Transmission fluid change

[mike56]

2010 transit connect , unhook the lower hose on the trans cooler and attach a lenght of hose to it. place hose into a container.Start the engine and let idell and pump out 3 qts of fluid shut off engine. Measure it in the catch container.. then add 3 new qts to the trans. Then repeat this proccedure( pump out 3 and add 3) Then pump out 3...reattach the lower transmission fluid line to the cooler and add 3 more to the trans. use Mercon LV fluid.

[mike56]

2010 transit connect , unhook the lower hose on the trans cooler and attach a lenght of hose to it. place hose into a container.Start the engine and let idell and pump out 3 qts of fluid shut off engine. Measure it in the catch container.. then add 3 new qts to the trans. Then repeat this proccedure( pump out 3 and add 3) Then pump out 3...reattach the lower transmission fluid line to the cooler and add 3 more to the trans. use Mercon LV fluid.

The above note sounds easy but after finding the cooler it will have its issues. On the front of the vehicle to the right of the licence plate if you look throught the black cowel and up you will see the return of what I believe is the trans cooler. I think the best way to get to it would be to remove the black coweling and work from the front of the vehice....I will update when I do this. Dont hold your breath I will be waiting utill it gets warm.

[mike56]

UPDATE. Instead of disconnecting the hose at the bottom of the trans cooler It is much easier to go right to the transmission in front of the left front wheel. I do not have the tool to disconnect the hose so I just removed the nipple on the transmission with a 17mm wrench. I put the end of the removed nipple into a 3ft peice of heater hose. I took 3 milk jugs and marked them at 3 quarts. I started the engine and pumped out 3 quarts, then put 3 in,replaced the jug with another and repeated. I did this 3 times with 9qts of ford LV fluid. When done I put the nipple back into the transmission. I looks to be a fine thread so be carefull and mine is not leaking but I should have used locktight or rtv sealant.

email me if I can help you do yours mgrant0606@aol.com The fluid was about $60 at a ford dealer.

[Willie]

Nice work Mike, and thanks for sharing.

[Ken Wilson]

Something about changing the fluid without changing the filter doesn't seem right to me. When it comes time to do mine, I'll reasearch the pan design and internal valve body footprint, then drill a hole in the pan to drain the fluid. Once the fluid has drained, I'll drop the pan, change the filter, and install a drain plug kit in the hole that I drilled in the pan.

Edited May 20, 2012 by Ken Wilson

[cruisinkruty]

2010 Transit connect. It is at 41000miles and I changed the trans filter and fluid today. Used a Napa filter and gasket kit $21.00. Worth every penny as the gasket lays nice and flat and is easy to install. Used Valvoline full syntetic Dex/Mercon LV fluid at 6.29 a quart! Egad man I remember when trans fluid was 59 cents a quart! WTF? Anyway I took the 20 8mm head bolts out of the pan. The pan is originally installed with rtv and no gasket. I had to carefully slide a thin putty knife in between the pan and trans case to get it unstuck. Thoroughly cleaned the pan and magnet inside. Wire brushed the od rtv off the pan,its silver in color and not much at all was on there. Installed the filter,gasket and pan. Put never sieze compound on all the bolt threads to insure they are removable in the future. Added just a wee bit more than 3 quarts to put it at the full level. Super EZ job.

[roadready]

Thanks cruisinkruty, I think I was more dreading carving out the time but read your post and decided what the heck....bought the kit/Oreilly's $31 for the supposedly upgrade filter. Anyway there wasn't anything to it. I'm going to change it again very soon as I just bought this used vehicle as a flood damage and it definitely had water in the tranny..and pretty sure salt water at that....I have had good luck w flood vehicles in the past (new it was to good to last) and I may have met my waterloo on this one.

[Prairie Pyro]

Using the Valvoline full syn is a no brainer and probably pretty cheap if one gets it in gallon jugs at Walmart. I did a recommended full fluid change on a Nissan Xterra using synthetics and better plugs and a gave more than a marginal increase in mileage. The Xterra owners site members have had excellent luck with the Valvoline synthetic. 

Will be doing a full fluid change on a new to me 2012 this weekend as it has no history. Now have to find plugs and coil pack.

Edited July 30, 2016 by Prairie Pyro
additional words to better describe

[Prairie Pyro]

Well I was to late on the tranny at 179k. The engine had a weak valve and the cost to get the head fixed was the same as getting a low milage 2.0 and with the engine out comes the transmission and had it totally rebuilt as the shop said it had wear due to improper OCI that also ate up the valve body. So a $1400 rebuild turned into $2300. Two year warranty.  Shop manager said there was no issue with temps but a better exchanger wouldn't hurt.

Seems all is working good now. More attention to OCI and I hope it lasts for a long time.

[Fifty150]

Notice that the current Gen 2 vehicles don't even have a dipstick to check the fluid?

[mrtn]

I'm 99% sure the Ecoboost model does have a dipstick.

[G B L]

Maybe over there but not here .  Have You checked  ? It will be next to the battery box. If it is take a picture

Edited September 25, 2016 by G B L

[mrtn]

[G B L]

That is the fill  it is just behind the air filter box.   The Checking procedure  is to put the TC on a flat surface or a lift .with the engine idling  remove the sight bolt  just in front of left half-shaft ,  the fluid will just drip out .  If you pull the plug out and the engine is not running a large mess will be made.

I have posted pictures in another post.  This is not hard just a pain

[G B L]

Here is the post I did on the Transmission Change.

The hardest part of this operation will be getting the TC Jacked up. Should be almost level . Remove the Under body dust shield . Look for the Drain Plug. 11 mm or 7/16 wrench.

]

This style funnel will slide down into the Vent plug you just removed Put 3 quarts of fluid in

[attacjpg] ]

Run the TC for 5 to 10 minutes . Then drain the fluid again. Repeat this 2 more times You have Now used 9 quarts of fluid.

Put the Drain plug back in make it snug this time. Add 3 quarts of fluid You have now used 12 quarts.

Go under the car and Look for the indicator plug (14 mm wrench) Loosen the plug. Do not remove yet

Start the engine with the engine running and the Car in park pull the plug and add fluid into the funnel until it just drips out the Indicator hole Replace plug put the Dust shield on , Pull the funnel and replace the vent cap. Total Fluid 13 Qts. With most of number 13 left

There is no filter to change on this operation and the type of fluid is Mercon LV.

Have fun!

[Fifty150]

When I get a chance to get my Transit Connect up in the air, I will have to take a good look around.  

 

Dealerships have a machine that connects to the cooling and return line on the transmission.  As the engine is running, the old fluid comes out of the cooling line, and new fluid goes in via the return line from the cooler.  In the old days, we would simply disconnect the cooling line, and allow the fluid to pump into a 5 gallon bucket.  Then add fluid in via the fill plug located on the transmission case or a funnel in the dipstick hole.  This home-brew process has worked on just about every car I've tried it on.  Simple, right?  Turn engine on, a few quarts comes out, turn engine off, add a few quarts.  Then repeat until you start seeing clean fluid come out the cooling line.  Reconnect the cooling line.  Check fill level, top off as needed.

 

My trusty Haynes Manual always came in handy when it came to figuring out which hose was the cooling line, and which hose was the return.  And on other Fords I've worked on, you needed special tools for things like transmission lines and fuel lines.  It would be a good idea to pick up a set, if this van has a fuel filter and you need to change it also.

Does this van have an inline fuel filter along the driver side frame rail?  

 

The only problem with special purpose tools is that you then get stuck with something that you'll probably never use again.  Like my Ford Fan Clutch Removal Tool.  Just used it once to install an electric fan into my Explorer, and now it sits there.  Of course, $20 was well spent considering how I messed around with a couple of wrenches all day, and then this tool allowed me to do what I wanted in 2 minutes.  I doubt if I'll ever remove the fan from another Explorer.  Won't be able to do the same with this Transit Connect, since it already has an electric fan.  

 

Just like the SCT LiveWire that I used on the Explorer, that I can't use on this Transit Connect.  Who is writing custom tunes for Transit Connect?

 

 

Edited September 29, 2016 by Fifty150

[G B L]

I have used that method lots of times, on lots of cars. The lay out is tight and transmission drain is very easy to get to.  You need to be under the TC to check the level.

[slantflat]

Hi everyone.  Good information here, thanks.  Just a question here.

 

My 2010 TC has 93000 miles on it, no clue of past transmission service.  Fluid doesn't look overly dirty.  Was planning on dropping the pan and changing the filter, and just replacing what fluid came out.  I'd like to change to Valvoline synthetic ATF but don't really want to go through all this, will topping off with synthetic be compatible with what's in the converter?  I expect to be doing this a couple times a year, so it shouldn't take too, too long for a fairly complete changeover.

 

I bought it at 88K, don't do any heavy lifting, about the biggest job it has is about a 5 hour ride on the interstate occasionally.  Right now the trans shifts good and doesn't do anything funky.

 

Thanks everyone.

 

 

 

[G B L]

If I were dropping the pan to change the filter I would make sure that it went back on with a drain plug.  That would make the fluid flush a very easy job.  If there is a problem with mixing the the fluid it will be noted on the speck sheet for the ATF.  Valvoline's web site will have the PDF

[Timbo]

On May 20, 2012 at 8:04 AM, Ken Wilson said:

Something about changing the fluid without changing the filter doesn't seem right to me. When it comes time to do mine, I'll reasearch the pan design and internal valve body footprint, then drill a hole in the pan to drain the fluid. Once the fluid has drained, I'll drop the pan, change the filter, and install a drain plug kit in the hole that I drilled in the pan.

Quite a long time ago, I know, but how did installing a drain plug on the TC go?  

 

I'm about to drop the pan on my 2010 TC and I'm considering the drain plug idea.  Both the dealership and an independent shop I called said they wouldn't drop the pan or change the filter at all.

Instead they simply pump 16 quarts of ATF through the system.  

 

If the Ford dealer doesn't think changing the filter is necessary, then a drain plug would make future oil changes a lot easier.   

Edited October 3, 2017 by Timbo

[G B L]

I have changed a lot of trans filters.  Most had only small amounts of debris. The real benefit

Is the changing the heat stressed fluid. 

[Beta Don]

I *like* the idea of drain plugs in transmission pans  -  A worthwhile mod, IMO

 

Years ago we had a Mitsu with an automatic which was known to fail, often before 100K was reached.  It came from the factory with a trans drain plug (which I'm sure 90% of owners never made use of) and every other oil change I would drain and refill the trans  -  I was changing engine oil every 3K with conventional oil.  The trans took just shy of  3 quarts to refill after a drain.  This meant (to me at least) that I was doing a complete fluid change every 20K or so, which I'm sure had to be a good idea for a transmission known to have 'problems'.  Our car was totaled by a drunk driver when we had about 90K on it and we never had any trans related problems, so money well spent, IMO

 

If you have to drop the pan to install the drain plug, why not change the filter too?  In my not so knowledgeable opinion, if you want to switch from conventional ATF to synthetic, I think you should do as close to a 100% change as possible when you make the switch  -  Not by adding 3 or 4 quarts once every year.  I'm sure they'll say the conventional and the synthetic are 'compatible' but running with 3 or 4 quarts of new synthetic mixed with 5 or 6 quarts of old 50,000 mile conventional doesn't sound like a good idea to me.  I just bought 16 quarts of full synthetic to make the switch on my TC, but I recently realized that I'll need about 4 quarts more to get a 95% or better switch over

 

If you only want to change 3 or 4 quarts regularly with your new drain plug,  I think I'd stay with the factory recommended conventional ATF  -  Just my opinion

 

Don

[G B L]

If the cooler lines are easy to access then the the  transmission flush  is a good  easy  option.

If there is a drain plug like the Gen 2, then  flushing is accomplished by multiple drains

Edited October 4, 2017 by G B L

[Timbo]

11 hours ago, Beta Don said:

 

If you have to drop the pan to install the drain plug, why not change the filter too? 

 

I'm not suggesting that I wouldn't change the filter if I dropped the pan.  Once the pan is out there's no reason not to. 

 I'm just saying that once the plug is installed, oil changes would be a lot easier to do because you wouldn't have to do either of those first steps / procedures (pan drop - filter change).  

 

So the TC doesn't come with synthetic ATF from the factory?  I thought the Mercon LV was synthetic.  =/  

 

Well, whatever.  If I'm only draining 3 quarts out of the bottom of the pan, I'm replacing it with whatever the rest is composed of (Mercon LV).  

[Beta Don]

On my 2014, four exchanges took 16 3/4 quarts.  I switched from the OEM Mercon LV to Castrol Transmax  Full Synthetic Multi Vehicle which is Ford Approved for all Mercon LV applications

 

I did it with the front wheels on ramps and the first dump was 4 1/4 quarts, so I filled with 4 quarts, ran it for 10 minutes shifting through the gears and dumped again . . . .  and 3 more fills.  After the 16th quart went in, I jacked up the back end so it was level with the front and it took another 3/4 ths of a quart before fluid began to trickle out the 'check hole'.  New fluid goes in much faster if you remove the plug on top which acts as an air vent  -  Otherwise it takes 2 or 3 minutes for each quart to go in, with an occasional messy 'burp'.  My funnel made a leak proof connection with the rubber vent fitting

 

My old fluid didn't look all that great after only 25,000 miles  -  More brown than red.  It didn't small that bad, but it wasn't nearly as pretty as the new stuff.  I was a little surprised . . . . I thought with so few miles, the old stuff would still look pretty much new.  I'll go 50K with the synthetic and change it again

 

Don 

Edited November 21, 2017 by Beta Don