Atx Fluid change question

[shodazzl]

Well ,I'm about to do the tranny oil change on my 93 atx.Is it as easy as the shotimes.com says it is.I'm looking throgh the Ford manual and it says to remove a bunch of other components,Will the trans pan have nothing in the way of the its removal?Also The manual says to refill 12 quarts ,the run the car ..then add another 2. Will I need this many quarts for this type of oil change? Is there anything else I might want to check? Thanks --

 

[olympic]

Here's the proper way to do a complete tranny flush. First, pick up a Wynn's auto transmission flush kit(2 bottles packaged together). Dump the first one in and run the car for 30 min or whatever the instructions say. Also read the instructions on the second bottle because I can't remember if it goes in before or after the flush.

Then drop the tranny pan off(get ready for a big mess!), change the filter, clean the pan, magnet and gasket surfaces, then reinstall the pan with a new gasket and torque the bolts to spec.

Refill the tranny to the proper level and then disconnect both tranny cooler lines from the radiator. Identify which line brings the fluid from the tranny to the cooler(someone help me here on which one this is), attach a few feet of rubber hose to it and place the end of the hose in a 5 gallon drain pail. Then attach a few more feet of hose to the other tranny cooler line and place the end of the hose in a pail containing about 8 quarts of fresh fluid. Start the car and the old fluid(the stuff in the torque converter that doesn't come out when you drop the pan)will begin to pump out and the tranny will begin to suck in the new fluid. Once the new fluid is all sucked in, shut the car off, re-attach the cooler lines, lower the car to the ground and check the fluid level and top it off if necessary. Run the car for a few minutes and check the level again.

Or you can cut a check for about $90 and let your local tranny shop do it while you sip a cup of coffee, which is what I do...lol!

<small>[ October 03, 2002, 01:41 AM: Message edited by: olympic ]</small>

 

[F-22 Raptor SHO]

Firstly, Olympic man you beat me to the punch....I had your first tranny flush post from april that I was going to paste....good job.

Secondly, I dont know which line is the out and which is the in as I have a 95 atx with the air cooler. I do know that if I disconnect the drivers side hose from the cooler, that is the in since the fluid in the cooler will shoot out from that ******.

Thirdly: If you are going the Mobile 1 synthetic or Redline Synthetic, prepare to cut the $90 check anyways as it is 5 bucks a quart plus the $21 dollar gasket and filter.

Fourthly: have fun, and dont hurt yourself

 

[shodazzl]

Thats what I wanted see,the right way of flushing,but I still have a questions.So after I drop the pan and do the filter,gasket..reattach the pan ,then fill with fluid ..will I START the car to see how much fluid is in? Also I replaced my radiator and remembered that there is (passenger side) only 1 tranny fluid line going to the radiator(bottom), and the one on top is coolant..Is the other tranny fliud line that will suck the new 8 or so quarts at the bottom near the tranny,Or is there one on the drivers side bottom of radiator?

<small>[ October 03, 2002, 12:34 PM: Message edited by: shodazzl ]</small>

 

[F-22 Raptor SHO]

There would have to be one coming into the radiator, and one coming out. Before you drain any fluid out of the pan, I would check to see which hose exits the radiator. It gets messy with clean fluid if you are finding this out after you fill the pan with new fluid.

I did my way a bit differently than Olympic as I pulled the wrong line.

You can do the following:

find out direction of flow of fluid near radiator by disconnecting the hoses and having someone start the car and shut it off.

Stop. Add the flushie stuff. (I didnt do that).
Let car run with hoses hooked up.

SHut off car and drop pan slowly and collect all the fluid that comes out into a container. Note, about 8 or 9 quarts will come out.

Replace that flat looking filter that you see....clean the pan out in your basement sink especially that round magnet.

Put it all back together.

Find out how much fluid came out of the car.....add that much back into the tranny plus one quart.

Subtract the amount that came out of the car from the total capacity of the tranny plus 1. there are like 12.5 quarts in the tranny plus the 1 quart of flushie stuff you added. So if 7 came out, then you have 6.5 left in the torque converter right?

Pull the "OUT" hose off the radiator (you will have that hose off the radiator and if you started the car, dirty fluid would come out of the radiator if you started the car (Make sense?) Put a spare piece of hose on this end of the radiator and put it in a dirty bucket. Take the hose that you disconnected and put it in a clean bucket (really clean as you are going to add your fluid to this bucket). Take the ammount of fluid that you drained out of the pan and add that many quarts to the clean bucket and put your intake hose (the one you took off the radiator) into the bottom of the bucket.

Now for the math part. Rememeber the number you got from the equation above? thats how much fluid you are going to drain out of the car thru that hose into the dirty bucket (mark the level in the dirty bucket so you know when that much has gone in....I do one extra quart just to make sure. When that much fluid goes into the dirty bucket, shut off the car and reconnect all the lines. start car and check your level of fluid with the car running in park. Top off if needed.

It sounds like alot, but I did it by myself after olympic gave me the same instructions. If you dont want to do the clean bucket part, you could add the ammount of fluid you drained out of the pan into the tranny thru the fill tube then start the car, its the same diff, only you will have a bit of dirty fluid from the lines moving thru the system.

Dont worry, its not hard, just note, it took me alot of time since it was the first time I ever did it and I made a mess. Go get Mobil 1 synthetic, or even royal purple if you like.

Oh....one more thing: consider buying an after market air cooler to replace the radiator. IMPORTANT REASON: if you over heat the car, the tranny fluid is moving thru a hot radiator......what will that do to your fluid and your tranny? Yup.....smoke the tranny too as well as whatever damage you do to your engine.

 

[shodazzl]

Thanks guys for that detailed load of info .I think I will be able to pull it off following the instructions.I alreadly bought ford tranny fluid at a discount so no synthetic here.Does the 94 and 95 have a different setup when it comes to the oil cooler?thanks alot

 

[SHOZ123]

The Offical Ford procedure....

Fluid Change--Drain/RefillNormal maintenance and lubrication requirements necessitate periodic automatic transmission fluid changes at 48,000 Km (30,000 miles) or 34,000 Km (21,000 miles) (severe duty).

5. Remove the retainer clip from the lower transaxle fluid cooler line and fitting.

Disconnect the lower transaxle cooler line from the transaxle cooler line fitting at the transaxle.

7. Attach a flexible hose approximately 0.9 meters (3.0 feet) in length to the end of the transaxle cooler line and gently fasten the hose with a hose clamp.

8. Place the opposite end of the flexible hose into a suitable 14.2 liter (15 quart) container.

9. NOTE: When plugging the transaxle cooler line fitting, make sure the plug is made of soft material to prevent damage to the internal seal of the cooler line fitting.

Insert a plug into the transaxle cooler line fitting at the transaxle to prevent any residual fluid leakage.

10. Lower vehicle.

11. NOTE: When the steady stream of transmission fluid stops flowing the engine should be turned off to prevent damage to the transaxle. Engine rpm should not exceed curb idle speed while draining transmission fluid.

Place the transaxle range selector lever in PARK and start the engine. Run the engine at idle while observing the flexible hose attached to the transaxle cooler line.

Run the engine at idle speed for approximately 40-60 seconds until the steady stream of fluid stops flowing. This step will drain approximately 1.9-2.8 liters (2-3 quarts).

12. Fill the transaxle with 9.5 liters (10 quarts) of Motorcraft MERCON® Automatic Transmission fluid or equivalent meeting MERCON® specification.

13. NOTE: When the steady stream of transmission fluid stops flowing the engine should be turned off to prevent damage to the transaxle. Engine rpm should not exceed curb idle speed while draining fluid.

Run the engine at idle while observing the flexible hose attached to the fluid cooler line.

Run the engine at idle speed for approximately 2-3 minutes until the steady stream of fluid stops flowing. This step will drain approximately 9.5 liters (10 quarts).

14. Raise and suitable support vehicle.

15. Remove the plug from the transaxle cooler line fitting at the transaxle.

16. Remove the flexible hose from the cooler line.

17. NOTE: Carefully clean the cooler line before installing it to ensure a good connection and to prevent fluid leaks.

Install the cooler line into the transaxle cooler fitting by pushing straight into the cooler line fitting until a click is heard. Then, gently pull on the cooler line to make sure the line is locked in place in the cooler line fitting.

18. Install the retaining clip over the cooler line and fitting.

19. Lower vehicle.

20. Add 1.9 liters (2 quarts) of Motorcraft MERCON® Automatic Transmission Fluid or equivalent meeting MERCON® specification.

21. Place the transaxle range selector lever in PARK, apply the parking brake and start the engine. Move the transaxle range selector lever through all ranges allowing the transaxle to engage in each position and return transaxle range selector lever to PARK.

22. Check fluid level of the transaxle. The fluid level at normal operating temperature should read within the crosshatched area of the fluid level indicator. If the fluid level reads below the crosshatched area of the fluid level indicator, adjust the fluid level by adding fluid in 0.2 liter (1/2 pint) increments until the correct fluid level is obtained.

 

[shodazzl]

Thanks shoz123