I have a 97 F150 4.6 with the 4R70W and plan to change out the tranny fluid as it is way over due and I have a shudder but, I have a few concerns and questions.
First I want/would like to switch to Mercon V as it has been known to help with the TC shudder we all get around 40mph. Problem factory fill on my tranny was regular Mercon, so even if I drain the pan and torque concertor I will still have up to a quart or so in the lines and nooks and crannies. Is this going to be a big problem, I know you are not supposed to mix Mercon and Mercon V? Should I have powerflush done by someone and have them change the filter at that time? I would liek to do this myself so I know it's done right and plus the experiance I gain is helpful.
Second while the pan is dropped I thought about a Transgo kit but do not know if it would be a smart idea with the shudder and possibly other problems I am having (can expalin if needed). Also, what other mods can I do to make this slush box a little better? I have heard of the Sonax valve but have no clue what that is? I have the OE cooler on it and will eventually add a trans temp guage and maybe a bigger cooler to sit in the stock location.
Thanks for any tips,ideas, or comments

 

You can change to MERCON V in your 4R70W. Here is a procedure to change all the fluid that you can do yourself. It was written for a SuperDuty with the 4R100 transmission, so some of the specifics are different, but the basic procedure is what you want to follow.

http://www.ford-diesel.com/faq/1999f...ance-AutoT.htm

I don't know much at all about the modifications you asked about.

Mark

 

Thanks Mark
That diffently is an interesting way or draining it all out. In fact it kinda scares me to start it up with low to almost no fluid. A first it confused me because he stated you needed 20 quarts and as I read I added the # uf quarts and kept coming up with more than 20. Got to reading closer and noticed he said to add until you have added 19 new quarts. Of course this is on the 4R100 and would be slightly less on the 4R70W. Would this be the only way I should/could switch over to Mercon V? I guess very very small amounts (less than a quart) of mixed Mercon and Mercon V would not hurt.

 

It's not the only way, but I believe it is the best way to change all the fluid.

You could drain the pan and torque converter and get almost as much fluid out.

You won't hurt anything by following the procedure. Ford has that procedure in it's service manuals for vehicles that do not have a torque converter drain plug.

Mark

 

hell, i gotta change mine soon too because i got the shudder. Maybe we should hook up some weekend and do it together.

oh yeah, how do i know what tranny i have. I've got a '98 4X4 5.4L ORP. Is it a special code on the door? I just always assumed i had the 4R70W

 

Dan
Man I just noticed your post count on this and it was "666", not good. Anyways yeah I really need to get my butt in gear and change that tranny fluid and see if it helps my problems. I need about two rain free days to get everything done. I got to install my billet grill, change the tranny fluid, lube the slip yoke, have the u-joints changed, and grease the frontend. I wouldn't mind getting together but I will not I do not have a garage down here. I either do it out side or if I have to over at my uncles house.

Your tranny probably is the 4R70W. Look on the door jamb sticker and the 4R70W is a "U" code under trans. Also there will be 14 bolts holding the transmission pan on. 4R100 is code "E" and has 20 bolts.

 

well, this makes it 667

 

Well, I'm tired of this dang vibration and bump/surge/jerk thing at 40 mph while in OD (have also felt it at 70 mph). I have an appointment at a dealer tomorrow. I chose to drive it out of my way to a dealership I am not familar with due to a incompetent dealer in my hometown area. I hope they can find what I could not. Wish me luck.

 

I gotta do mine real soon too. Now when it shifts form 2nd to 3rd, its not very smooth.

I have a 4R100, so do i need to disconnect the lines for the tranny cooler and everything, or is that just someting you can do to get ALL the old fluid out?

 

KYFordFreak: What are you doing bringing it to a dealer?? They're going to $$$rape you!

You know where my instructions are... do it yourself dude. I wouldn't worry about the bit of mercon left in the system mixing with fresh mercon V. If you're concerned drain it again after a few weeks.

If you do it yourself it'll cost $30-40. If it doesn't work then it's not much of a waste. If it does (chances are good to get rid of shudder) you'll have a bargain.

Anyhow, it's your cash. Just my 1 cent.

ps. www.fordf150.net posted some of my F150 tech articles!

 

Hey, glad I read this tread before posting. I was gonna ask if I should use Mercon or Mercon V due to the fact that I have a '97 with a 4R70W. From what I understand Ford didn't switch over to Mercon V until '98.

What's the difference? Why did Ford change the fluid type for the same tranny?

(I hope this doesn't start a 5w-20 vs. 5w-30 battle again)

 

p_ferlow:

are your instructions for the 4R70W transmission fluid change, the same for the 4R100 (except for the fluid used)? They're both the same process right?

 

DanB 360: Yes, mine is a 4r70w. Your tranny will be similar. I think the 4r100 has 1 or 2 quarts more capacity. Basically look in your manual for the total capacity and take off about 1 quart for the stuff in the cooler/lines.

I'm not sure if the gasket on the 4R100 is reusable or not like the 4r70w. In any case the filter kits come with gaskets most of the time. Check for the torque converter drain bolt.

www.f150world.com has a how-to article for the 4R100. You'll need to join to view it but that's free.

 

p_ferlow
Hold up, wait a second let me explain. There's good and bad in this story and it is long. Yes I do have a bit of the TC shudder but I also have/had some vibration I needed to try to deal with and was also going to see if they would do a recalibration (pcm reprogram to tell the truth). Let me start at the top on this.
Problems I have/had:
1.Slight vibration at 39-45 MPH (TC shudder of course), also right at 40 mph and 1100-1400 RPM I get a surge/jump/miss from engine or tranny which has also been felt at 70 mph and a steady 2000 RPM. This I thought this was a symptom of the TC shudder but now know otherwise and I'll explain later.
2. Clunk of re-accel after a deaccel
3. small vibration from either front end or driveline, told them to check the slip yoke as I wasn't for sure if the play I had there was normal or not

First off I went in there armed with info from here and other places and only went because I nor my father have not been able to solve this by our selves. Second I went with the stipulation that I was the only for them to check it out and would not pay over two hours worth of labor. I went to this dealer (out of my way) because of a few fair reccomendations from people and their labor is cheaper than most. They also seem to sell a good volume of Ford trucks and should know the problems that come with them.
The service writer at the counter was very professional and didn't treat me like an idiot like others had and offered very good insight to more than one topic. He's a fellow F150 owner and liked all the info I brought with me and even wanted to know where I got it. When the tech came back from lunch (5 min later) he and I went on a test drive and discussed a few things. The tech ( a young guy like myself, who also owns an F150) knew all to well about the TC shudder, listened to my thoughts and gave me some good ideas about what is wrong even though at the time he didn't reproduce the surge/miss/jump I feel at 1100-1400 RPM. He asked if the tranny had ever been serviced, to which I told him I had no clue. He started to say, usually with over 100K miles and no prior service they will not do a flush. At the same time I pulled the glove box open and did find a record of a trans service before I bought the truck. We pulled back into the lot and he said he did notice a slight vibration/bump in the steering which is probably just a slightly worn steering shaft (around 100 bucks and 1 hr labor). As I got out he said he would pull the driveshaft to check yoke and u-joints and he would check to see if it was a smart idea to replace the tranny fluid. I left with the thought they would just check it out.
They have a seperate garage where they do all the general tune-up and tire stuff (still owned by the dealership) so I walked over there to talk to an old friend for about 1/2 an hour. Left him and killed about an hour and went back. Come to find out he did pull my driveshaft, relubed the slip yoke (which I did 2 weeks ago, also) and retorqued the bolts. Which did seem to help seem to cure the clunk, more so than what I did ( I want to know what grease they used)
They also went ahead and did a tranny flush and added shudder fix. I wasn't to thrilled about this and told the service writer "I thought you were only going to look at it". He responded with "Oh, I thought you and the tech decided it would be OK, to do a flush". I told him "No, we talked about it, I didn't tell him to go ahead with it". I then thought well ok it needed to be changed, they added a shudder treatment, and completly got rid of the old stuff. Turns out they added regular Mercon with the shudder fix which according to them has an additive package to help with the shudder and bring it up to Mercon V specs anyways (note: service writer also stated they have additive packages to turn regular dextron/mercon into Chysler ATF +3, or even packages to bring mercon to various fluid specs of imports). I was then told the tech did another test drive and did feel the surge/miss/jump I talked about. I was like, OK, so it didn't fix the shudder then. Then he went on to explain that it did help the shudder some but the surge/jump I feel is something else and they are not sure of the cause. They said it could be a engine miss at one certain point but with no CEL's it's impossable to tell where from. I asked if it could be a gummed up accumaltor or solenoid in the tranny, to which he said yes it very well could be a small tranny problem.
Parts/flush cost was 47.55 in which they only charged me for 12 qts of fluid and 37.95 for labor, so less than one hour. Total bill with tax a little over $92. While it's a little high, I would have spent at least 75 going with any synthetic ATF, another 15 for a filter, no shudder treatment, and a large amount of my time. So in some ways I feel I got a fair deal in other ways I got cheated.
To end this story, it's to early for me to tell if any of this really helped my truck but so far it seems to have helped a little. On the trip home I noticed less vibration on the interstate, smoother shifting, and power was not to bad considering it was a lot hotter today than it has been lately around here. I'll know more as I drive it this week. If my tranny doesn't go shot in the next say 5000 miles I will probably redo my own tranny service, change u-joints, and have tires rotated and balanced. By then I hope to have any and all vibrations fixed, if not I will be buying either a trans or some driveline parts or something.

 

Alright... alright. Sounds reasonable.

Difficult to diagnose surge/miss when it could be tranny or motor.

What did they say about the steering shaft/ball joints? I keep hearing around here that the OE ball joints are crap. No probs with mine yet but I only have 53k miles.