Gregg Eshelman
Full Access Members
After being unable to find an aftermarket dipstick + tube for my 07 EL (for some reason nobody has any for any Expedition or F-150 older than 2010 now) I did some figuring and came up with a pretty high number for fluid + filter + dipstick or something to get new fluid in + the inconvenience of somehow getting the truck up in the air level + the "fun" of working around the blistering hot catalytic converter to check the fluid level while laying under a running truck on four jackstands.
So I called the Ford dealer in a nearby city and asked how much for fluid and filter change. They wanted nearly $600! Yikes! For that it'd better include a full detail and wax job.
So I called the Ford dealer in the small town where I live. "Around $250, depending on how much fluid it takes." Sold! And they'll put in a bottle of Lucas if I bring it. (Great stuff, cured the SLAM shifting of my 97 Taurus LX.)
I drive the truck in and set down in the waiting area for a while. About an hour later a guy comes out and says the transmission pan doesn't match what the VIN says it should be. It has the shallow pan but their database says it should be the deep one. They'd sold the last filter they had for it that morning and sent someone into town to get a filter from NAPA - then they found out it was the wrong filter. On top of that the guy dropped the stubby dipstick and it broke.
So they loaned me a 2016 Jeep Cherokee to use until they got the right filter and a new dipstick. I now know I *do not want* one of those. Not only does it look like a giant beard trimmer the ride is horribly choppy, rocks fore and aft with every bump so the headreast smacks the back of your head, the seat is hard and you can't turn the radio off. All that can be done is to mute it (and it un-mutes the next time it's started) or turn the volume all the way down. Poke something else to get it off radio, and in a few minutes it goes back to the radio. Ie, switch to the SD/USB input and if you don't play something it switches back to radio. WTH is this, a car from "Max Headroom"? There's supposedly a firmware update that keeps it muted on starting if it was muted when the engine is turned off. How about adding a button to the screen marked "And stay off!"? (A quick Google shows this to be an irritation widespread among 21st Century MoPars.)
Next day afternoon the dealer called me, the truck is done. $248.25 Worth every penny for a job that will likely never need done again for the life of the truck (had quite a bit over 100K miles) and now it shifts like buttah.
So I called the Ford dealer in a nearby city and asked how much for fluid and filter change. They wanted nearly $600! Yikes! For that it'd better include a full detail and wax job.
So I called the Ford dealer in the small town where I live. "Around $250, depending on how much fluid it takes." Sold! And they'll put in a bottle of Lucas if I bring it. (Great stuff, cured the SLAM shifting of my 97 Taurus LX.)
I drive the truck in and set down in the waiting area for a while. About an hour later a guy comes out and says the transmission pan doesn't match what the VIN says it should be. It has the shallow pan but their database says it should be the deep one. They'd sold the last filter they had for it that morning and sent someone into town to get a filter from NAPA - then they found out it was the wrong filter. On top of that the guy dropped the stubby dipstick and it broke.
So they loaned me a 2016 Jeep Cherokee to use until they got the right filter and a new dipstick. I now know I *do not want* one of those. Not only does it look like a giant beard trimmer the ride is horribly choppy, rocks fore and aft with every bump so the headreast smacks the back of your head, the seat is hard and you can't turn the radio off. All that can be done is to mute it (and it un-mutes the next time it's started) or turn the volume all the way down. Poke something else to get it off radio, and in a few minutes it goes back to the radio. Ie, switch to the SD/USB input and if you don't play something it switches back to radio. WTH is this, a car from "Max Headroom"? There's supposedly a firmware update that keeps it muted on starting if it was muted when the engine is turned off. How about adding a button to the screen marked "And stay off!"? (A quick Google shows this to be an irritation widespread among 21st Century MoPars.)
Next day afternoon the dealer called me, the truck is done. $248.25 Worth every penny for a job that will likely never need done again for the life of the truck (had quite a bit over 100K miles) and now it shifts like buttah.
