I have mine flushed every 30,000 miles, although I've never had the filter changed.

 

damn it sounds like maybe you should never change your tranny fluid?? All these problems...I know people why NEVER change any fluid, except the oil, for the life of the car..And most of them are ok...I dont think mine has been changed im at 84XXX now...Not sure if its gonna fall apart if i get it changed, a local shop around here will flush it out for $40....I was gonna put some mobil 1 syntheitc in it, anyone know where to get it?

 

I was planning on doing a full flush.

 

Im concerned about the recall I had for my 2004 Ranger. The dealership put in a "Transmission Additive" they said that w/o the additive there could be problems when shifting into reverse.....Anyone have info on this "additive"?

 

No I never had mine changed whoever asked when they told me that I said well what would it hurt and the owner told me he could change it but I would sign a wiaver of damage to not make them liable if it broke down after the flush .

He said its good for it to be flushed regulary , but if it been a long time dont do it , or if it has a burnt smell . that was over 15 , 000 miles back now im at 95,000 and I cant tell now when I get it rebuilt Ill change every 15K as recomended .

 

Update info for anyone:

I have about 107k km's (for you guys in the U.S., I think that a bit shy of 70k miles).

I was in the tranny shop this morning. Got my system flushed, pan dropped and filter changed.

Comments were they could tell its the first time I had the fluid changed. It was burned, but they have seen worse. Call the color a brown-red. A bit of "dust" in the bottom of the pan.

In the end: I have a slow leak in my driveshaft seal thing. Not bad enough to change yet. Also my reverse has a delay in engaging (about 1 second). So far all is good. But I was told my delay would only get worse and I wil be looking at a rebuild, but if I am lucky, that should be a few years away.

Ohh, yeah, and my breather was blocked, so when they tried to fill the tranny, it "unblocked" and fluid came out everywhere - thank goodness I wasn't in my own garage.

 

Only thing to remember would be make sure they cap it back up! I took my truck to the local lube and the guy told me you will notice some fluid under the car the first night. Well I came out to my car the next day for school and noticed alot. Turned the truck on and something sounded like ****. Took it to my Uncles to check the fluid (engine was hot) and there was none on the dip stick. Took it right too the lube place and they did it again this time capping it.

Im glad I didnt just blow the noise off I would of killed my tranny.

 

Since I'm **** about fluid changes & the fact that mercon 5 is so expensive. Here is what I'm doing with my 06. (29k miles now)

I dropped the pan at 20k, inspected the pan for debris, installed a drain plug, put it back together and refilled. (took about 4 quarts)
Now I just drain the fluid every 10k miles and refill. Here in about 3-4 weeks I'll be doing this. I'm guessing it'll take about 2-3 quarts. (the plugs opening sits higher than the bottom of the pan)

Another thing I'd suggest.. is tranny temp. The hotter your tranny runs.. the more often you'll need to change it. Up here in Mich my temps only run 120-160 in the fall/winter/spring. So for me it's not really an issue until summer time. You guys in the south might want to do complete flushes more often or even entertain the idea of draining 1 qt / refilling at every oil change. Just that little booster will help the tranny to live well past 100k

Rich

 

I flushed mine...took every bit of 15qts to do it right.

 

HOw many quarts of tranny fluid does it take just dropping the pan and changing the fluid? Not flushing the entire system.......

 

about 5 quarts...but if you have the time and $$$ for the extra fluid then its worth it to do a full flush

 

ford recc. that you flush it every 30k. and using a machine is the best way to do it cause it will flush your whole system.

 

You can do it yourself by using the internal pump of the tranny. The local lube doesn't drop the pan and clean the magnet or change the filter.

 

when you work for a dealer its a lot cheaper : ). thats how i do it.

 

i had that bs additive added to my truck at 7K miles.

this is what happened:

went from normal to:

slipping out of gear when under moderate acceleration.
Stalled in reverse on more than one occasion.

My opinion on the addictive: not worth it.

Persoanally, I think the additive did irrepairable damage to my transmission. the dealer replaced most of the innards AFTER ther additive was added. Is my tranny 100$? no.

your slipping around 40mph could be a couple of things.

could be that the truck may be attempting to get into 5th gear - overdrive which hits at about 42mph. It could also be a solenoid on your transmission thats going bad. When it goes bad, you will know it. you think you have problems now? When that lil bugger goes, you cant even drink your coffee on the way to work!

 

is there a difference in oil whether you have an automatic transmission or manual transmission? what's the best kind for an automatic transmission? i've never done a transmission fluid change since i've owned this truck and figured i should do it soon.

 

I dont know if you were talking to me about my Ranger, but it sure as hell sounds like you are. I have ever slight slippage at around 40mph. Not all the time, weird thing is the slippage doesnt seem as bad now with 29k then it did when i first bought it

 

Well trans finally went all the way out after complete fluid change.Slipping so bad she'll barely move. 96 Ranger has only 57,000 miles. Its just gonna have to sit till I can afford a new tranny.

 

The solenoid on my truck will need replacing with in the next 2yrs. I know this, because under certain weather conditions, like UBER wet out. Say, ground temp is 50F air temp is 40F and its misty/rainy = more 'slippage' than normal. What will happen is you get a feelin that the truck is actually slipping out of gear. But it isnt. What it is, is the torque converter locking up and releasing. which gives that 'slipping' feeling. Now, I am by no way suggesting this is YOUR problem, but it is mine, and thats what it is. Its just a pos made in china solenoid.

 

Does it feel like somebody hit you from behind when this happens?

 

I have the exact problems has you describe. Usually the weather/temp is an issue, like it being exceptionaly damp outside, or freezing cold also. Usualy feel it around 40 mph too.....I should of kept my 02 Tacoma....My Ranger has caused me nothing but one problem after another since day one. And I baby it 100%

 

Yeah, id say thats a good way of describing it !

 

Bringing this back up for discussion.

My truck is about to hit 100,000 miles. The tranny has never been serviced.

Would be a good or a bad decision to get a flush and filter change?

 

good... dumb its never been serviced but many people seem to forget about it

 

Yeah, that's on me. I've had the truck for 60,000 of those miles and all I ever did was the oil.

For a long time the truck was just something to get me around, but that's changed now.