I've heard that it is not good to totally drain and fill the new electronic trannies because they actually need some of the residual particles from the fluid that remains in the torque converter to prevent slipping. This is from an auto repair shop owner. A buddy of mine did the full tranny flush and sure enough had problems within a month. What do you guys think? I don't like the thought of leaving old fluid in, but I also don't want to cause problems.

 

How long was it since your buddy last changed his transmission fluid?

If his tranny was flushed then I assume the filter was not changed...

http://www.filtercouncil.org/techdata/tsbs/98-2.html

The "residue particles" story sounds like bullcrap to me...

 

The tranny flush is not always a good thing because, if you've ever opened up a transmission with 40K+ miles on it, you'll realize there is a significant amount of clutch pack material as well as some metal. Not piles, but a coating on the bottom. This, as well as the crud that is in the filter, gets "flushed" back into the valve body. If you decide to flush, it is best to clean the pan and replace the filter first.

We are pretty lucky with our Fords because we have a drain plug on the torque converter (I'm pretty sure all of the 97- 04 models do anyway). This allows us to drain the converter and pan at the same time, removing 90% of the old fluid. If you drain out your cooler lines and let it drip for a little while, you'll get almost all of the old fluid out. Great time to clean the pan and install a drain plug!

Do a search here for complete drain and fill instructions.

 

Ford eliminated the drain plug in August, 2001.

 

I've drained my torque converter and dropped the pan twice in 114k miles. Trans is still working great and there was very little debris in the pan each time. The magnet had about 1/16" coating of particles on it this last time.

My torque converter has the drain plug, pan doesn't. Wish it did.

 

laneman- That's a new one. Is there documentation?

casey_1- No drain plugs =

Iggy- The first time I drop any transmission pan, I install a drain plug. It's very simple and saves future ATF facials.

 

I bought mine in January of 01, so I guess I lucked out. That really sucks about the TC drain plug. Good to know for the future. Thanks casey!

 

I had mine flushed at 30,000 miles, and have not had any problems. I do plan on dropping the pan and changing the filter at 35,000 anyway just to be safe.