So I'm all set to add my Mobile 1 in after 3000 miles.
I didn't have has many problems taking off my filter as some did.
Since the owners manual is one of the worst pieces of literature ever produced,
and my ignorance, I hastily guessed at the oil plug. Turning slowly, I soon found
out that I was unscrewing the transmission fluid plug. as soon as I saw red on my
hand, I screwed it back in. I lost about half cup of fluid.

After finding the "right" plug and getting my oil change finished I figured I would add my transmission fluid back.
Refering back to the manual (or waste of a good tree), I couldn't figure out what the heck to do.

I call my local Ford technician this morning and explain this situation.
He explains there is no way for me to fill that without the tool they use.
I guess you need to get it 100 degrees and then "push" fluid in until it comes out.
So that half cup of fluid is going to cost me $50. [sm=headbang.gif]

So please learn from my idiotic mistake. Don't pull the automatic transmission fluid plug.

Lesson learned the hard way.

 

You don't have a tranny fluid dipstick ??? I though all automatic trannys had them ................... hummmmm

 

They come all sealed up tight as drum no a days. It is like buying one of those $100K cars that has the whole engine compartment sealed up.

 

Ugh--sorry to hear, and thanks for sharing the experience for our benefit.

Question---do you have any digital pics of the drain plug that you could post/share?? That would be really helpful.

My (oh wait--I bought it for my wife as college graduation present ) V6 Prem. Vert., mineral gray/black top has just under 1,000 miles on it, so I'm getting interested in the oil plug location...

Thanks!! Great forums here--glad I found it.

Hammy

 

One more thing that they are taking the ability for us to do ourselves away so we have to pay 300% more than we should by having the dealership do it. [:@]

 

I thought about doing that last night, but was pretty frustrated after that whole ordeal.
Not sure this is the same for the GT, but for the V6, the oil plug is BLACK (along w/ the pan), if you come straight
down from the filter, it is prett close. I believe it was 13mm plug. The tranny plug is SILVER, and
is more toward the middle of the car. The whole pan is silver. I believe it was 7/8".

 

Thanks! That simple info will be really helpful.

Hammy

 

Thanks for the info, but are the oil pan and the transmission pan really that close?

How do you mistake a transmission for an engine? Didn't you notice that the plug you were taking out was on the wrong side of the torque converter?

I haven't looked at the underside of mine yet, and it may be more confusing than it sounds, but it seems hard to make this kind of mistake unless you are just not paying attention to what you are doing.

 

Really? This sounds like More Crap! I've read others have drained and filled thiers? I plan to do mine this weekend. Granted, maybe it's different on a GT & manual tranny? But what mine says is, fill the tranny, using the fill plug (top plug, bottom is drain) but ONLY until you are 1/2" BELOW the fill hole! Yes, you are supposed to drain the tranny while it's warm. Then I'll have to let it cool down, as the fill hole is close to the exhaust pipe. Then, I'll use a 5/8" tube, run it down past the firewall from the engine compartment and into the fill hole. Then use a funnel to pour 3.2 quarts into it!

Dave...

 

Chalk it up to ignorance. I'm just trying to keep someone else from making the same mistake.
If I save one person from doing the same thing than it doesn't make me feel so bad for being so boneheaded.