Hey guys...
1997 F150 4X4 doing the tranny fluid and filter for the first time and getting mixed signals on what to determine for a capacity... Owners manual says 16.5qts (eep) for my tranny, but that's dry.

My Haynes manual says something similar for capacities, but the procedures portion of it reads to put in 4qts and run the vehicle through the gears (P,N,R, etc)... says nothing about total cap or anything from that point...

am I to assume that I just keep adding it qt at a time until the dipstick is showing the right level? That's sort of my plan... just hoping it's the right one.

Any input (as always) is appreciated!

 

When I did my 97 with the 4R70W tranny, it took a little over 12 qts. Be sure to run it through the gears after every 4qts. like the manual says. Even if you overfill it, its easy to drain the excess out. While you have the pan off you could install a drain plug to make the next change go a little easier. It gets a little messy removing a pan full of fluid.
Take your time and have fun

Travis

 

As Teal97 said, 4R70W will hold 12-13 qts. including coverter, make sure you get Mercon V.

 

My Expedition has a 4R100 and uses Mercon ATF. I drained both the pan and the torque converter. It took 15.5 qts to refill it. You won't get all of it out, but 15.5 qts is a pretty thorough change. Since the 4R100 takes Mercon, I put Mobil 1 ATF in it.

 

Thanks for the replies guys

I have the 4R100 as well - went with the straight Mercon stuff... I was alittle disturbed to find that the dustplug was still in the pan and the magnet was NASTY - as if they never actually dropped the pan, just siphoned out the fluid... sigh, well, 100K on one filter - not too shabby I suppose.

I measured out the drained fluid into gallon bottles so I could take them to the recycling place, it actually worked out to about 6 qts - so that's where I started (didn't do the torque converter -FYI). After refilling it to that point it was right on the cold mark, drove it for a bit and it was pretty much where it was supposed to be hot as well.

Did the transfer case (also very nasty fluid in there) and differentials as well - got rid of the 4WD noise I had in idle as well as the hard shifting - YAAY!

Thanks again!

 

I hate to burst your bubble, but that's the way it is.

Ford never sold the 4R100 with the 4.6L engine. The only automatic with the 4.6L is the 4R70W. That's what you have.

Now for your two mistakes. You used the wrong fluid since the 4R70W requires MERCON V. MERCON fluid in a 4R70W will develop torque converter shudder in a few thousand miles. Second mistake was only changing the fluid in the pan. That's less than half of the total fluid. You just mixed 6 quarts of new (wrong) fluid with 6+ quarts of old fluid.

I recommend changing the fluid again, and using MERCON V. Here is an easy way to change all the fluid. I've used this method several times. It's easy and works great!

http://www.ford-trucks.com/articles/...hangingatf.php

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by casey_1
Now for your two mistakes. You used the wrong fluid since the 4R70W requires MERCON V. MERCON fluid in a 4R70W will develop torque converter shudder in a few thousand miles. easy and works great!


Casey_1
In 97 and some of 98 ford used Mercon in the 4R70W trannys not Mercon V. It even says to use Mercon on my dipstick

Travis

 

Yes, they did use MERCON, and yes, they usually developed torque converter shudder within a few thousand miles. Change it to MERCON V unless you like shudder.

 

Hmm.......my 4R70W has run Mercon from day 1 and 79000 miles later I have yet to develop a tranny shudder. Guess you were ever so slightly misinformed. But what do I know.....I only own the truck.

 

many 4.6L f150's do in fact use plain mercon. I have run plain mercon in my 97 for about 165,000 miles with zero problems. (plain mercon is specified by ford in the 97 factory manual). Ford changed to the mercon V fluid in 98 or possibly 99. It is ok to run mercon V in a 97, but it is not ok at all to run plain mercon in a 99 model. I continue to use plain mercon because it does a good job in my 97 and it is cheap (get it at walmart, syntech brand). I will switch to Mercon V if my tranny does deveop any shudder but until then it's just plain Mercon. Casey1, your info on available trannys is not exactly correct. In 97, ford sold f150's with either the 4r70W or the E40D transmissions.

 

60,000 miles shudder free here.

 

Yes, they did, but not with the 4.6L. All 4.6L F150s had the 4R70W.

 

casey 1, you are the one who said jkingman had the 1997 4.6 4r70w. You are the one who said mercon in those transmissions causes shudder problems and you are the one who recommended an immediate fluid change. You gave bad advice---mercon works just find in the transmission that you specified. I never said both trannys came from the factory with 4.6l. I basically was cutting you some slack as i thought maybe you were typing about one tranny but thinking of the other.

 

wow - didn't anticipate this turning into a flame war. Thanks for the info, but I went with the fluid type that was noted on my dipstick. You guys argue all you want - I did what I did.

Thanks for the other advice on changing the rest of the fluid (and the procedure that you noted) - maybe when I can get under the truck and not freeze my jewels off I'll do that too

And as for bubbles... well, I'll leave those for my daughter

 

casey1 and jkingman, no flames intended on my part. Overall, a good discussion i thought. there is seperate thread here that fordfactory tech posted to in the last day that also talks about the appropriate fluid to use for the specific trannys. it's a good read.