powerranger262

It's really nice to be able to monitor the transmission temps while towing. My tuner shows me my temps, and I can see exactly if the trans is happier with the o/d on or off.

FrozenTundraGuy

Your trans would be a lot happier if you changed the fluid before the trip. You've already changed the other vital fluids, go ahead and complete it with a trans fluid/filter change before you go.

Mod (Ret.)

^^ Agree with this ^^

A good transmission shop will evaluate the condition of the transmission and its fluid, and recommend a full flush (using a low pressure flush system), or at the very least, a pan drop, filter, and 5 quarts. Did your "regular maintenance" include periodic transmission fluid changes? While Ford (and others) refer to their automatic transmission fluid as "lifetime", I still do fluid changes every 30K. I've yet to have an automatic transmission fail me.

I recently purchased a used 2007 STX with the 4.6 V8, and tow package (includes the 5.4 automatic's transmission) that had 101K on its odometer. A week after its purchase, I had the transmission fluid completely flushed by an AAMCO shop I've used for years. I've since put 3K on the truck, and the transmission is fine. I did not know of any history of the transmissions maintenance, but now know it has clean, fresh fluid in it.