At what mileage is it a good idea to flush and change the transmission fluid? I have a 2004 4.0 4*4 and coming up on 29,000 miles....

 

What does the owners manual say?

 

i change mine everytime i change my oil

 

I have 96 Ranger 4.0 4x4 with 55,000 miles and had the tranny flushed about 500 miles ago. Trans went out yesterday. Slipping like crazy. Coincidence? I don't know!!!

 

are ya freakin kidding me you are wasting money.....

a transmission fluid and filter change ever 15,000 miles....a complete flush every 30,000 miles....

 

Lol I was about to say the same thing. Thats just retarded.

 

wasting money? its ok its not mine

 

Then who pays for it?

 

a guy i work for gets if from a company and he doesn't charge me anything for it bc hes to old to do any outside work so i mow his grass and stuff on the weekends and he brings me cases of oil, ATF, and fuel injection cleaner stuff all the time and its my truck ill change it when i want too.

 

Your not the first one I heard of saying this about they're Ranger, tranny problems after getting it flushed and changed. It almost seems like if you keep your Ranger long enough your going to have tranny problems. More times then not though it sounds like overall that most Rangers dont have high milage when tranny problems start. My brothers 99 ranger had a tranny rebuilt at 50,000 miles. And my tranny hasnt been right since day 1, the dealer would never aknowlege it. Sometimes I feel slight slippage at around 40 miles mph.... I was thinking a flushing and change might help?

 

Either the transmission had the wrong fluid put in, something was already damaged or damaged during the service, or yes, it was a coincidence. Doing a transmission flush using the vehicle's own pump (most if not all systems do) and the proper fluid should not cause any issues on a transmission that has been properly maintained and not abused to death. If a flush "causes" a transmission to fail, the transmission was already well on its way to the junkyard.

I had a 1995 Explorer 4x4 with the same 4R55E transmission. It had 157,000 miles on the original unrebuilt transmission when I sold it. The previous owner confirmed well after I had already bought the truck that he had never done anything but regular maintenance on the trans. It still shifted great. The truck was used to tow a boat frequently by the previous owner, and it didn't even have an external cooler. The fluid was flushed regularly. Not a bit of trouble out of it.

 

I was planning on flushing mine for the first time at 50k.....I bought it with 30k and i doubt the 1st owner ever had a flush or fluid change. Hope it dont go out.

Edit: did you do the flush yourself by dropping the pan,cleaning it out and using the internal pump to flush or did you take it to a local lube to have it done??

 

I'll probably go to my Ford stealership for the tranny flush and fill. Especialy since they know about the recall involving the additive that had to be put in the tranny fluid. I would assume that with the fluid change they'll again put in the additive?......If anyone can't tell yet no I don't know $h!t about vehicles....hhahah....I do my own oil changes thats it.....

 

there is no additive to go in the tranny....if you use Mercron V tranny fluid, you will be fine...

go to www.amsoil.com and use their flushing method....it is cheaper and EASIER to do it yourself.....a dealership will NOT change the filter...

 

I'm going in friday to get mine done, first time at 67k miles. The works, drop pan, filter and all. Going to a local tranny shop, quoted me $200.

I am crossing my fingers I don't follow panamint results.

 

you could do it yourself in an hour and for less than $100......

i guess you guys have money to burn......

 

Be carefull if you havent flushed your tran fluid regularly it can actully be hollding it together when I went to have mine flushed at 60,000 ammco said it had a burnt smell then they told me if they tried theres a 50/50 chance it will tear up afterwards so be carefull ...

 

I think you talked me into doing myself. I checked the amsoil site and it sounds easy enough. What are some premium quality brands of tranny fluid. I assume that tranny fluid comes in regular and fully syn blends as oil does?

 

So did you get it done anyways?

 

I would just stick with the Motorcraft Mercron V. You MUST use Mercron V.

 

Im starting to think flushing mine would be a bad idea at 50k.

 

it wouldn't be a bad idea Kevin....

 

What does flushing include? I got mine done about 7,000 miles ago becuase of ignorance on my part. Everyone had always told me it was a big deal and believe me its def. not. They dropped my pan, cleaned it..man it was nasty!!!!, then changed the filter..cleaned the inside of the tranny best they could and then replaced the gasket, and filled her on up.
I will def. do it myself next time..just wish I had a lift lol. Ill be honest as much crap as there was in the bottom of the pan it worrys me..like the magnet was full. I wonder sometimes if its the xcal2 making this happen becuase of the extremely firm shifts. Hopefully it wont be as bad next time i change mine...
and kevin..I would def. change yours at 50,000 was when mine was first done by the previous owner.
For some reason I thought that was when the book said to do it was 50,000...i could be wrong though

 

Ill try to do it this weekend. Lets see Ill need new filter,gasket,and how much tranny fluid? I know im going to waste some,buy about 4 extra quarts?

EDIT: the owners manual says to do it every 30k if I remember right.

 

are you going to be doing a flush or just a filter change? a flush you will need about 15 quarts and a filter change about 5...