satur9poet

This past weekend I took my horsey in for its 30,000 mile service. Yes, I took it to the dealership but before you guys hit the ceiling, its because i absolutely do not trust my family's mechanics or anyone in the area (long painful story)

I wanted to have new tranny fluid put in now that I have 32K on the car. Problem is, the guy working on it said he was having trouble getting the transmission coolant lines apart to start the flush. He worked on it for a while and just couldn't get the lines apart. He claimed this was a "problem on all the Mustangs". Is this true or total BS? Maybe this guy is incompetent, I dunno.

So, i had to make another appointment to bring it in. At least they didn't charge me for the work they didn't or couldn't do.

They also found that i have bad ball joints. These they will replace under warranty...just wondering how control arms could go bad after only 30K miles? I did run over a few curbs this year though...ouch.

The people at the dealership seemed honest and upfront, but i was left scratching my head at the whole experience. Advice is appreciated!

SpartaPerformance

The trans coolant lines by the inline filter can be a pain in the *** to remove and unfortunately time is money so if he had other jobs lined up at some point he probably gave up (shouldn't happen). I've seen bad ball joint on S-197 Mustangs even with low miles like yours, here in NY there are more potholes then paved surface.

satur9poet

Well, time was an issue as it was a Saturday (open 1/2 day) and they were backlogged, which they apologized for.

As for the roads here, driving on the moon would make for a smoother commute! The main streets and highways are a filthy hot mess...

loots06

I just changed my tranny fluid thank god I did because it was black! Its not suppose to be the color. I went with royal purple, now that's the ticket. Shifts are much improved.

ShadyNinja

black fluid, thats a nono...

transmission rebuilds cost a lot more than new fluid,

Vicious GT

That would be the trans vac dealio. Could have gone old school route and dropped the pan. Which would still need to be done to change the filter anyway. Yeah, some fluid stays in the converter that way.............

ShadyNinja

Correct
I did a write up on how to do it and shows you how to check the level

Check it out

https://mustangforums.com/forum/2005...cs-no-56k.html

satur9poet

I'll suggest this the next time I bring it in...but I'm not sure they'll do it since dealership work is "by the book" so to speak. I don't care what they do just as long as the old fluid is GONE. I'm not exactly thrilled to be driving around with old transmission fluid.

808muscle

I changed mine a few weeks ago. Ninjas write up showed me the way. That is one nasty job. Fluid was spilling everywhere. Laying on your side stretched out, hot, sweating and trying tp pump 5 quarts of goo into that pan and then trying to figure out of it's full or not! Good fun.....

nicksfoursix

My '05 GT w/21K developed a loud knocking, clunking noise over bumps as the suspension unloaded...(sounded like somebody with a small ball peen hammer tapping on the passenger footwell pan)...thought it may be a strut concern. It turned out to be a worn lower ball joint. They replaced the complete control arm..problem resolved. The Ford advisor told me that they have changed a "few" control arms and is somewhat of a known/common concern.
I will watch the color of the fluid and change as required or change @30K as a maintenance interval.