Over the weekend I purchased a tranny filter kit at Pep Boys for my 2009 Ford F-150 XL, SCREW 4.6l 3v engine with a six speed transmission. I got set to do the job and realized before starting they gave me the wrong part. I drove to one other shop and the part was across town so I said "To hell with it"

I dropped my truck off at a local shop to change the fluid (I just wanted to do it since the truck has 101k miles on it now) The guy calls back and says it's $505 because his tech said this is a "ZF" or "Z" something transmission that requires 3 hours work because it's difficult to refill.

WTF? The refill process is to remove the bolt covering the dipstick, pull out the dipstick, and squeeze the fluid back in. I said this to the dude and he interrupted saying that's what his tech said. I followed with "To hell with it then"

Is this tech right? Is changing the fluid a 3 hour job? I guestimated 1 hour of my time to do it myself with the steps being; Undo the 21 bolts holding the pan to the tranny, drain, pull out filter, scrape gasket off pan, put on new, bolt pan back to tranny, gain access to filler hole, squeeze pump fluid back in.

3 hours! Like hell!

 

Find a shop that has an exchange machine, that should cost you a lot less than $505, even at a dealer. It connects through the cooler lines and does not require filling through the plug. Mercon LV fluid required.

Dropping the pan only gets about 1/3 of the fluid out and isn't worth it. Filter does not need service.

 

Ugh! So the Haynes repair manual was wrong? Something about my truck is just off. When I changed the rotors once I was given a 7 lug rotor but my axle had less than that. Pep Boys said their inventory system was correct but my truck came off the assembly line at such a point that Ford was switching over items on that year/model of truck.

Thank you for the reply! Now I feel bad for thinking poorly of the shop.

 

The ZF transmission is made by a German company. It is used in many new vehicles incluidng BMW and Rolls Royce as I understand. I didn't know that Ford had used it. The RAM 8 speed auto is a ZF transmission.

 

My quick google says Ford has and does use them but what I read suggested it's in the 3/4 ton pickups. I will check to see if my tranny is a ZF later. It's supposed to be stamped with a "ZF" on the side.

 

Here is what a quick search found. The 6R series is made under license by for

"The 6R is a six-speed automatic transmission for longitudinal engine placement in rear-wheel drive vehicles. It is based on the ZF 6HP26 transmission[1] and is built under license by the Ford Motor Company at its Livonia Transmission plant in Livonia, Michigan.".

So the 09 F150 probably has a 6R80.

 

Here are the two possibilities for an '09 1/2 ton, just look at the TR code on the door sticker.

Q — 4-speed automatic, 4R75E (Livonia)
6 — 6-speed automatic, 6R80

If you have the 6-speed, then it's the 6R80.

 

Yup, door sticker's TR code is a "6".

Really baffled why the tech said it was a different transmission beyond the obvious (jack up the price)

Oh well. I guess I will order the correct kit and do it myself this weekend but with a cold snap coming was trying to avoid laying on a cold garage floor.

Thank you for pointing that out!

 

Why bother? The filter never needs replacing, and neither does the gasket. As I said, dropping the pan only gets about 1/3 of the fluid out. Go get it fully exchanged with a machine or leave it be. Call the dealer for a quote, then check with some other shops, quick oil change shops usually have the machine too. Just make sure you use Mercon LV and don't let anyone put a flush chemical in.

 

There's your problem right there. PepBoys was bought out a few years ago and the quality of their mechanics has gone to ZERO. You need to find a REAL shop that has mechanics that know what they're doing and what they're talkiing about.