Especial86

iTrader: (1)

I installed a drain plug in my transmission pan to make pan dropping easier, and to allow quick fluid flushes to extend the life of the transmission..

The benefits:
Longer transmission life
Clean fluid
Cooler transmission fluid temperatures
Improve shifting
Contaminate removal
Easy future pan drops to change the filter.

Purchase list and materials:
1:
Buy a transmission drain plug. I used a 1/2-20 universal drain plug kit from "Needa".
Part# 65241 $4

2: Buy 6 quarts of your choice of Mercon V.
I used Castrol Transmax Mercon V. I am using this fluid for a flush/rinse, then switching to Amsoil ATF 4.

2.1 Buy a new transmission filter. (Comes with a new gasket) the factory gasket is reusable.

3: Buy some anaerobic sealant "gasket maker" and some thread locking compound like rectorseal or loctite. Also buy some 1/2 nylon gaskets for extra assurance on the seal of the drain plug.. My first time without the anaerobic sealant and the extra gasket I had some slight weeping through the threads and gasket of the plug....

4. You will need a drill, a 1/2 metal drill bit, a pencil to mark your hole, brake cleaner spray, rags, and 1 or 2 containers to catch the fluid.

4.1 A floor jack and block of wood is optional to help hold up the pan while its full of fluid.. Also, lay some plastic or plywood down on the ground to keep the area clean.... Also optional.

Lets begin:
Step1:
Start with a cold or a warm transmission, whichever you prefer...Mine was warm.
Start LOOSENING the bolts from the TRANSMISSION PAN.
Socket required: 10mm with a 4" - 6" extension.

Step:2
Remove the pan bolts slowly while going from one side of the pan to the other. Allow the fluid to fall into you container and keep gradually lowering the pan... (Place the jack and block of wood on top of the jack under the pan when you are down to the last few bolts holding the pan in place.)

Step:2.1
Lower the pan down with the jack or just lower it down with your hands.. Dump the remaining fluid into your container, and set the pan aside...

Step 2.2
Pull the transmission filter down and allow the tranny to drain some more...

Step:3
Inspect the pan.




If you see this yellow plug in the bottom of your pan, it means the filter and fluid is very likely original... This means your transmission was never serviced.
Mine was obviously never serviced...






Get your brake cleaner out with clean rags and remove this dirty magnet.. Wipe it off good, and spray everything in the pan down with brake cleaner and wipe it down good...





Now take your new drain plug out and mark the pan where it needs to be drilled..






My mark is hard to see, but its that pencil dot that is just off center to the left in the pic..
This location is ideal because it does not interfere with the transmission filter pick up tube.





1/2" Hole drilled... Clean those shaving out good... Then grab a flat file and de-burr the edges and the face of the mounting surface...





Test fit your plug





Test fit with fiber washer on the inside of the pan..





Now check the outside...
Then take it all apart again, because we need to make sure it won't leak like it did the first time I did this!!!




Here's the rest of the materials I used.... Notice how I added the 1/2 nylon washer, and this time I'm running with the anaerobic sealant as well.





Seal the outside..





Seal the inside.





Assemble everything and coat the bottom threads with a thread sealant of your choice.. Wipe off any excess sealant or thread compound.



Now grab 2 3/4 sockets, and crank that drain plug down... You will need to re-check this for tightness at least 3 times... Bury those nuts!!!... You should have 1 thread sticking up from the drain plug inside the pan when your done..





Complete!


Bolt the pan back up with your new filter and fill with fluid.. Put 4.5 quarts right in and then Cycle through the gears... Warm tranny up and recheck in NEUTRAL with the truck running on level ground.. Mine took 5 and 1/4 quarts...

During the first pan drop my fluid looked like reddish chocolate milk...





Here's what my new fluid looked like 10 days later when I dumped it again..




This shows what the magnet managed to pick up in 10 days after the drain plug install..





Nice and easy now! The fluid is pretty dirty after 10 days... This is good because that's what I'm looking to remove!

Especial86

iTrader: (1)

This has been about a 10 day process with great results.. My shifting has improved and my transmission fluid temperatures have dropped down to an average of 140 degrees! Down from a 155 degree average..
My fluid is much cleaner after the second pan drop to fix the drain plug leak, and I will be doing this one more time at the end of the month.. I may drop the pan down 1 more time to change the filter out one last time before I switch to amsoil..
Total time spent on drain plug adding, 2 pan drops and fluid fills was 2 hours.. Its very easy, and will keep the transmission alive for many, many, more miles...

dyeguy1212

iTrader: (1)

Nicely done. I dropped my pan about 10k miles ago (with 143k on the truck) and swapped out the filter and topped it back off with motorcraft fluid. I intend to put a drain plug in when I drop the pan and repeat the process in the next 10k.

Didn't want to install a plug while I had an aftermarket warranty on the truck. They'll find any way to screw you.

I plan to do 10 k intervals draining and refilling to slowly flush the old stuff out.


Important note: The pan gasket is reusable on these trucks. However, I wouldn't continue to reuse it after 3 drops. They rubber gasket tends to deform after being tightened down multiple times.

RLXXI

Not sure if your's has it or not but it's worth removing that little rubber plug on the bottom of the bell housing, some of those transmissions came with a converter drain plug.

That's why the fluid looked funky after running a few days, the new fluid mixed with the gallon or so old fluid still in the converter.

You will need a socket and ratchet to turn the crank by hand or use a large flat head screwdriver to inch the converter around so you can find the drain, if it don't have one you can drill and tap a hole with 1/8 pipe thread and put a drain plug in it, our trans tech did it all the time at my dealer.

dyeguy1212

iTrader: (1)

I want to say 04-08 don't have that plug. That's why you see so many people going through the drain and refill process multiple times on these trucks.

RLXXI

Yeah that's why I said to drill and tap a 1/8th pipe thread hole, in the event that it don't have one, we did it all the time. The pic of the converter with the plug came from a 2004 Ford service manual on disk. Even in the manual they say some had it and some don't.

ophidia

I will have to do this when I drop the pan, which will be shortly. Thanks for the excellent write-up!

Tradesman

My brother, thank you for this write up! I'm going to do this sometime in the summer!

Especial86

iTrader: (1)

Thanks guys!
I hope this will help curb some of those threads Ive seen of peoples tranny's crapping out. Putting the plug in is very easy and quick if you prepare ahead of time, so I figured this write up could help with that.

When it comes down to it, the benefits from this simple drain plug are huge!

Here's what I noticed since doing this:
Much cleaner and quicker shifts.
More power!
BETTER MPG's!!!
Cooler Tranny temps
Better coasting (less drag)
Very silent gear engagement
Much Cleaner fluid
Much Easier transmission maintenance
PEACE OF MIND!

I feel that this is the absolute safest way to incrementally flush the transmission system. Other methods can be too risky on beat up or higher milage transmissions. Now that I have successfully removed a good amount of contamination from the system, I can safely switch over to a premium fluid like Amsoil ATF 4. The castrol transmax mercon V is great fluid to leave in, but I got a good deal on the Amsoil and its a much better product in comparison...

I still have one more flush sequence to go before I make the switch, I'm anticipating some slightly dirty but mostly clean fluid to come out at that point.. I was very surprised at how dirty the fluid was the second time around..
My transmission felt great prior to this, or at least I thought it did. Now it feels like a completely different tranny, that's how I can tell the improvements were pretty drastic. I have 140,000 miles now and I put roughly 40,000 miles on my truck since I bought it... After all that time I had no idea what I was missing...




Amsoil vs dextron and mercon.....
Don't run dex/merc!! Run Mercon V only!!

Don't listen to anybody who says to leave the fluid in the transmission for the life of the tranny. Change your fluid, and change it every 30,000 miles or sooner. People who don't change the fluid have no idea what there missing, and people who do change there fluid and have the tranny crap out are either just running into bad luck, or putting in that crappy dex/merc fluid in at a single, high milage pan drop.

Especial86

iTrader: (1)

I know my converter doesn't have a drain plug in it. I would drill and tap as you suggested, but wouldn't metal shavings get caught in the converter?
Plus I know the wall thickness isn't much on the converter, how many threads do you suppose I could even cut in there?