I just pulled the trans pan for the first time on the 4R70W in my '98. The previous owner maintained it by the book, but I believe he just changed the fluid in the pan and replaced the trans filter at 30,000 mile intervals. Even so, the trans fluid looked fine when I bought the truck, but you could tell it needed to be replaced completely. I dropped the pan, replaced the filter, and cleaned and replaced the pan. I also drained the torque converter, and replaced all the fluid with Mobil One full synthetic Mercon V. The pan looked great. Just a slight bit of filn, and no chunks of anything.

From what I hear, when the taxi companies buy up all the old, beat-up city squads with around 100,000 HARD miles on average, they just do any necessary repairs, change the plugs, and top off all the fuilds, including the trans. Most of the cab companies don't ever service the trans, and run the cars another 150,000 miles or more. Those cab companies that buy Crown vics new with taxi specs generally sell the cars at 250,000 to 300,000 miles, and again, I have never heard of any cab companies who service the trans on cars they buy new either. Some may, but they seem to be a minority. It's the same 4R70W as we use, with a few minor differences.

Most of the Crown Vic gurus tell us to expect between 250,000 and 350,000 miles out of a trans. And with a strict PM schedule, one moght do better than that.

I will be surprised if the trans in this truck fails before at least 250,000 miles.

I would welcome any feedback.

Thanks.

 

crown vic guru here lol. i got a 96 p71 and that has been the most reliable car ive ever owned.it was a mass state cruiser in its former life.dropped the pan when i bought it and it looked great. she can still squeal them off the line. im at 123k now and should see 200k no problem.

 

My dad owned many many crownvics. He had a 91 he put 280,000 miles on and the car still looked and ran great. He only got one bad one. A 96 that was just a lemon. It's good to know someone got a good 96 because his wasn't. The 98 he bought a year later has been good.
Alan

 

I hear most Mass State Police cars are in several pieces when they are sold. Someone on CVN posted some photos of the cars on one sale, and they looked pretty bad. But I heard they also sell them CHEEEEEEP. So I'm curious: Did you have to buy several cars to put one good one together (which is fine by me), or did you buy it in one piece?

I had a '96 that I really liked, but it was the slowest Vic I have ever owned. Beautiful car though, and ultra reliable.

 

i got lucky. it was hard to find a decent one. i was told the first half of its life it was a highway cruiser. 3-4 different guys driving it 24/7 then the last few years they gave it to a detective to use so... he took care of it. only thing i had to do right away was all the brake lines, they were rusted bad. if you can find one with the interior intact you are lucky. they are usually pretty trashed inside.

 

My 2000 the trany started to act up bad around 96k so I traded it in before the trany was completly gone.