A friend gave me a 1997 F250Heavy Duty XLT. It has 160k miles and the transmission has a little hard shifting changing gears, gives me the 50-55 shutter, and when going up hills I hear the tranny grumble until I let off the gas a little bit. This is my first ford so I don't have any Ford experience, but I have always worked on my own vehicles.

So after reading the previous posts, I will get the fluid changed out and get a new filter. But can all the fluid be drained from the tranny and TC or do I need to take it to a shop? My F250 is the old body style, so I am not sure if it has COPs or a regular coil and plugs system.

I will buy a Chiltons for it in a day or so. Thanks for your advice.

 

What engine does it have? Which transmission?

Engine is the 8th character in the VIN and tranny code is on the door jamb sticker.

 

460 ci V8 gas and the trans code is E. I crawled under is and there is a 65 on a data plate on the back of the trans, if that helps. Automatic trans.

 

That is a E4OD, and it will have a torque converter drain. You can drop the pan, replace the filter, and drain the TC yourself. You will need about 16 quarts of fluid, use Mercon V.

A 460 never had a COP or coil pack system, it's an old school distributor system - cap, rotor, wires.

 

I took the truck to the local transmission shop for a trans fluid flush and new filters. I thought it would be good for the mechanic to look and see if anything was really wrong. They pulled the pan, changed the filter(s) and completely changed the fluid. He said the fluid was really dirty but not burnt. There were no metal bits on the drain pan floor, but minor on the magnet. He said the trans looked good and for us to give it 50 or so miles to see if anything bumps or shimmies.

Cool. My free truck is getting better and better. I thought I was going to have some major problems with the trans.

Thanks for all the posts. This site really helps explain a lot of things.