94 ATX Tranny Q?

[362104]

I want to service the Tranny Fluid and replace the Filter. Is something you guys and gals recommended doing yourself or do I take to a Quick **** and pay $140 where a machine exchanges the fluid and some clown below yells CHECK!!!!!
There's a sticker on the bottom the pan with an 800# stating to call before removing? What the heck is that all about? Most important HOW MANY quarts
are required to refill. Man that tranny dipstick hole is pretty narrow.

Keith

 

[rubydist]

imho, doing it poorly yourself is better than the best day at the quick ****... You can ignore the 800# stuff.

 

[362104]

I bet the 800# is out of service...lol

 

[hawkeye18]

the 800# is for warranty failures. There are no SHO trannies that are still in warranty, I can guarantee you that!

The one time I had my tranny powerflushed at a JL, my tranny esploded. No, really, it went BOOM and left a bunch of little mini tranny parts all over the road. Not cool, and to the tune of $3000.

If you disconnect the lines at the radiator, you can flush it that way. There are lots of threads, including one in the "How-To" section, on how to do this. It's not hard, but it can be expensive!

The tranny holds 17 quarts total, 12 in the main body and 5 in the torque converter. You will probably flush about 10 quarts of that with the DIY method, which is enough.

 

[362104]

Thanks Hawkeye I will check out the how to. That really blows on the tranny failure. Frickin greasers at the **** shop. Just checked NAPA and Advance on tranny filters to the tune of $13.99, not bad.

 

[jpSHO]

You can do it yourself but without a machine you will never get all the fluid out. If you do bring it some where I wouldn't bring it to a fast **** I would find a reputable mechanic. I changed mine with Mobil 1, big difference and the tranny has 234,000 miles of hard driving.

 

[1993MTXSHO]

heres what I did, the manual states the trans is 12.2-12.8 qts for a 93-95 atx. I bought 10 quarts of fresh atx and a new filter. I dropped the pan, replaced the filter, and filled it back up with about 9-9.5 qts of new fluid. I never cycled the pump or anything that way there is no possibility of the internals running dry or something and causing the boom stated above. So I have about 75% new fresh fluid and a new filter (oh I also cleaned my magnet off while I was in there too), which I think is good enough so save a bunch of money, and a lot of trouble pumping out the old stuff the right way.

 

[hawkeye18]

Well the method of undoing the hoses and running the engine at idle until the fluid stops coming out is what is outlined in the manual - this is how ford says you should do it.

Running the tranny for a few seconds at idle with no fluid is not going to hurt it. More than 5-7 seconds with no fluid, and it'll start getting hot, but there is always going to be some fluid the pump can't get out, and there will still be a film of oil to protect metal-on-metal surfaces.

It says you should run it until it stops coming out, turn the engine off, put 10 quarts in, run it again until that stops coming out, turn the engine off, put 10 quarts (of good stuff) in, and you're done.

Edit: The boom was caused because those machines put a lot of pressure on places and things that weren't meant to have pressure. If there is anything that is weak or about to fail as far as hard parts goes, the machine will break those loose. There was a fairly large (1"x1/4") moon-shaped sliver of metal that was put in my pan by the flush, and whatever that came off of esploded.

 

[1993MTXSHO]

Well the method of undoing the hoses and running the engine at idle until the fluid stops coming out is what is outlined in the manual - this is how ford says you should do it.

Running the tranny for a few seconds at idle with no fluid is not going to hurt it. More than 5-7 seconds with no fluid, and it'll start getting hot, but there is always going to be some fluid the pump can't get out, and there will still be a film of oil to protect metal-on-metal surfaces.

It says you should run it until it stops coming out, turn the engine off, put 10 quarts in, run it again until that stops coming out, turn the engine off, put 10 quarts (of good stuff) in, and you're done.

Edit: The boom was caused because those machines put a lot of pressure on places and things that weren't meant to have pressure. If there is anything that is weak or about to fail as far as hard parts goes, the machine will break those loose. There was a fairly large (1"x1/4") moon-shaped sliver of metal that was put in my pan by the flush, and whatever that came off of esploded.

yeah pressure flushes should not be done unless it is already a dying tranny and it needs clutch chunks blown out of it. Also and I mean this in the nicest way possible, but I don't care what Ford says. I would NEVER run my tranny with no fluid in it. If you must do that, at least pour fluid into the pan continuously and wait for the color change (aka new fluid coming out) and then stop. Would you run your engine for 5-7 seconds w/o oil? The engine will still work fine after, but I know I wouldn't do it.

 

[hawkeye18]

no pistons/combustion events in a tranny.

 

[1993MTXSHO]

no pistons/combustion events in a tranny.

true, but there are moving parts that create friction. to each his own, but I personally would never do it. There is no need to, just have someone run it while you continue to dump fresh fluid in and nothing will ever run dry

 

[Brett]

I usually throw some lucas in most of my auto tranmssion vehicles reguardless if they're problematic or not. Even in a perfectly good transmission, if im changing a filter or doing a flush i still use some lucas.

 

[hawkeye18]

Me too, that stuff is the bomb diggety. A whole bottle of lucas is what kept my tranny limping along for about 300 miles...