If you put the 2wd filter on the transmission will act like you are describing because once the fluid gets dispersed around the transmission the pump will lose suction due to the shorter tube.

 

It's a 4R70W transmission. The suction tube on the new one was the same length as the old one.

 

Thats odd. I would sit in my driveway and shift through all of the gears very slowly, letting each engage. Do that about 2-3 times. Sometime things just get wierd!

 

I would have it checked out, it doesn't sound good. It's almost like there is an internal leak where fluid passes when it's not supposed to by these valves and what not. The accumulator spring is most likely the culprit, but since this is going on, a good rebuild might be the solution to the immediate problem as well as pending ones. Trust me, after my initial problems were fixed it was like these are going, that, so alot of new parts were installed as well as parts to cure common failure or weak points in the assembly. The kit was called "sure cure or Kure" however they spelled it, a tranny shop will know it or a kit like it. It may also be a electrical problem, a good scantool will confirm that as well.

 

Well, I'm 99% sure that I've found the culprit. The transmission tech at the dealership my buddy works at said that he was pretty sure that it was the filter. He said to pull the pan back off and check the filter for cracks or a leaking seam. He said it sounded like it was sucking air.

I pulled the NAPA filter, pressed the pick-up side of the filter tightly into my palm to seal it, and blew into the transmission side of the filter. I was able to blow air into it fairly easily, as the air exited somewhere around the metal-to-plastic seam. I then took the old factory Motorcraft filter and performed the same test. I tried as hard as I could to blow air into it, and about blew my cheeks out in the process. Absolutely no air leak in the old filter.

So tomorrow after work, I'm off to the local Ford dealership to purchase a new filter. Hopefully that'll take care of the problem.

 

Good stuff, something so small and stupid causes lots of headaches.

 

Well, the new filter seems to have corrected the problem. I took it on a 7-mile test drive this evening, and couldn't get it to malfunction like it did the other day. The true test will be this next weekend when I drive it a lot farther (it's my weekend ride.) I tested the new Motorcraft filter at the parts counter of my local Ford dealership for leaks before I accepted it. It passed with flying colors.

My advice to anyone who is buying a transmission filter: plug up the input side and blow into the output (o-ring) side. If you can force air into it, ask for another one.