I have about 85,000 miles on my truck and am about to change the trans fluid. I have only had the truck for about 3 months so I don't know the maint. history.

My question is will I have to flush out the trans. in order to change over to synthetic oil? I have not had the pan off so I don't know if it is original or not. I know the benifits of synthetic engine oil and know that it will help in the transmission.

Does anyone know if there is a drain plug on the torque converter? If there isn't how will I drain that?

Sorry I don't know what transmission I have.

Thanks for any help,
Mike

 

You have a 4R70W transmission. It is the only automatic available with the 4.6L engine.

You can change to synthetic without flushing the transmission. I think it is better to flush because it changes more of the fluid than drianing the pan and torque converter, but it's your choice. There should be a drain plug in the torque converter.

Here is a do it yourself procedure I wrote to flush the transmission fluid.
http://www.ford-trucks.com/articles/...hangingatf.php

 

mark,

isn't mercon V synthetic or semi synthetic? that's what ford recommends for the 4r70w to eliminate torque converter shudder...right?

 

MERCON V is non synthetic, synthetic blend, or full synthetic. It depends what brand you have. All three are available.

MERCON V is the recommended fluid for the 4R70W and several other Ford transmissions.

 

which version of mercon V would i be getting if i bought the fluid at my local ford dealership....? what is put in at the factory?

i'm kinda guessing that the factory fill is full sythetic since my owner's manual for my '02 5.4l s-crew says i don't need to change tranny fluid until 150k! unless of course you follow the severe service requirement of 30k...

 

The factory fill MERCON V is a synthetic blend. Most dealers carry a few different MERCON V fluids, so you need to read the bottle to see what you are getting.

 

I flushed mine and Checker didn't even have Mercon V. Autozone had a house brand "Coastal" but I went with the AAMCO synthetic blend Mercon V.

 

The factory fill is a special formula for new builds, it's not availible retail that I know of, but it's still MERCON V, we call it B oil.

G

 

what benefits are there to synthetic tranny fluid?

 

It lasts longer (longer drain int.) and it has a higher thermal stability. Some say it protects better...cleaner, too.

 

Thanks for all your repleys, I will be doing this soon.

Mike