Transmission flush

[Furyus67]

So my daily driver is a 2013 F-150 5.0. I just eclipsed 100,000 miles. With my Antigua getaway honeymoon in July postponed, we are now making a road trip down the coast. Wanting to get the truck prepped and ready for the long haul I was looking into flushing the transmission fluid and changing the filter. Not really having anywhere to drain the fluid out of the transmission pan, other than all over the neighborhood road That's already full of my 727 transmission fluid from pulling my engine and transmission, I called a shop to see what they would charge. I called my normal mechanic and he said he couldn't do it because he doesn't have a flush machine for the transmission so he gave me the name of his transmission guy. He told me that because I have no known service information for the transmission he said do not ever change the transmission fluid or filter from here on out. He said he would not service it because the fluid has probably broken down and there's probably a lot of trash in the transmission now. He said a flush would cause more problems than good. he said just drive it until the transmission breaks.

Has anyone ever heard of this?

 

[68plymouth383]

Don't flush! That just introduces more issues. Drain pan, change filter refill and go about your day.

 

[stubs300]

Don't flush! That just introduces more issues. Drain pan, change filter refill and go about your day.

Aren't flush & drain doing the same thing?

 

[LeBaron1973]

The issue with flushing is that any !@#$ present in the transmission can be forced into the gears or other components leading to problems. Your mechanic (seems to me) gave bad advice - why would you want to risk such an expensive item as an F-150 by not changing your transmission fluid?

I guess it's expensive to get a dealer (or competent mechanic) to drain the fluid, inspect (and clean/repair as necessary) the transmission then refill and test the truck but it'd give you more peace of mind to do so.

I wish you both an enjoyable honeymoon and hope you have no transmission issues.

 

[LeBaron1973]

Aren't flush & drain doing the same thing?

Basically, though without opening the transmission there's no guarantee all the rubbish (if any) present has been removed by the flush nor that some hasn't relocated somewhere it'll cause damage.

Short of opening the transmission the best option is drain and refill hoping any muck stays put where it can cause no harm.

 

[Furyus67]

The issue with flushing is that any !@#$ present in the transmission can be forced into the gears or other components leading to problems. Your mechanic (seems to me) gave bad advice - why would you want to risk such an expensive item as an F-150 by not changing your transmission fluid?

I guess it's expensive to get a dealer (or competent mechanic) to drain the fluid, inspect (and clean/repair as necessary) the transmission then refill and test the truck but it'd give you more peace of mind to do so.

I wish you both an enjoyable honeymoon and hope you have no transmission issues.

So what you're saying is drain whatever fluid is in the pan, change the filter, and top off? Or is this not a standard, necessary maintenance item anymore?

Thanks for the well wishes!

 

[LeBaron1973]

So what you're saying is drain whatever fluid is in the pan, change the filter, and top off? Or is this not a standard, necessary maintenance item anymore?

Thanks for the well wishes!

Sounds like the right idea, then at least you'll have clean fluid.

Best of luck.

 

[rapidtrans]

I remember hearing the same as the O.P. did. Wasn’t sure if it was b.s. or not but the mech was talking himself out of work. Sooooo.
I don’t touch an auto trans unless the gasket leaks. Then I just do the filter, gasket and fill back up.

 

[Davea Lux]

Every automatic transmission should be serviced. The F-150 would normally be about a 30,000 mile interval, but a lot of that depends on how the vehicle is driven and the type of usage. Start by looking and the condition of the fluid on the dipstick, if it is blackened and smells burnt, there is probably a bunch of crud floating around in the pan and the oil in the transmission. Sometimes when a transmission has been let go to that state changing the fluid will break loose a bunch of accumulated debris and cause problems. I would still try to change the fluid because the transmission will fail for sure with bad fluid. If the transmission is at the point of failure and dies after the fluid change, well you might as well know about it.

If the fluid on the dipstick looks normal, you should be able to change it without problems. I do not power flush any transmission, that is usually just looking for trouble. A safer alternative is to pull the pan and change the filter. Be sure to clean the inside of the pan and remove any metal from the magnet if so equipped. Drive the vehicle a week or so and pull the pan again to drain the oil a second time if the vehicle does not have a convertor drain. This should leave you with mostly clean oil in the transmission after you refill it the second time. A lot of transmission shops do not like working on any transmission where the service intervals are unknown or if the fluid is degraded because they do not want a customer coming back and claiming that the shop ruined the transmission by servicing it.

Dave

 

[The Goose]

So my daily driver is a 2013 F-150 5.0. I just eclipsed 100,000 miles. With my Antigua getaway honeymoon in July postponed, we are now making a road trip down the coast. Wanting to get the truck prepped and ready for the long haul I was looking into flushing the transmission fluid and changing the filter. Not really having anywhere to drain the fluid out of the transmission pan, other than all over the neighborhood road That's already full of my 727 transmission fluid from pulling my engine and transmission, I called a shop to see what they would charge. I called my normal mechanic and he said he couldn't do it because he doesn't have a flush machine for the transmission so he gave me the name of his transmission guy. He told me that because I have no known service information for the transmission he said do not ever change the transmission fluid or filter from here on out. He said he would not service it because the fluid has probably broken down and there's probably a lot of trash in the transmission now. He said a flush would cause more problems than good. he said just drive it until the transmission breaks.

Has anyone ever heard of this?

Short answer yes. More than likely if you dump fluid on a mystery transmission with no service history and 100k plus miles on the vehicle you will shortly start a NEW transmission history with your fresh rebuild. I know people might not believe this but this is a rule I’ll die for. You drain it let all the magic out and you’re toast. Service it regularly or never at all. I just had this discussion with my daughter. I told her to go for her 200k and let some other kid rebuild the trans when she sells it. Doing this is the kiss of death.

Now I’ll qualify this by saying if the car don’t move you got nuthin’ to lose...

 

[69 300 vert]

Not buying the don't change the fluid line.



Check your owners manual for the recommended transmission service interval, as near as I can tell it's 150,000 miles, about 3 times too much, IMHO.

We've got two Chrysler 8 speeds, factory calls for lifetime fill, I don't buy it, looked up what ZF (the manufacturer / licensee says and it's more in line with my thoughts, ~ 50,000 miles. Pisses me off the filter is integral with the pan.

Ford F-150 Maintenance Schedule | Richmond Ford West

 

[Davea Lux]

Not buying the don't change the fluid line.



Check your owners manual for the recommended transmission service interval, as near as I can tell it's 150,000 miles, about 3 times too much, IMHO.

We've got two Chrysler 8 speeds, factory calls for lifetime fill, I don't buy it, looked up what ZF (the manufacturer / licensee says and it's more in line with my thoughts, ~ 50,000 miles. Pisses me off the filter is integral with the pan.

Ford F-150 Maintenance Schedule | Richmond Ford West

That service interval (150K) is much too long if one is expecting the transmission to last. For a rig that pulls any kind of a trailer
or some other severe service application, the transmission fluid will to burnt at 50k or less. What I tell people is that a transmission will run somewhere in the neighborhood of $3k, that will buy a lot of fluid and filter changes.

Dave

 

[The Goose]

Not buying the don't change the fluid line.



Check your owners manual for the recommended transmission service interval, as near as I can tell it's 150,000 miles, about 3 times too much, IMHO.

We've got two Chrysler 8 speeds, factory calls for lifetime fill, I don't buy it, looked up what ZF (the manufacturer / licensee says and it's more in line with my thoughts, ~ 50,000 miles. Pisses me off the filter is integral with the pan.

Ford F-150 Maintenance Schedule | Richmond Ford West

We get this all the time in our industry with disastrous outcomes. We sample and change oil in the equipment every 250hours and a transmission on one of these beasts runs anywhere from $6000 to $40k on the bigger equipment. It’s the oil manufacturers that brag about extending the service interval not us OEMs. When you go from 250 hour service to 500 or 750 because you’re using “better” oil - well the oil comes out like burnt pancake syrup. I’m not advocating not servicing your car/trucks transmission I’m just saying if it’s never been touched there is a good chance it’ll die on the operating table anyways. I seen it happen again & again for over 40 years.

 

[Davea Lux]

We get this all the time in our industry with disastrous outcomes. We sample and change oil in the equipment every 250hours and a transmission on one of these beasts runs anywhere from $6000 to $40k on the bigger equipment. It’s the oil manufacturers that brag about extending the service interval not us OEMs. When you go from 250 hour service to 500 or 750 because you’re using “better” oil - well the oil comes out like burnt pancake syrup. I’m not advocating not servicing your car/trucks transmission I’m just saying if it’s never been touched there is a good chance it’ll die on the operating table anyways. I seen it happen again & again for over 40 years.

Probably going to be screwed either way because "pancake syrup" has lost most of its lubricating qualities and the transmission will be on borrowed time with that crap still in there. A lot of the modern synthetic oils do have superior heat resistance to a point, but that does nothing for the contamination issues such as clutch and band friction wear material. The trick is to not let it get to that point with more regular service intervals and regular oil analysis. A lot of folks seem to have not realized that many of the factory recommended service intervals are rated in ideal lab conditions, not the real world.

Dave

 

[twostick]

My transmission guy gets a lot of rebuild business from people that just had it flushed.

He figures that the process forces fluid under pressure to travel in a direction contrary to how it flows in service. This could loosen crud trapped in corners it normally couldn't escape from and it migrates to some vital point to cause mayhem.

Just drop the pan and change the filter. With the pan off, you can see if there is any excess crud or shrapnel in the bottom indicating more serious problems on the immediate horizon.

If there is no signs of imminent destruction in the pan and you want to be really thorough, fill it back up, drive it a few miles and dump it again. This will get you most of what was in the torque converter out and once you refill again with fresh, should give you 90ish% fresh fluid.

The service procedure for an Acura TL S I used to have called for doing that 3 times with their own proprietary fluid at $12 a quart...

Kevin

 

[Furyus67]

Sooo maybe I'll wait until after the long trip to drop the pan, change the filter and top off. That way I'm not cracking it open and disturbing any contaminants prior to the trip. I thought the maintenance schedule had recommended 150,000 miles too. I thought I was ahead of the curve wanting to do it at 100,000 miles and then the transmission guy says its too late, don't do it. I was a bit surprised.

 

[62dodge]

I've got a 2013 dart 6 speed auto at 100k (it currently has 224k on it) i asked about servicing the trans my mechanic said that he has rebuilt a lot of trans that just had been flushed. Another friend that runs a fleet of vehicles doesn't flush his trans either 100 plus vehicles. If i remember correctly the fluid for my Dart is $20.00 a quart. I might have been misinformed but I was told that most newer trans have screens not filters. Just my 2 cents

 

[ricks_RR]

they back flush it and all the particles that have found a home in the tranny now starts moving dont have them do it . just drop the pan clean it good and change filter . drain the converter if it has a plug to do that and check the bands . put back together and fill it up with new fluid. and hope it runs good for another 100,000 miles

 

[Toolmanmike]

Service it don't flush it. Transmission service has been done since the auto trans was invented. The flush machines are a gimmick to sell service.

 

[cbarge]

Has anyone ever heard of this?

Yes.
I work as a service advisor fopr 20 years in a 16 bay shop.
I have two licenced mechanics with 75 years combined experience.
We also concur to your tranny expert's advice.
There are many transmissions that will fail after a flush if never been serviced at regular intervals.
We prefer the "splash n dash" method of dropping the pan,change the filter over using the flush machine..
The machine can loosen up any particles that can and will cause problems.