I'm looking for some advice about a tranny concern I have.

I had the tranny serviced on my '02 5.4L FX4 SCAB less than 5K miles ago (I'm at 106K now). I had the shop do the full flush service. I noticed on the invoice that they didn't charge me for a tranny filter and I figured it was part of the service. Then I went under the truck to change the oil and it looked like the pan on the bottom of the tranny hadn't been removed in a while (last service was at about 60K). So I'm wondering if they replaced the filter at all or if they just sucked the fluid out and replaced it...

That made me hypersensitive, I suppose, but now I'm noticing that the tranny clunks from time to time. The most significant example is at highway speeds when I go to pass someone. When I accellerate hard from the mid 1000's the tranny downshifts appropriately, but it sounds like I'm running over a rumblestrip for just a second (probably less than a second). Can't be good, right? In general the shifting seems to be a tad "off" but the truck's performance is the same overall.

I'm wondering if I should worry about this, and if so, what i should do. My first reaction is that I should have taken it to a dealer despite my prior good experiences with the shop I used. So I could take it to a dealer now and spend $250 on a complete tranny service or open it up myself and just replace the filter and that portion of the fluid. If I do that, by the way, should I try to use the exact fluid as the shop or can I go with something else? I've been considering Amsoil fluid as I've had good results with their oil but wonder about mixing it with whatever is in there...

Anyway, I don't want to spend $250 at the dealer but if it will save me from buying a new transmission at some point I'll go ahead and do it. Thanks for any advice!

 

No, on a flush the pan is not dropped. I usually don't change the filter on a flush. not really necessary. It's nothing but a mesh screen, and if there are particles clogging it, you have bigger problems.

 

Yes, you can mix AMSOIL ATF with what ever is in the tranny now and it will perform completely normal, but it negates the benefits of using AMSOIL...extended service life/drain intervals, superior heat protection, etc, etc.

Seems like I have personally heard more bad luck stories on full tranny flushes with a shop machine than success stories. A full flush is also something you can do at home on your own with no specical tools. Do some searching as this gets discussed frequently.

 

Ok, I could do the tranny flush myself. But that's a lot of fluid to mess with and I admittedly took the easy way out.

Now that I'm hearing these noises, what should I do? Flush it again? Seems pretty stupid considering they did it only 5,000 miles ago. Could it be that the fluid they used isn't right?

I found other threads with similar discussions, but not one where the noise started immediately after a fluid flush. Thanks a million for the help!