My parents have a '97 F150. It has the smaller v8. 4.8 I think?? and an auto tranny. Has about 60,000 miles on it and my mom drives to and from work. The most severe duty is see's is to pull their 18' boat once in a while in the summer. So it pretty much gets babied.


Was talking to my dad last night and he said when they pulled the boat to the lake last weekend the tranny felt like it was slipping a bit. I'm sure the tranny oil has never been changed. I suggested to get the filter replaced and the oil flushed. My dad being old school says since the tranny fluid looked and smelled ok he didn't think that would help.

Looking for any suggestions or known problems. I'd like to borrow the truck next month to trailer my motorcycles on my vacation but my dad dosen't want to lend it to me if there may be possable problems that could leave me stranded in the middle of no where.

Any help is appreciated!!

 

flush,fluid,filter and adding a cooler would not hurt...but the damage may be done..if you live in Dallas I can recommend a good tranny shop

 

I agree with Texford, but I would change the fluid/filter first. See if that makes a difference. If you don't have a two package, by all means get a tranny cooler (Check out: troyerperformance.com)

I bought a active tranny cooler from mike and it's doing a great job keeping things in the green range as far as tranny temps. go.

You could also go with a passive system, which is just a regular coil type cooler (just plug into tranny line).

Usually, your supposed to change the tranny fluid every 30,000 miles or in extreme duty cases every 15,000 miles. I change the filter along with the fluid.

Also, if towing to insure proper lubrication you should consider a synthetic ATF, like Red Line D4. You can also check out their site at:

www.redlineoil.com

This stuff is top notch.