Fifty150

FYI Valvoline MaxLife ATF is now available in a 5 gallon box.

The fill check plug on the side is used when ATF is at 85 - 93 C. You will need some sort of scan tool or app to read the ATF temperature via the OBDII port. A popular setup is HS/MS Can OBDII dongle, via USB, to a laptop with FORScan. You can forget about trying to use a point & shoot thermometer, as you will get a lot of different readings, and none will be accurate to what the car's computer sees from the sensor in the transmission valve body. At the correct operating temperature, your ATF has closed the cooler bypass valve, is flowing in a complete loop through the cooling system, and has expanded. This is the correct fill level for the fill check plug. From what you have described, your ATF was not at the correct temperature when you opened the fill check plug. This will result in an overfill condition. Not entirely catastrophic. Excess hot & expanded ATF will probably purge from the vent cap. But the best idea is to now adjust the fluid level to where it is correct. Between you, me, the tree, and nobody else - I think that transmission engineers design automatic transmissions with a certain level of "oops factor". They know that some people will make a little mistake with underfill & overfill, or what if there is a fluid leak causing some fluid to be lost? Everyone will tell you that you should have the correct fluid level, and I agree with that. But you're probably safe by a quart within the correct fill level. Meaning 1/2 quart low or high would still be safe. Not ideal. But safe. After all, why is there a hashmark range on dipsticks? Otherwise, the dipstick would just have one line, or hole, and you better be at that exact level. The factory fill on this 6F35, as published in earlier versions of owners manuals, is 4 liters. Not 4 quarts. 4 liters. Fill with 4 liters. Drive until transmission fluid temperature is 185 - 200 F. Then open the fill check plug. If nothing comes out, then add fluid. If fluid is coming out, wait until nothing is coming out. Now reinstall the plug. I'm lazy,. My 3rd fill is 4 liters. I'm done. I add 4 liters of Mercon LV, and then drive it until the next transmission service. It's not right. It's just what I do. Don't consider anything I write to be advice or recommended. You do what you want to do. It won't be my fault when something goes wrong. You won't be able to say, "5150 told me to....."

Good work, Mr. Ridley. This information will serve everyone who is planning on upgrades which require better grounding.

Should I take it to the track? Or just take a chance on the open road, with less than controlled conditions, and see what happens?

89. Different safety standards too. Glad you are still with us.

If it were me, I would buy an extra set, to have spare parts. You never know when your mirror gets kicked off by an angry hipster on a Vespa.

Maybe somebody could remove the speed limiter via Forscan, and see how fast it can really go.

I remember reading that cars of the 80's & 90's with much less technology, got much better mileage. Honda CRX, GEO Metro, and even the Ford Ranger was a MPG champ. But none of those cars could pass today's emissions regulations. I am not a scientist. I don't have any of the facts. Just things I hear or read randomly. But I have heard that to reduce tailpipe emissions, some MPG was lost, and now, technology such as gasoline direct injection, and engines turning off at a stop, are the path to getting better mileage while trying to keep the air clean.

With my driving style, I see the same range of temperatures whether the ambient temperature is 51 or 102. That's just me. It's different for everyone. If I had another 1,000 lbs of cargo or people, if I was at a different elevation, if the humidity was different.........who knows. In The Bay Area, we are close to sea level. I travel up and down The State, and my temps look the same after driving all day. I haven't seen any overheating yet. This is a fairly efficient cooling system.

Hang a tree on the mirror.

For me, it's not the top speed that I worry about. Where I need power is from a standstill. Most important to me is being able to pickup enough speed to merge into freeway traffic. Metering lights, short onramps, and just trying to merge back in from a stop on the shoulder requires a good 0 - 60.

Unless you are taking the tire off the wheel, replacing the TPMS yourself, then remounting and balancing at home...... the dealership or tire shop should relearn the TPMS as part of the installation service.

Amazing that it can be any religion. Even a religion you make up yourself.

I wish it were more exciting. But it was not storming Area 51, waiting for the aliens, or "witnessing" of "the 2nd coming". Just your run-of-the-mill, pick-a-denomination, church. They call themselves by many names, and identify as Christian on Sunday. As opposed to worshipping on Saturday. Amongst the worshippers, neither of us were there to worship. We each had our own agenda. Funny that you should mention MLM. Those churches are MLM. They are selling you a multi-level-marketing product. All of that money which you "donate", trickles up in tiers. Very seldom, do you find a religious institution, where there is no personal enrichment. A lot of people don't want to see it that way. But it's not as if those people are all unpaid volunteers, who make a living from some other source, and accept no recompense for their church duties. Most churches have a payroll. Not judging the size of anyone's paycheck, but nonetheless, there is payment. Not weighing anyone's spiritual commitment, but they're not doing it for free. I show up, perform my service, and I did not do it free. I get a paycheck. They would be without my service without remuneration at market rate.

Even stranger that the owners manual has a chart showing 5W-20 as being recommended for temperature as low as -29 C. Not -30 C. But I get it. Your owners manual is referencing an EcoBoost engine. My owners manual page is referencing the Duratec engine. 2 different engines.

In The USA, a lot of people feel that 20 weight oil is only specified by automobile manufacturers because of the Corporate Average Fuel Economy standard. So it doesn't surprise me that the European cars allow for 5W-30 as an alternative weight. I have read that modern engines need a lower viscosity oil, and that higher viscosity oil may be too thick and will clog oil passages. Maybe the modern engines aren't manufactured to such tolerances that you must use a lower viscosity oil. Maybe people posting opinions online are not engineers and scientist, and their opinions are not based on factual data. Also interesting that the US owners manual specifies the 0W-20 weight, and the European manual specifies 5W-30.

I ran into a guy I know. Surprise, he looked at me, as I looked back at him. "You too?" "Yes, me too!" I haven't seen this guy in awhile. And he pulls up to the place of weekend spiritual worship in a white Transit Connect. Then someone else in the parking lot remarked how we could commit any crime we wanted, and getaway by just driving slow and blending in with all the other white Transit Connects downtown. Same way I always said that I could hide my white pickup truck in a Home Depot parking lot. Now a 4th & 5th guy come over. Then we got all the comments about being creepy, driving around with puppy dogs & ice cream, and how we'll be suspects when people in the neighborhood start disappearing.

I'm at a lost. I don't have a facebook account to log into.

There are many choices of oil weight and brand. The current owners manual calls for 5W-20 and 0W-20 as a cold weather alternative. Brand preference has already been beaten to death. Plenty of forums and discussion threads. We can discuss that if anyone wants to. We can agree that oil, is oil. We can also agree that different manufacturers have proprietary blends and additive packages which make each formulation unique. Where the opinions differ is why there are over 31 "flavors" of oil whenever we walk into a store. And for whatever reason, some people "fall" for something, and develop a loyalty. Some people believe that their oil choice is ideal for almost every application. Multi-level marketing has created a cult like following to a specific brand. On another thread on this forum, several members wrote about being in -30F, and how they are planning on switching to 5W-30. It got me thinking. While I don't live in that climate, I thought about it. Going from 20 weight to 30 weight is a higher viscosity and many people believe that a higher viscosity oil will provide better engine protection. A popular opinion is that 20 weight oil is only specified by the manufacturers because it is suppose to yield more miles per gallon. There is also the belief that today's engines are engineered to different tolerances, 20 weight oil is correct, and that a thicker oil may not properly lubricate as needed. The 5W number & 0W number refer more to start up in cold weather. I recall as a yute, 10W-30 and 10W-40 was the norm, and people even used 20W-50 in old cars. Old car, old engine, burns oil, leaks oil; thicker oil, less rattle. Not exactly scientific. Now that we are out of the dinosaur days, nobody uses 10W oil in small cars anymore. Have any of you guys in cold weather climates considered the 0W grade? 0W-20 as specified in the owners manual. Or even 0W-30 since you plan on using 30 weight in a 5W-30? I saw this old video on youtube, which even though it's old, helps to illustrate the difference in the "w rating" number for cold weather conditions. It would be interesting to hear your choices of what oil you use, and why.

My truck started and drove fine until I stopped driving it every day. Then when I went to drive it once a month, or every 6 weeks, I needed a jump start. I probably could have gone right back to driving it every day, and the alternator would have charged it right back.

The OEM Motorcraft battery in my F-150 lasted 10 years. It could have probably lasted longer.

Being completely new, most of us own an older model, with a different transmission. Any input is simply guessing. The best thing to do is report this condition to a dealer.

The Transit Connect's ATF flows out to a cooler bypass valve which is open to allow ATF to bypass the cooler and return to the transmission. When the transmission reaches the correct temperature, the valve closes, which allows the transmission fluid to flow to the oil-to-water heat exchanger. We know that OEM thermostats are set to open at 195F. I have read that the Ford cooler bypass valve closes at 185F. Derale has a similar aftermarket valve which closes at 180F. This feature prevents overcooling the transmission, as ATF will not begin to cool effectively until the valve closes. At the heat exchanger, coolant comes from the overflow tank, then flows to the lower radiator hose and heater core. At the connections, there are electrically controlled valves, which are opened and closed by signal from the car's computer. If the ATF temperature read by the computer is at the correct temperature, the valves open, allowing for coolant to carry heat away from the heat exchanger. A more complex system to regulate and maintain transmission temperature than the old days where there was just an open loop of ATF flow through the cooling and return lines. I agree. If the transmission is operating between 225F - 250F, it's time to address auxiliary cooling. Also time to consider why the temperature is high. Going uphill causes temperatures to climb. Not much you can do, except to choose a different route. Some don't have that option. If you are overloading the transmission, you may want to consider that you are carrying and/or towing too much weight. Obviously, we all can't tow & haul with a larger truck, as a lot of people do not have the option. For some, this is the only vehicle that they have, so there really isn't a bigger truck available. The possibility exist that you have other faults, like a transmission pump which isn't performing at optimal efficiency, or a failure within the cooling system. The cooler bypass valve may be stuck open. The electrically controlled coolant valves may have failed. The cooling line, return line, and/or the heat exchanger may be clogged. The real problem is that the transmission is working harder than designed, you add extra cooling to lower the temperature, which helps with maintaining the longevity of the fluid, but the transmission is still overworked. So even with extra cooling, the extra wear on the transmission will decrease the longevity of the transmission. We have not, as yet, seen on this forum where any forum members are reporting temperatures up to 250F. My suspicion is that if the Transit Connect is not overloaded, the OEM cooling system is sufficient. In most cases, an auxiliary cooler is not needed. It's not any easier, or harder, than other cars. The cooler would be inline after the heat exchanger, and before the cooler bypass valve. Same theory. Extra cooling after the OEM heat exchanger, in case the fluid is so high in temperature that the heat exchanger is not sufficient. The Transit Connect return lines are metal tubes. Cut the metal tube. Add plumbing to auxiliary cooler. You or your transmission shop will decide whether to install transmission hose, or fabricate a system of custom bent pipes. Use appropriate fittings at the connection points. The easiest route is to cut the metal tube, flare it, slip on transmission hoses, and use hose clamps. Find suitable location for cooler, and choose a cooler with correct dimensions to fit. Not any easier or harder than it used to be. Same process as it used to be. At his point, I just don't see the need to add extra cooling. It appears as if the OEM cooling system is working as designed. Forum members are not reporting ATF temperatures in excess of 225F. Sure, somewhere along the way, someone will see an occasional spike, but it hasn't been reported here yet. The occasional high temperature really isn't a big deal. As long as the cooling system brings the temperature back down. The real concern is consistently operating at high temperatures. If someone reports that every day, the transmission temperature goes up to 250F, and stays in that range all day as they drive around for hours, then there is a concern.

I'm under the impression that the new engine and transmission combination is engineered for fuel efficiency. I'm not sure of how that will work for heavy loads, towing, and steep grades. In the back of my mind, I also wonder about durability. With every change, you ask if the new model is going to be better. Only time, with real world usage, will tell.

Alright. Roll call. Anybody in Utah to help DanDweller?