Auto Tranny Flush.......not too sure
 

Hey all, need some advice,

I've been reading alot of stuff on the net (and hearing stuff from people) that a tranny should be flushed around 50,000KM and such, my ride is currently at 68792KM and i havent done a tranny flush yet.

Thing is when i check Ford's Maintenence schedule, it says not to change it till 150,000 (am assuming miles, found it on geniuneservice.com, ford site)

So am confused, i wanna make sure this car lasts pretty much forever (nothin better than a pony) but i dont wanna screw her up either by not flushing it and such.

What do i do? (and of course every shop in town wants to flush it...)

RE: Auto Tranny Flush.......not too sure
 

It is only good practice to get the tranny fluid changed every 35,000 miles or so. If you really just use some common sense/ logic just as engine oil gets dirty and comntaminants as it is used sames goes with tranny fluid. If you want it to last, change it more often will never hurt, it can only help! Remeber the Ford Manual for most cars say 6000 miles for reg oil change but everybody preaches 3000 miles and I do it faithfully at 3000 too! So why not get the tranny done at regular intervals!

RE: Auto Tranny Flush.......not too sure
 

My car has 27,000 miles and i just had mine done at the local Ford dealer. They had a special for $149.95. Better safe then sorry I say. Just make sure they check the level in the trans after the job is done. To many of them just like to run out 12 qts.then put 12 qts. back in, but this doesn't guarantee that the level is right.

Transmission flushes are a good idea ONLY a good idea if the car doesn't have too many miles on it. Using a flush machine at a high mileage when the cars trans has never been serviced can stir up some nasty stuff that has been built up over time. If you have a higher mileage vehicle and are looking to service the trans and have not yet done so, go with a simple fluid and filter change. Drop the pan, drain the fluid, inspect, change the filter, and then refill. Doing a flush can be risky on older vehicles or high mileage vehicles.

heres my experience. i had mine flushed at 50k, then again at 85k, i was just getting ready to do it again about 105k and this time get a filter change too and the trans went out. i lost R and D. i was able to drop it in 3,2,1, and got the car rolling, then it would shift into D on the highway and even overdrive at higher speed.

i dropped the pan, replaced the shift solenoid and filter, played with the shift linkage and even swapped the oem shifter back in, no luck. i was able to drive it to the trans shop after it sat for a month or more. turned out it needed a complete rebuild. they also rebuild the converters with every trans(so i had my stall bumped up 200)

the owner of the trans shop said places were trying to sell him the flush machine all the time but his view was its a total scam and he will not have any part of it in his shop. i have to agree. from now on, i`ll drop the pan, replace the filter every 25-30k and the 5 qts of fluid that comes out. the pan gasket is re usable so the one i bought i`ll just save. this way you can clean the magnet and check whats in the pan.

fords built a really crappy trans with the just guess if its full method and the casing bores for the servos, and all the plastic parts in there. the trans shop bored and sleeved those, way better. i also added a small mishimoto trans cooler from am along side the one thats in the car already.

so my car is running great again for $2,000.00. i`lll never get a flush ever again. i put off learning how to service it myself and paid the price. a cheap hand pump and a fitting is all thats needed. of course is a bit of a pain on the garage floor, so i just might go back and let them do the changes at the trans shop, but i would rather do it myself.

You may have seen my recent post in regards to rough shifting issue. My car has 68K miles and I had the mechanic replace out my tranny fluid a couple of days ago. The mechanic said it was pretty gunky and definitely needed replaced. It seems to have helped a bit with the clunky shiftng and am happy I had it done!