summary of long winded post: 1st time trans DIY was a success on garage floor with not enough room and a sore neck after. shudder gone with fresh fluid and lubegard platimum. Bought LG P on amazon in 32oz for about $30. Bought Mercon LV, motorcraft filter and felpro gasket on ebay as a kit (with 13 single quart containers) for about $200. Skid plate is 13mm. Trans fill is 3/4'' or 19mm? Pan bolts are 8mm and four of them are hard to get to, but doable.
Hi all, I purchased a previous government-owned 2016 Expedition fleet a year ago with 80,000 miles and a rumble strip shudder.
Verified proper fill level, added the 2 ounce squeeze tube Lubegard instant shudder fix and within 100 miles it was good.
Well, good for 5,000 miles until present day (I don't drive it a lot).
Now at 85,000 miles the rumble strip shudder is starting to come back.
As far as I know, the trans is unserviced ever, but no records.
I've watched the various videos but looks messy... lol... and a lift sure would have been nice.
**tip** use a $5 fluid transfer hand pump from harbor freight to get a bunch of fluid out the dipstick hole - you can get almost a gallon - for real.
I'd contacted Lubegard to explain the issue coming back and for a product recommendation, mostly because all the info and opinions out there are scattered and therefore confusing. They replied the same day and said the instant fix is more of a temporary set of additives, but to use 20 ounces of their PLATINUM additive for the 6r80. This product, they say, is designed to last the "life of the fluid" whereas the instant fix isn't... I choose to trust them as I want the shudder gone and not sure I can expect that fresh fluid alone will do this.
To proof this out, and because you cannot get all the fluid by dropping the pan, on day one i pumped out 3 quarts and transfer pumped back a total of 3 quarts of fresh Mercon LV and 6 oz of Lubegard platinum. Then drove it - the previous mild "rumble strip" shudder was gone immediately. this was reassuring.
The next day, i went for it by pumping out 4 quarts and then dropping the pan. I still wore some of it, as did the floor.... A total of 7 quarts out. Supposedly gasket is reusable, but i'm not going to toss the new one that came with the kit... i had two magnets in pan, as seemingly is the case with many later built 6r80 trans posts online. they were coated with the expected metallic sludge powder and cleaned them and the pan up., Had to look up where to place the 2nd one as it's not obvious like the first magnet's location. Just watch out that it misses the 4 "feet" for the bottom of the filter. Double checked that nothing was out of order and let it drip for an hour. Friction fit new filter up in there since it sort of hangs by it's gasket on the neck and lifted new pan and gasket up. 18 or 20 ish small fine threaded 8mm bolts slowly and surely snugged, then tightened. Used a measuring pail i got from Lowes to match the new fluid to the old and mixed up about 20 oz of Lubegard and fresh mercon LV to a level just above 7 qts. Pumped it all (not quite) in. The last quart wanted to spill out... so i had to start the expy up and shift it through the range of gears then i could get that last quart in just fine.
also, transfer case takes Mercon LV. about 2 quarts. this is where a small skid plate needs to come off. (4) 13mm bolts. 3/8'' ratchet does into the fill and drain plugs. the fluid that came out looked pristine. not sure if / how it ages. The fluid that had come out of the trans was much darker than the new red fluid, but the transfer case looked the same as the 2 quarts i put back in. Oh well, at least it's done now.
test drove for a while, gentle at first. Never any shifting hiccups. Got it all the way up to 197*F and brought back for a fill check. It was right at the line between under/overfill at the full operating temp. I suppose this is good enough. Not sure if it's to go above that line when fully warm, but i doubt this mall crawler will know the difference.
anyway... never did such before and not bad at all. Nee₫ to lift vehicle to give yourself some space to work and then it's quite doable. No idea if or how much $$ this saved me, but it's more about the sense of pride and knowing what exactly did get done. Success - give it a whirl yourself!
Hi all, I purchased a previous government-owned 2016 Expedition fleet a year ago with 80,000 miles and a rumble strip shudder.
Verified proper fill level, added the 2 ounce squeeze tube Lubegard instant shudder fix and within 100 miles it was good.
Well, good for 5,000 miles until present day (I don't drive it a lot).
Now at 85,000 miles the rumble strip shudder is starting to come back.
As far as I know, the trans is unserviced ever, but no records.
I've watched the various videos but looks messy... lol... and a lift sure would have been nice.
**tip** use a $5 fluid transfer hand pump from harbor freight to get a bunch of fluid out the dipstick hole - you can get almost a gallon - for real.
I'd contacted Lubegard to explain the issue coming back and for a product recommendation, mostly because all the info and opinions out there are scattered and therefore confusing. They replied the same day and said the instant fix is more of a temporary set of additives, but to use 20 ounces of their PLATINUM additive for the 6r80. This product, they say, is designed to last the "life of the fluid" whereas the instant fix isn't... I choose to trust them as I want the shudder gone and not sure I can expect that fresh fluid alone will do this.
To proof this out, and because you cannot get all the fluid by dropping the pan, on day one i pumped out 3 quarts and transfer pumped back a total of 3 quarts of fresh Mercon LV and 6 oz of Lubegard platinum. Then drove it - the previous mild "rumble strip" shudder was gone immediately. this was reassuring.
The next day, i went for it by pumping out 4 quarts and then dropping the pan. I still wore some of it, as did the floor.... A total of 7 quarts out. Supposedly gasket is reusable, but i'm not going to toss the new one that came with the kit... i had two magnets in pan, as seemingly is the case with many later built 6r80 trans posts online. they were coated with the expected metallic sludge powder and cleaned them and the pan up., Had to look up where to place the 2nd one as it's not obvious like the first magnet's location. Just watch out that it misses the 4 "feet" for the bottom of the filter. Double checked that nothing was out of order and let it drip for an hour. Friction fit new filter up in there since it sort of hangs by it's gasket on the neck and lifted new pan and gasket up. 18 or 20 ish small fine threaded 8mm bolts slowly and surely snugged, then tightened. Used a measuring pail i got from Lowes to match the new fluid to the old and mixed up about 20 oz of Lubegard and fresh mercon LV to a level just above 7 qts. Pumped it all (not quite) in. The last quart wanted to spill out... so i had to start the expy up and shift it through the range of gears then i could get that last quart in just fine.
also, transfer case takes Mercon LV. about 2 quarts. this is where a small skid plate needs to come off. (4) 13mm bolts. 3/8'' ratchet does into the fill and drain plugs. the fluid that came out looked pristine. not sure if / how it ages. The fluid that had come out of the trans was much darker than the new red fluid, but the transfer case looked the same as the 2 quarts i put back in. Oh well, at least it's done now.
test drove for a while, gentle at first. Never any shifting hiccups. Got it all the way up to 197*F and brought back for a fill check. It was right at the line between under/overfill at the full operating temp. I suppose this is good enough. Not sure if it's to go above that line when fully warm, but i doubt this mall crawler will know the difference.
anyway... never did such before and not bad at all. Nee₫ to lift vehicle to give yourself some space to work and then it's quite doable. No idea if or how much $$ this saved me, but it's more about the sense of pride and knowing what exactly did get done. Success - give it a whirl yourself!
