Transmission fluid change

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TobyU

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I hate hearing that as an answer and sort of agree and disagree at the same time. If the manufacturers really knew so much we'd never see vehicles break down, have recalls, TSBs, updated parts etc. Ideally the manufacturer certainly should know more. Maybe they do and keep the info to themselves for some reason. But that doesn't mean a particular shop wont have just as much if not more knowledge about one aspect or another of a vehicle. A run of the mill shop might also know that the manufacturer was forced and regulated to use a particular part or fluid to meet one standard or another when it reality it is not the best choice.

In my case when I bought my Expy with 92K miles I had a transmission shudder that I resolved by draining and refilling the fluid.

Completely agree!!!
This blind, blanket statement that many people use that the engineers that designed it or the manufacturer knows best is BULL.
Even if they KNOW best, they might or often don't publicize that info.
They do not have one goal (longevity) in mind. They have many parameters to design and goals to meet...and these don't remain constant from year to year.

The whole 5w20 oil is complete bogus as was 5w30 in the 80s and 90s for cars that came with and were previously designed for 10w30.
But people will argue that 5w20 is the best for a 1997 or 2003 4.6 or 5.4 BECAUSE ford says so or superseded the spec with a memo.
Luckily we have at least a few respected internet shop mechanics like makuloco that tell you to put 5w30 in the 5.4s.
 

Plati

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Completely agree!!!
This blind, blanket statement that many people use that the engineers that designed it or the manufacturer knows best is BULL.
Even if they KNOW best, they might or often don't publicize that info.
They do not have one goal (longevity) in mind. They have many parameters to design and goals to meet...and these don't remain constant from year to year.

The whole 5w20 oil is complete bogus as was 5w30 in the 80s and 90s for cars that came with and were previously designed for 10w30.
But people will argue that 5w20 is the best for a 1997 or 2003 4.6 or 5.4 BECAUSE ford says so or superseded the spec with a memo.
Luckily we have at least a few respected internet shop mechanics like makuloco that tell you to put 5w30 in the 5.4s.
So you believe one guy but don't believe the thousands of people at Ford. And you've now repeated it again (like all the others that repeated it) so some young kid can say "I read it all the time, must be true". Sort of like MSM or the guy telling people authoritatively to change tranny fluid every few thousand miles because of all that sensitive electronics in there. He doesn't even know what that means but Makuloco said it so it must be true and he repeats it like he has some first hand understanding. There's some Confirmation Bias here. Of course it's not exactly the same and that you have some anecdotal evidence from your own extensive experience.

Maybe it is true, I dunno. Just find the whole thing kinda self fulfilling.

I think you were on here the other day saying "for all practical purposes doesn't matter what viscosity oil you put in the rear diff".
 
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TobyU

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So you believe one guy but don't believe the thousands of people at Ford. And you've now repeated it again (like all the others that repeated it) so some young kid can say "I read it all the time, must be true". Sort of like MSM or the guy telling people authoritatively to change tranny fluid every few thousand miles because of all that sensitive electronics in there. He doesn't even know what that means but Makuloco said it so it must be true and he repeats it like he has some first hand understanding. There's some Confirmation Bias here. Of course it's not exactly the same and that you have some anecdotal evidence from your own extensive experience.

Maybe it is true, I dunno. Just find the whole thing kinda self fulfilling.

I think you were on here the other day saying "for all practical purposes doesn't matter what viscosity oil you put in the rear diff".
I did say that because it's rear end fluid and it won't make any difference. The key is to have enough in there and not have it contaminated. What brand, wait, synthetic or Dino will make no difference in the life of your rear end.
I don't believe makuloco just because he said it I just pointed out he's one person who happens to say the same thing that I have believed for years.
Chicken or the egg. My opinion came first through years of experience and information from others with their experiences garages, text, internet information Etc... Then he came along as I first heard his name about a year-and-a-half ago and he happens to agree with me on that theory and as I stated he is fairly well-respected so I will use him to further my personal belief.
When that kid you mentioned sees it on the internet I do want him to seem more and more people saying that 5w 30 is fine or even better to put in your modular Ford specifically pre 05.
I don't want him to blindly listen to the people that say you should follow Ford's recommendation I don't see how anyone can not see this. Ford does not have your best interest in mind.
Customer satisfaction, vehicle longevity, reduce maintenance cost... May very well be on their list of things but how they are prioritized is not disclosed and is not the same from vehicle line the vehicle line or year-to-year or decade to decade.
Too many people, getting as many miles out of their engine as they possibly can with absolutely zero internal repairs is their number one priority. Their number two priority is probably not having to do any transmission repairs. Their number three priority is probably the vehicle not rusting out including rusting brake lines and fuel lines.
Now people in nice salt-free environments don't have to worry at all about number three so they can have a higher priority like not having abnormalities with electrical systems and functions that don't work 100% correctly 100% of the time.
Manufacturers have to straddle the fence and have to design things for many different parameters and goals.
There are always compromises made. When you do the research or have lots of experience with a certain type of engine like I do with the 4.6 and 2 valve 5.4 you can negate some of these compromises and stack the deck in your favor for your own priorities.
I will go on to say that I can absolutely guarantee you that if you take 500 4.6 town car engines or 5.4 2 valve Expedition engines and run them on 5w 20 and take 500 more and run them on 5w 30 or 10w 30 ... That you will have fewer internal wear issues or lubrication problems with the 5w30 and 10w30 then you will with the 5w20. You may have no issues with any of the engines. In that case if you tore them apart and started measuring and looking for where you would find more wear with the 5:20. the 5w20. I absolutely guarantee it.
But yet since ford came out and superseded their 5w30 recommendation with 5w 20 people that follow and tout manufacturer's recommendations will say you should run 5w 20 in your 4.6 and that it's the best oil for them.
I have never agreed and I'm just happy that people with some popularity like makeuloco says the same thing.
 

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I did say that because it's rear end fluid and it won't make any difference. The key is to have enough in there and not have it contaminated. What brand, wait, synthetic or Dino will make no difference in the life of your rear end.
I don't believe makuloco just because he said it I just pointed out he's one person who happens to say the same thing that I have believed for years.
Chicken or the egg. My opinion came first through years of experience and information from others with their experiences garages, text, internet information Etc... Then he came along as I first heard his name about a year-and-a-half ago and he happens to agree with me on that theory and as I stated he is fairly well-respected so I will use him to further my personal belief.
When that kid you mentioned sees it on the internet I do want him to seem more and more people saying that 5w 30 is fine or even better to put in your modular Ford specifically pre 05.
I don't want him to blindly listen to the people that say you should follow Ford's recommendation I don't see how anyone can not see this. Ford does not have your best interest in mind.
Customer satisfaction, vehicle longevity, reduce maintenance cost... May very well be on their list of things but how they are prioritized is not disclosed and is not the same from vehicle line the vehicle line or year-to-year or decade to decade.
Too many people, getting as many miles out of their engine as they possibly can with absolutely zero internal repairs is their number one priority. Their number two priority is probably not having to do any transmission repairs. Their number three priority is probably the vehicle not rusting out including rusting brake lines and fuel lines.
Now people in nice salt-free environments don't have to worry at all about number three so they can have a higher priority like not having abnormalities with electrical systems and functions that don't work 100% correctly 100% of the time.
Manufacturers have to straddle the fence and have to design things for many different parameters and goals.
There are always compromises made. When you do the research or have lots of experience with a certain type of engine like I do with the 4.6 and 2 valve 5.4 you can negate some of these compromises and stack the deck in your favor for your own priorities.
I will go on to say that I can absolutely guarantee you that if you take 500 4.6 town car engines or 5.4 2 valve Expedition engines and run them on 5w 20 and take 500 more and run them on 5w 30 or 10w 30 ... That you will have fewer internal wear issues or lubrication problems with the 5w30 and 10w30 then you will with the 5w20. You may have no issues with any of the engines. In that case if you tore them apart and started measuring and looking for where you would find more wear with the 5:20. the 5w20. I absolutely guarantee it.
But yet since ford came out and superseded their 5w30 recommendation with 5w 20 people that follow and tout manufacturer's recommendations will say you should run 5w 20 in your 4.6 and that it's the best oil for them.
I have never agreed and I'm just happy that people with some popularity like makeuloco says the same thing.
Ok. I respect you have an opinion and a lot of experience. I think you said the viscosity wouldn't make a difference in the rear diff ... Between 2 different viscosities. Me, I'd ensure the manufacturer specified viscosity is in there.

Makuloco also advised very frequent changes of every fluid in the Expy like 30k for transmission I think and 3k for oil. Do you agree with those frequencies and changing the brake fluid? I think he is advising the most frequent possible fluid changes for everything. Front rear diff transfer case etc. I expected him to advise changing wiper fluid and battery acid next.

My main Experience with Expys is 3 of them with 5.4 engines 450k miles with zero engine problems following manufacturer reccs or a bit sooner. Like ... I change plugs at 80k. I don't know enough to write my own specifications so for me I try to follow manufacturer specs and also listen to my trusted local shop because they done good for me so far. I also hate to waste money so I don't opt for fluid changes that I feel have low probability of gaining me anything. Some people reason you can't go wrong changing fluids early so why not. Not me.

I gotta admit. I'm not a big fan of Conspiracy Theories so a red flag is raised when I think I'm hearing one. So when someone says the auto manufacturers are out to get you I see a red flag.

But there is NO question you know more about engines and auto repair than I do. I once doubted you on snowblower winterizing but came around to your advice, at least part of it.
 
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TobyU

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Ok. I respect you have an opinion and a lot of experience. I think you said the viscosity wouldn't make a difference in the rear diff ... Between 2 different viscosities. Me, I'd ensure the manufacturer specified viscosity is in there.

Makuloco also advised very frequent changes of every fluid in the Expy like 30k for transmission I think and 3k for oil. Do you agree with those frequencies and changing the brake fluid? I think he is advising the most frequent possible fluid changes for everything. Front rear diff transfer case etc. I expected him to advise changing wiper fluid and battery acid next.

My main Experience with Expys is 3 of them with 5.4 engines following manufacturer reccs or s bit sooner. Like I changed my plugs at 80k.

I gotta admit. I'm not a big fan of Conspiracy Theories so a red flag is raised when I think I'm hearing one. So when someone says the auto manufacturers are out to get you I see a red flag.

But there is NO question you know more about engines and auto repair than I do.
I only have a lot of experience with certain engines. There are so many cars out there that I've never even open the hood on it.
Also, just because a guy is good at one doesn't mean you should value his opinion on everything. I used to have frequent contact with a GM Master Tech who knew everything there was to know about General Motors Vehicles. He could take any of the Transmissions apart and fully rebuild them etc and that's especially in the transmission world.
He called me one day and I literally laughed at him when he asked me a question about a Ford Taurus! He's like, dude I don't know anything about Ford's I don't work on them and I've never owned one.
So some people are out there giving blanket advice about things that might not be true.
A safe bet is to follow the manufacturer recommendations or do things a little bit earlier because most cars are lasting a long time now anyway so you don't really have to maximize every mile you can get out of one. Few new car purchasers keep the vehicle until the engine life is is used up at over 200,000 miles.
Some of us only buy old cars though so we do look to maximize things since from the start we have a shorter possibility of lifespan.
Some people put way too much thought into it like being picky about what brand of everything they put on their car or what brand of oil. There are still people that won't use certain brands of oils or have their preference. In reality, it's more about the viscosity and the frequency of oil changes and it's not going to affect the life of your engine regardless of which brand you use.
The thing about the differential fluid is that there's only two this guy sees really readily available so either thing you grab is going to be okay. The next part of the problem is that Ford started out selling vehicles and recommending a certain viscosity but then later on changing their mind when these vehicles are 8 or 10 years old and then saying to use the other viscosity in the new ones and even all the old ones.
This was not because they found out they were having a lot of differential failures in the first 10 years so they switched, more than likely it was just because they only want to carry one type of gear lube for their dealers and it just makes it uniform and simpler.
Also, most people will tell you that the 75-140 full synthetic is the best gear lube to put in any with differential because it is better band The Cars That only spec for the 80w 90 but there are people that will tell you and there have been test confirm but in certain applications the ring and pinion and metal parts inside actually get hotter with the synthetic oil than they do with the plain old 80w 90 that we have been using for a hundred years in cars.
So this is where you really can't believe either side to fully. Do you have to go with your own personal experience unless you know someone very closely who has personal experience or cars at your job or whatever. Usually there is no real experience because hardly anyone has ever had a differential failure due to improper Lube. Any damage that has ever occurred to one has been contaminated Lube or not enough Lube.
So my parsley joke full comment was grabbing a bottle of gear lube it looks like gear lube and it's really all going to work the same. You could also pour straight Lucas in there which has the same shape bottle and it even says that for noisy or warm ones you can use it at 100%. I wouldn't do it to a good one but I don't think it would damage one.
I have not washed all his videos or recommendations but from what you said it sounds like he is a little overzealous on some things.
Not on oil changes though. We have this back-and-forth thing. For years people didn't change their oil very often and then when all the Quick Lube oil change places came out pioneered by Jiffy Lube I think oh, I can still sing the song, they convinced the American people that it was necessary to change your oil every 3 months or 3000 miles. We find out now that that was Overkill and that the 5 to 7500 manufacturer recommendations for normal service was just fine. Now however with VVT we are finding that the high end of manufacturer recommendations cannot be the best thing overall.
You need to increase the oil change frequency and or use a fully synthetic oil to keep the all clean and their screens from getting all clogged up and causing you problems with the solenoids.

Flushing your coolant really doesn't do a whole lot. It makes people feel better to look in the cap and see nice pretty green fluid or on the newer things the other colors but I have owned vehicles that were 13 to 15 years old that had never had the fluid changed in their lives and you can't drive them on a thousand mile trip and they wouldn't overheat a bit.
Nice cars most cars it will make little difference whether you changed and flush the fluid in the radiator and cooling system every 3 years or every 10 years. It just won't make a difference .
now there are some cars that have problems to start with where it will slow down your frequency of problems. So this is the conundrum. now there are some cars that have problems to start with Where it will slow down your frequency of problems. So this is the conundrum. If you have a car with spurious electrical current getting in your cooling system it will rot away your heater core faster. If you change your radiator fluid and keep high-quality coolant like Preston in there every two to 3 years you should get a few more years out of it. But having said that, most heater cores on most cars go 15 to 20 years before they start to leak. Some never leak.
The 95 to 97 Town Cars had a fairly wimpy radiator and if you didn't flush the coolant and four to five years that would be enough restriction or coating inside the radiator that it would overheat.
if you flushed it regularly and use one of the cleaners you would probably get another three or four years before the radiator need to be replaced.
I had one that did it consistently every four years. I did not flush it after the first radiator went in but it had fresh coolant. Exactly four years later it started overheating again so I warranted the lifetime warranty radiator and put new coolant in it again.
Flushing power steering fluid is a waste of time on most cars you would be better off to add one of the higher-end additive and leave it be. Most people really start thinking about flushing until they have stiffness or a problem and a flush rarely solve that issue.
Flushing your brake fluid is an absolute waste of time and money but it makes people feel better.
I can't tell you how many 15 to 20 year old plus cars I have had that have never had the brake fluid flushed. Over the years when you do brake jobs and bleed them a couple of pumps you do manage to flush a little bit through but I mean they've never had an entire master cylinder flush through or empty cleaned out and flush through the lines with brand-new fluid. Your calipers well stick on their sliders, Pistons will Rust away or the phenolic ones will crack or things will just start leaking way before you'll ever have an issue in your brake system because you didn't flush your fluid.
The theory of brake lines rusting from the inside is an old wives tale. Unless you left a quart of brake fluid out with the lid off and it true in a lot of moisture which I think you would actually have to pour water into it to get enough moisture, and then poured it into your brake system, you are not going to get rust from the inside out. I have done more brake lines in my life than most other human beings because I have maintained a fleet of town cars and limousines for myself and two other people for the past 25 years. Every limo ever built will have to have brake lines and typically fuel lines replaced before the vehicle is sold off into private use or goes to the scrap yard.
The last Town Car stretch I replace brake lines on needed 34 ft to do both rear ones. The rear are the only ones ever rust out as the fronts are still in their Factory configuration and they are stainless. So when I do a brake line it's a lot of brake line.
I used to believe or at least thought it was possible that they rusted from the inside but I started checking them. Now this only applies in this salt States they might make it long enough to rust from the inside out in a nice dry no salt environment but I have never, ever remove a rusted out leaking brake line that when you inspect three or four different areas on the line and cut it in half with a tubing cutter ... the outside is flaked off rust has holes all in it and is either leaking or ready to leak at any given moment but as you get to the inside you hit nice shiny white clean Steel.

We have to go with whatever works for us and what has worked but sometimes will never actually know if we've always done something one way and had good results it doesn't mean it's the only way. Other people hardly do anything or do these people be different I get the same results or even better than we do.
All I know is that I don't lie or make up shit. That's why I get frustrated and double down when somebody wants to contradict me on a forum. If I tell you that's the way it's been for me repeatedly over and over you can take it to the bank at that is exactly how it occurred. Of course, this does not guarantee any results for you or in your neck of the woods but some things are pretty consistent.
That's why I don't care about other people talking about facts or spewing statistics. If they don't match what I have experienced in the past four decades of working on cars then they mean nothing to me and they had nothing to do with my decision making future process.
 

Plati

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I only have a lot of experience with certain engines. There are so many cars out there that I've never even open the hood on it.
Also, just because a guy is good at one doesn't mean you should value his opinion on everything. I used to have frequent contact with a GM Master Tech who knew everything there was to know about General Motors Vehicles. He could take any of the Transmissions apart and fully rebuild them etc and that's especially in the transmission world.
He called me one day and I literally laughed at him when he asked me a question about a Ford Taurus! He's like, dude I don't know anything about Ford's I don't work on them and I've never owned one.
So some people are out there giving blanket advice about things that might not be true.
A safe bet is to follow the manufacturer recommendations or do things a little bit earlier because most cars are lasting a long time now anyway so you don't really have to maximize every mile you can get out of one. Few new car purchasers keep the vehicle until the engine life is is used up at over 200,000 miles.
Some of us only buy old cars though so we do look to maximize things since from the start we have a shorter possibility of lifespan.
Some people put way too much thought into it like being picky about what brand of everything they put on their car or what brand of oil. There are still people that won't use certain brands of oils or have their preference. In reality, it's more about the viscosity and the frequency of oil changes and it's not going to affect the life of your engine regardless of which brand you use.
The thing about the differential fluid is that there's only two this guy sees really readily available so either thing you grab is going to be okay. The next part of the problem is that Ford started out selling vehicles and recommending a certain viscosity but then later on changing their mind when these vehicles are 8 or 10 years old and then saying to use the other viscosity in the new ones and even all the old ones.
This was not because they found out they were having a lot of differential failures in the first 10 years so they switched, more than likely it was just because they only want to carry one type of gear lube for their dealers and it just makes it uniform and simpler.
Also, most people will tell you that the 75-140 full synthetic is the best gear lube to put in any with differential because it is better band The Cars That only spec for the 80w 90 but there are people that will tell you and there have been test confirm but in certain applications the ring and pinion and metal parts inside actually get hotter with the synthetic oil than they do with the plain old 80w 90 that we have been using for a hundred years in cars.
So this is where you really can't believe either side to fully. Do you have to go with your own personal experience unless you know someone very closely who has personal experience or cars at your job or whatever. Usually there is no real experience because hardly anyone has ever had a differential failure due to improper Lube. Any damage that has ever occurred to one has been contaminated Lube or not enough Lube.
So my parsley joke full comment was grabbing a bottle of gear lube it looks like gear lube and it's really all going to work the same. You could also pour straight Lucas in there which has the same shape bottle and it even says that for noisy or warm ones you can use it at 100%. I wouldn't do it to a good one but I don't think it would damage one.
I have not washed all his videos or recommendations but from what you said it sounds like he is a little overzealous on some things.
Not on oil changes though. We have this back-and-forth thing. For years people didn't change their oil very often and then when all the Quick Lube oil change places came out pioneered by Jiffy Lube I think oh, I can still sing the song, they convinced the American people that it was necessary to change your oil every 3 months or 3000 miles. We find out now that that was Overkill and that the 5 to 7500 manufacturer recommendations for normal service was just fine. Now however with VVT we are finding that the high end of manufacturer recommendations cannot be the best thing overall.
You need to increase the oil change frequency and or use a fully synthetic oil to keep the all clean and their screens from getting all clogged up and causing you problems with the solenoids.

Flushing your coolant really doesn't do a whole lot. It makes people feel better to look in the cap and see nice pretty green fluid or on the newer things the other colors but I have owned vehicles that were 13 to 15 years old that had never had the fluid changed in their lives and you can't drive them on a thousand mile trip and they wouldn't overheat a bit.
Nice cars most cars it will make little difference whether you changed and flush the fluid in the radiator and cooling system every 3 years or every 10 years. It just won't make a difference .
now there are some cars that have problems to start with where it will slow down your frequency of problems. So this is the conundrum. now there are some cars that have problems to start with Where it will slow down your frequency of problems. So this is the conundrum. If you have a car with spurious electrical current getting in your cooling system it will rot away your heater core faster. If you change your radiator fluid and keep high-quality coolant like Preston in there every two to 3 years you should get a few more years out of it. But having said that, most heater cores on most cars go 15 to 20 years before they start to leak. Some never leak.
The 95 to 97 Town Cars had a fairly wimpy radiator and if you didn't flush the coolant and four to five years that would be enough restriction or coating inside the radiator that it would overheat.
if you flushed it regularly and use one of the cleaners you would probably get another three or four years before the radiator need to be replaced.
I had one that did it consistently every four years. I did not flush it after the first radiator went in but it had fresh coolant. Exactly four years later it started overheating again so I warranted the lifetime warranty radiator and put new coolant in it again.
Flushing power steering fluid is a waste of time on most cars you would be better off to add one of the higher-end additive and leave it be. Most people really start thinking about flushing until they have stiffness or a problem and a flush rarely solve that issue.
Flushing your brake fluid is an absolute waste of time and money but it makes people feel better.
I can't tell you how many 15 to 20 year old plus cars I have had that have never had the brake fluid flushed. Over the years when you do brake jobs and bleed them a couple of pumps you do manage to flush a little bit through but I mean they've never had an entire master cylinder flush through or empty cleaned out and flush through the lines with brand-new fluid. Your calipers well stick on their sliders, Pistons will Rust away or the phenolic ones will crack or things will just start leaking way before you'll ever have an issue in your brake system because you didn't flush your fluid.
The theory of brake lines rusting from the inside is an old wives tale. Unless you left a quart of brake fluid out with the lid off and it true in a lot of moisture which I think you would actually have to pour water into it to get enough moisture, and then poured it into your brake system, you are not going to get rust from the inside out. I have done more brake lines in my life than most other human beings because I have maintained a fleet of town cars and limousines for myself and two other people for the past 25 years. Every limo ever built will have to have brake lines and typically fuel lines replaced before the vehicle is sold off into private use or goes to the scrap yard.
The last Town Car stretch I replace brake lines on needed 34 ft to do both rear ones. The rear are the only ones ever rust out as the fronts are still in their Factory configuration and they are stainless. So when I do a brake line it's a lot of brake line.
I used to believe or at least thought it was possible that they rusted from the inside but I started checking them. Now this only applies in this salt States they might make it long enough to rust from the inside out in a nice dry no salt environment but I have never, ever remove a rusted out leaking brake line that when you inspect three or four different areas on the line and cut it in half with a tubing cutter ... the outside is flaked off rust has holes all in it and is either leaking or ready to leak at any given moment but as you get to the inside you hit nice shiny white clean Steel.

We have to go with whatever works for us and what has worked but sometimes will never actually know if we've always done something one way and had good results it doesn't mean it's the only way. Other people hardly do anything or do these people be different I get the same results or even better than we do.
All I know is that I don't lie or make up shit. That's why I get frustrated and double down when somebody wants to contradict me on a forum. If I tell you that's the way it's been for me repeatedly over and over you can take it to the bank at that is exactly how it occurred. Of course, this does not guarantee any results for you or in your neck of the woods but some things are pretty consistent.
That's why I don't care about other people talking about facts or spewing statistics. If they don't match what I have experienced in the past four decades of working on cars then they mean nothing to me and they had nothing to do with my decision making future process.
Yer a good man MrToby. Id buy you a cup of coffee if I had the chance which I won't.
 

762mm

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So you believe one guy but don't believe the thousands of people at Ford. And you've now repeated it again (like all the others that repeated it) so some young kid can say "I read it all the time, must be true". Sort of like MSM or the guy telling people authoritatively to change tranny fluid every few thousand miles because of all that sensitive electronics in there. He doesn't even know what that means but Makuloco said it so it must be true and he repeats it like he has some first hand understanding. There's some Confirmation Bias here. Of course it's not exactly the same and that you have some anecdotal evidence from your own extensive experience.

Maybe it is true, I dunno. Just find the whole thing kinda self fulfilling.

I think you were on here the other day saying "for all practical purposes doesn't matter what viscosity oil you put in the rear diff".


Was that directed at me? If so, I'll have you know I do all my own maintenance and have been for 20 years now... and I have a few friends or close acquaintances that have been wrenching on cars & trucks at different dealerships for many more years, with whom I often have these conversations. Excuse me if I trust them a little more than some gullible "see no evil, hear no evil, Ford has my best interests at heart" elderly internet dude.

You can put fermented cat piss in your own transmission and differentials at 300k, for all I care. What I do know to be true from personal experience is that the "recommended 150k trans fluid and filter change" from FoMoCo is ********. I the warranty on the trans 150k miles or more? Didn't think so! I did mine at 132k after buying the truck and the fluid was definitely contaminated, with crap stuck on the pan magnet and the filter housing being covered in grey metallic sludge. The filter media was black on the inside of the filter as well, thus causing a guaranteed restriction to the trans oil pump.

More restriction = less flow = more wear on oil pump + worse shifting and more wear on other components. Doesn't take an Einstein to understand this, although some on here still appear to struggle with the idea.


Lo and behold, after changing the filter and fluid, the truck shifts smoother and actually gets slightly better gas mileage. Must be another "conspiracy theory", riiight?


:rolleyes:
 
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TobyU

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Was that directed at me? If so, I'll have you know I do all my own maintenance and have been for 20 years now... and I have a few friends or close acquaintances that have been wrenching on cars & trucks at different dealerships for many more years, with whom I often have these conversations. Excuse me if I trust them a little more than some gullible "see no evil, hear no evil, Ford has my best interests at heart" elderly internet dude.

You can put fermented cat piss in your own transmission and differentials at 300k, for all I care. What I do know to be true from personal experience is that the "recommended 150k trans fluid and filter change" from FoMoCo is ********. I the warranty on the trans 150k miles or more? Didn't think so! I did mine at 132k after buying the truck and the fluid was definitely contaminated, with crap stuck on the pan magnet and the filter housing being covered in grey metallic sludge. The filter media was black on the inside of the filter as well, thus causing a guaranteed restriction to the trans oil pump.

More restriction = less flow = more wear on oil pump + worse shifting and more wear on other components. Doesn't take an Einstein to understand this, although some on here still appear to struggle with the idea.


Lo and behold, after changing the filter and fluid, the truck shifts smoother and actually gets slightly better gas mileage. Must be another "conspiracy theory", riiight?


:rolleyes:

I agree with you on not listening to forward because they don't have your best interest at heart but I will say that I have had plenty of cars that have never had the transmission changed that go 200 to 250 Thousand Miles and they're still working just fine.
You almost always feel smoother shifts and better torque converter clutch engagement with fresh fluid. That is why most Fords get changed because of torque converter shudder.

I have also been wrenching on cars for 40 years and I can guarantee you that the gray sludge and metal on the magnet inside is not an indication of where or excessive wear or anything wrong with your transmission. That's just a sign but it was new at one time or rebuilt at one time and the magnet did its job and collect the particles from the initial clutch pack swearing-in. Every transmission we'll have that the first time it's taken apart and the magnet clean. It will have it when it's new shortly after you put some miles on it, and it will have it after a rebuild. It doesn't mean that it should be taken out and cleaned.
But it's nice to get that initial we're out of there. It's just like changing the oil in the first few hundred miles on a new engine or a freshly rebuilt one. They do not recommend it now because it's bad marketing but in the old days, and many engine builders will still tell you, you want to change the oil early on. The most where that ever occurs in an engine and the most metal particles and stuff that wears off ends up in the oil occurs right after the new engine is first run or right after a fresh rebuild.
People will argue that you're no longer need to do this because of manufacturing tolerances, clearances, oils Etc but the fact is that manufacturers just don't want to tell you to do something that is not customer-friendly and people have accepted this as being good
If you really, really, really care about your brand new 2020 Corvette Supercar, you will change that expensive and probably large amount of oil and the first thousand miles.
 
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