OK.... So I pride myself in doing regular changes on fluids but I must admit that I have let myself down terribly when it came to servicing the transmission. I too had heard about the story about changing fluids on high mileage tranny's and that it was a bad idea and would cause the seals and etc. to fall apart or whatever and basically ruin the transmission. So I pretty much took that as the gospel considering a very good friend of mine changed the fluid on his wife's explorer at a high mileage and approx 2 weeks later the transmission blew. And before the fluid change he said it was having no problems and that he pretty much just changed the fluid on a whim. With that being said I have a 2001 F150 4X4 with 182000 on it and I'm pretty sure it has never had the tranny fluid changed. The tranny is a little "weak" but will still chirp the tires and pulls pretty good to. Only twice has the tranny ever kinda messed up. And the couple times it happened where very weird the overdrive light started flashing and when i shifted it into a gear it would hit really hard however driving down the road it was smooth. And than when i shut my truck off and start it back up the light would stop flashing and everything would be normal.... That has only happened twice. SO My question is....

Do I leave the fluid as it is? or change it? the truck is still running great just trying to decide if I should roll the dice on it or not.

Thanks!!! TT

 

Don't know what to tell you because I was brought up with the fact that automatic transmissions needed to be serviced once a year.....

That consisted of just dropping the pan, cleaning the filter putting in about 6 qts of fluid and tightening the 'bands'.... I took it into a shop to do this as a kid when I was only 16 years old....

Today's trans don't really have 'bands' anymore, but changing the fluid and cleaning/replacing the filter is still considered a 'regular maintenance' thing to do as far as I'm concerned....

What makes you think the trans fluid can just go on forever and not need to be changed?????????

In your case, I'd just let it go until the trans dies because it's true that once a totally neglected trans gets new fluid, it dies not too long later.... Don't know why, but that's been all the stories I've read about.....

I've got over 207,000 miles on my E4OD and I've at least dropped the pan and most recently, added a drain plug to my trans pan and I drain the fluid each year....

I also do the transfer case fluid too.... EVERY YEAR!

I do my coolant every 18 months and I do my axles every 3 years....

Just saying.... There is a lot more fluid then just the engine oil...

Mitch

 

No I completely agree. And believe me all other fluids do get changed its just i was already at what i was told the point of no return on the transmission.... Does that make sense?

Thanks for the reply though.

 

It's also been said that it's not really the new fluid that causes a trans to fail if it's never been changed, it's just that the trans was on it's way out anyway?

Sorry for the rude post earlier.... Got carried away with myself and didn't think that you were really looking for some advice...

I'd go ahead and change it. Don't do any kind of flush or back flow thing.. Just swap the fluid out with some fresh stuff and keep your fingers crossed!

Good luck with whatever you decide

Mitch

 

I think that you should change the fluid.

 

I'm no expert but from what I have heard from numerous sources and as stated above is definitely change the fluid but do not get a flush.

 

There's a fine distinction between a flush and a complete fluid change. If you go to a shop that has a machine, it can be operated to use the transmission pump instead of the machine to pump the old fluid out and suck the new fluid in. That's not a "flush". Do NOT use any kind of chemicals as part of this process.

 

I just changed my TC fluid and 3.5 qts came out. It was brown and nsaty. I have on '05 and it calls for Mercon but not Mercon V. If the seal is leaking does any of the Mercon leak into the tranny or is it just a one way trip or do they just blend? I replaced what came out of the TC with 2 qts of Mercon V, ran around the block a few times using all gears until I got to temp. The tranny is still full (I did a pan drop/filter change Sat.) after just 2 qts going into TC. How long do i motor around before checking again to try and confirm a seal leak? It stands to reason the seal is leaking because before I did the tranny service I was down below the cold fill level when the engine was at temp. Quite frankly if both the tranny nad TC now have the same Mercon V fluid how bad is a leak going to effect things down the road? And how har is it to fix. I have my Haynes manual on the way from Amazon and am dying to take a look at how many scrapes and fluid showers I am in for. Just call me Mr. Busted Knuckles

 

I would drop the pan and add a new filter and yours (2001) just may have the torque converter drain plug. If it does, drain the tc and replace the fluid. And you do not need a new pan gasket. They are reusable and do not need replacement.