I have a 2000 F-150 4wd with 202xxx miles on the odometer. Today I drained the torque convertor, then dropped the pan to change the filter and trans fluid. No issues with the transmission shifting or operation, and the drained fluid was nice and red and didn't smell at all burned. When I got the pan off, the little plastic plug that caps the dipstick hole was still in there....shocked me. But even more so when I looked at the pan, it was as clean or cleaner than any trans pan I've ever dropped (and I probably do four or five a year). A little 'mud' around the magnet as always, but no shavings, aluminum powder, or 'black mud' in the bottom, it looked like the fluid had been changed 1000 miles ago, but the presence of the plug, and the Ford filter, indicate the pan hasn't been down. If the trans had been flushed, does a flush clean out the pan THAT well? I can't see it since a lot of times, on a somewhat worn transmission it takes some effort at the parts washer to clean all the goop out, and this had nothing in it. I'm just kind of puzzled since the condition of the trans inside (as well as the way it works) doesn't really look like a 202K trans that's never had the pan pulled. If the transmission was a Ford rebuilt, do they also come with the 'plug'? That was the only other explanation I could come up with, either it got a reman or low mile used trans at some time. I'm happy, don't get me wrong, but just wondering if a flush using one of the flush machines would have cleaned the pan that well....

 

A flush machine doesn't clean the pan. It only changes the fluid.

 

Kind of what I figured, since I don't know any history on the truck I guess I'll just consider that I got lucky and somehow got a better trans than I expected for a 200K mile truck. It makes me wonder more though, since the engine (basically the whole drivetrain) is nice and tight and not what you'd expect from the miles it's showing. I guess one other possibility is that the miles aren't correct; I assume since I have the digital ODO that the actual ODO is in the main computer? If somebody swapped in a JY computer would it then show the mileage of the JY truck the computer came out of? Just thinking back to when I was working at a dealer, my boss bought a Chevy pickup that showed 243K at the auction that showed 'odometer discrepancy'. I drove the truck for a while, and there is no way it was a 243K mile work truck, it was too solid and tight. Checking out the title records I think we figured it out, it had 98K when it arrived at the auction, but 243K when it left, thus the 'odo discrepancy'. Doubtless some slimeball dealer had a nice Tahoe or Suburban with high miles and swapped the instrument cluster over in the auction yard to enhance his truck's value, doable since it was the normal mechanical odometer. Wonder if something similar might have happened here....

 

its possible its a used junk yard transmission as well......