I just bought a '90 F150 with an AOD. The truck has 146k mi, and I have no real clue as to the condition of the tranny fluid (when it was changed last, etc). What's involved in "servicing" an AOD? Can I do it in the driveway? Is there more than just dropping the pan, and changing a filter inside? I've never done any work on an auto, so I'm not familiar at all. I do all of my own oil changes, and tune-up related stuff, and am fairly capable with tools.

Wade

 

Thats it. Drop pan, expect rain of trans fluid, change filter, clean pan and mounting/gasket surfaces, put it back together.

Oh, don't forget to refill

 

Hahaha! Funny how the obvious is sometimes overlooked! That, would be bad....

Seems like I saw something mentioned about draining the torque converter as part of the servicing process(??).... what's that all about? Or is that something different(unrelated) all-together?

Thanks inski!

Wade

 

92Pony, the torque converter should be drained as well when doing your transmission fluid change. There is a round black rubber piece that is on the bottom of the transmission just ahead of the pan. Pull this out and you will see the converter in there. Now you have to turn the engine over (DO NOT START - DONE BY TURNING CRANK) until you see the plug on the converter. Finish draining the pan out and then pull the plug on the converter. The converter houses most of the oil in the transmission so it is good that you drain it as well. Make sure that you have enough oil before you start the job if you are doing it yourself. I think my truck took about 12 or 13 litres of oil to re-fill when the dealership did it.

I bought my truck with 94,000 kms on it, so I did a complete overhaul on the entire truck at 100,000 kms. I don't mean "overhaul" in the actual term but I did a complete tune-up, oil change on the engine, transmission, rear-end, new shocks, etc. I just wanted to make sure that I knew that everything was taken care of and then I had a base mileage number to do the next servicing on the truck. It is also a good piece of mind if something is wrong with the truck that it is taken care of early instead of causing more problems as time goes by.

Have Fun & Keep on Truckin'
Dean

 

I didn't even know there was a TC drain. Thanks Izzy! I serviced mine at 80-ish thousand miles. I dropped pan and changed filter, thats it. Next time I'll look for the TC plug too.

 

Thanks Izzy!

Wade

 

Some AOD`S have them on the torque converters. But if the tranny has ever been built, the after market (some)do not put that plug in. But then again most converters do. I purchase mine from N.T.C. they have that plug and what i also do when i do a service on one of those at my shop is drain the pan and converter and put ONE qt. of MOBILE ONE tri senthetic oil (yes oil)(10W30) and put it in when you fill your fluids.and obviously sub. it for one court of tranny fluid this helps the torque converter clutch to engage easier to insure lock up occurs and cycles in and out smoothly itS main reason is to stop torque converter shutter.Its not a scam or a trick to sell a car like the brake fluid trick i do it for customers that have torque converter shutter but their tranny shifts great so i tell them what i will try to avoid pulling the unit and i do and 8 out of ten customers tell me it did it for a few days and never came back but some are just trashed and it will also prevent the occurence of these symptoms