trans fluid type procedure?

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tdavid13

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I have an 06 limited 5.4 with 135k on it. It shutters around 40-45 mph. I've replaced plugs, coils, cam sensors with only slight improvements. I found out here that a transmission fluid change helps. What type of fluid does it take? Mercon v or sp? Is dropping the pan and replacing the filter the best way? I've read that it's not a complete fluid change because of the torque converter and that there's a way to do a complete change yourself?
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Trainmaster

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You are trying to solve a problem by throwing parts at it. Spend less time working and more time diagnosing. First, get a good scanner that will show you the ignition balance -- misses on each cylinder. You could have an intermittent miss. If you've replaced coils, you may have installed Chinese junk and one of them is bad. Perhaps the mechanic skipped the plug that's hard to reach and it has turned to slag. How's your fuel pressure? Maybe the filter's clogged or the regulator or pump is bad. Easy to check with a gauge.

Messing with the transmission fluid at this point isn't time well spent until you diagnose the cause of your problem.

But if you still want to change the fluid, there's plenty of opinions and advice to be had. Someone here will gladly help with that.
 
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tdavid13

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I'm not throwing parts at it. I was just stating what was recently done. None of that was an attempt to fix the shutter issue.
 

John Stephan

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I recently had a misfire that felt like a transmission shudder at times and was throwing an ABS code.

I did a pan drop, filter swap, dropped valve body to inspect the OD servo ring and replace the check balls with good GM plastic ones. MERC V from the Ford dealer.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
 

Trainmaster

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There are a number of ways to exchange nearly 100% of the fluid pumping it out through the cooler lines, but I've always considered that somewhat overkill. I just drop the pan, change the filter and replace the portion of fluid that comes out with the pan. You replace the majority of the fluid that way and you don't mess with those horrible quick connect fittings on the cooler lines. I don't even look at those things if I don't have to.

I'd go for the Ford Mototcraft fluid too.
 

TomB985

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I had to be cryptic last night because I was posting from my phone, and I can't type much anymore with my hands.
If you transmission has never been serviced, you're way past due and a full fluid exchange is a good idea. The method in the link I posted above is relatively easy, and the guy who wrote the procedure was a Ford automatic transmission engineer from 1987 – 2007. He actively posts on FTE, and strongly advocates full fluid exchange whenever possible, and that there is no situation where fresh fluid could ever damage a transmission.

I drive a lot of miles, and have had a lot of older vehicles over the years, and this is the first thing I usually do when buying a used car. And I've never blown a transmission. Getting the old fluid out and replaced with fresh is probably the most important thing you can do for your transmission, so I would get it done as soon as you have the chance.
 

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I just rebuilt my transmission at 254K. I don't think "changing" the fluid will solve your problem. I would drop the pan and examine the fluid and the magnet. If it is burned, or there is a lot of metal on the magnet, you have another problem. If you have shutter, and it is not the engine, it may sounds like the discs are burned. Maybe the torque converter, but if you do enough work to get the torque converter out, you should just rebuild the transmission. I replaced my fluid with Valvoline's fluid for the Ford, previously I replaced it with Ford's transmission fluid. About the same cost. You can't change it all without a rebuild, but realize there are 14 quarts of fluid at about $20 a gallon.
 

BlackCoffee

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I thought about your problem. Shuttering around 40-45 MPH doesn't seem to be a transmission problem. Transmission problems are usually related to shift points. Depending on your driving technique, you should already be in 3rd. If this is occurring as the trans moves from 3rd to overdrive, you may have a burned overdrive band as it is engaging. Take note of what the transmission is doing when you get the shudder. Far fetched, but consider wheels and tires. You should use MERCON V. I went with Valvoline DEX/MERC, MERCON LV Full Synthetic. It costs about the same as anything else and works fine. You will not get a complete change unless you remove the transmission. The torque converter does not have a drain plug and will hold about 4 quarts. You will get another two quarts in the lines and oil cooler. The best you can hope for is about 8 of 14 quarts if you drop the pan and then remove the valve body. There are the accumulator pistons behind the valve body, only one you need to worry about. The other option is to buy an after market pan replacement with a plug. Change what you can, in 5K do it again, and then a third time. This is what a lot of people do. Realize, changing the transmission fluid is preventative maintenance and does not solve problems.
 

TomB985

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I thought about your problem. Shuttering around 40-45 MPH doesn't seem to be a transmission problem. Transmission problems are usually related to shift points. Depending on your driving technique, you should already be in 3rd. If this is occurring as the trans moves from 3rd to overdrive, you may have a burned overdrive band as it is engaging. Take note of what the transmission is doing when you get the shudder. Far fetched, but consider wheels and tires. You should use MERCON V. I went with Valvoline DEX/MERC, MERCON LV Full Synthetic. It costs about the same as anything else and works fine. You will not get a complete change unless you remove the transmission. The torque converter does not have a drain plug and will hold about 4 quarts. You will get another two quarts in the lines and oil cooler. The best you can hope for is about 8 of 14 quarts if you drop the pan and then remove the valve body. There are the accumulator pistons behind the valve body, only one you need to worry about. The other option is to buy an after market pan replacement with a plug. Change what you can, in 5K do it again, and then a third time. This is what a lot of people do. Realize, changing the transmission fluid is preventative maintenance and does not solve problems.

I agree with most of this. Mark, the transmission engineer who wrote the procedure I linked above, insist that this procedure will replace 95% of the fluid in the transmission.

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1590691-2003-expedition-4-6-4wd.html#post18765729

After learning this years ago, I've only dropped the pan to replace a wiring harness. There's just no need… The pan in my old Lincoln Town Car with the same transmission was exclusively serviced by flushing and was running great when I got rid of it with 178,000 miles. When I dropped the pan to replace the harness, the interior look fantastic, and the filter was nowhere close to being plugged. Dropping the pan is a waste of time for a fluid service.
 
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