eSparty

Hey guys,

New to this forum, but love it already.

I have a 2003 F-150 Lariat FX4, 5.4L, 470RW. The truck has 89,000 miles on it. No transmission service has ever been done. I bought it brand new. In all aspects, the truck is very well-maintained by me.
Recently (about a 1000 miles ago) I started to notice a slight shudder, sudden loss of power, etc. For whatever reason, I assumed it was the MAS/throttle issues. I cleaned those out completely and some of the loss of power issues went away. However, the shudder (esp. when the gears upshift) remains. I also started getting the sudden lurch forward when going from PARK to D3. I'm convinced that it's time to service the tranny. Since the truck has almost 90K miles on it, I'm not going to do a full flush. I was thinking of just dropping the pan, letting it drain, and replace the filter and gasket, and refill with 4-5 quarts of ATF. Btw, I went out and bought 5 quarts of Royal Purple ATF (meets Mercon V specs).
Then, I came across a thread where someone said they drained almost 12 quarts (from the original 15) when they dropped the pan. Not sure if they drained the torque converter too. I don't even know if my model's torque converter has a drain plug. But how can this be?

I thought that a simple drop-the-pan job was about 4-5 quarts. If it's really 12 quarts I'm gonna drain, then I'm 7 quarts short!

What do you guys think? How many quarts should I have handy if I drop the pan and let it drain? How many more quarts will I need if I manage to drain the torque converter too?

Your help will be much appreciated, thanks in advance!

m3t4lm4n222

4-5 quarts if you only drop the pan. Loosen and remove all but 2 screws on the pan and let it slowly drain. Then have someone help you carefully remove the pan since fluid will still be in it. Empty the fluid out of the pan, clean the pan and magnet on the pan. Inspect the pan for any transmission parts or excessive metal shards. Metal residue is perfectly normal. Remove the transmission filter then put the new filter in. *Note, when you remove the filter, more fluid will drain* clean/replace the plastic pan gasket and the area the gasket sits on (Your pan will say "Re-usable gasket" on the bottom if the gasket is re-usable) and re-attatch pan. Put 4-5 quarts of Mecron or Mecron V (Whatever your dipstick says) through your dipstick hole.

*The yellow bobber in the picture indicates that the transmission pan had never been dropped*

-----Pictures from my pan drop-----

http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/h...69786687_n.jpg
http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/h...35441514_n.jpg

------------------------------------

I'm assuming you know the potential risks of a full torque converter drain. If you drain the torque converter, some of the fluid that gets drained may have been holding parts of the transmission in place. 90K miles actually isn't too bad. You might be safe to do a full flush. Inspect the fluid that drains when you drop the pan. If a full 4-5 quarts drains and you don't find excessive amounts of metal shavings or burnt fluid you could consider a full drain. My truck had 115K miles on it when I did my pan drop and I didn't have very many metal shavings and my fluid was still reddish. But I am staying on the safe side and I plan on doing pan drops and filter changes every 7k miles from now on, since it only costs $40 for 5 quarts of fluid and a filter/gasket. It all depends on how people drive their truck. If you drive fast and your transmission shifts at higher RPM's constantly you put more wear on your transmission and generate more heat, which can actually burn the fluid.

eSparty

Hey, thanks for the quick reply! A follow up question - do you recommend draining the torque converter too? I guess that's where the additional quarts will flow to.
I take it that the TC will also be refilled through the transmission dipstick?

serranot

I have the same model trans as you. I removed the trans coolant line and pumped out about 13 quarts and replaced it. I also dropped the pan and replaced the filter. That will exchange virtually all of the fluid.

You don't have a TC drain.

m3t4lm4n222

I would personally drop the pan then decide from there. Look at your fluid, is it still reddish or is it black/burnt. Look at the magnet on the pan. Is there excessive amounts of metal shavings? Are there any parts of the transmission laying in the pan?

Excessive metal - http://members.***.net/sciberpunkt/i...net-before.jpg or http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:A...cwjCZAMhZiGt-Q

Mine looked good, but I am simply not going to risk fully draining my Torque converter. It's suggested to do a full flush every 30K miles. So I plan on doing a pan drop every 7K miles from now on. $40 every 7K miles isn't bad at all.

BUT the 2003 models don't have a drain plug on their torque converters, so you have to use a machine to suck out and pump in new fluids.

eSparty

Thanks a lot to both of you. I think I'm all set. I'll try and remember to take pics. Or at the very least, write about my experience once I complete the job.

jferg92

I would definitely check your coils

DavidSalsbury5150

I did a drain and fill on my tranny this past spring. 4 to 5 quarts is about what you'll need. I replaced one quart of ATF with Lucas brand of stop slip. I started to notice the tranz shifting a little harder than normal. The Lucas cleared it right up.
Just remember, because you filling the tranny through the dip stick hole, give the fluid time to travel all the way to the tranny or you will get a false reading on the dip stick. Take about a 15-20 minute test drive and shift though all the gears to give the fluid time to heat up and expand so you get a good reading on the stick. Good luck.

udderbrudder

I wouldn't do this. When pumping oil out of the tranny, new fluid should be pumped back in at the same pressure (like with a tranny flusher). Otherwise much of the tranny will be dry while running.

serranot

It doesn't all come out at once. You do a few quarts and then replace it. Then start it and pump out a few more quarts.

Honestly, I never saw so much voodoo regarding this in my life. It's a transmission. It gets the crap beat out of it daily. It's not that fragile. You hear stories on here about people running them on the original fluid for 200k. Running the transmission in neutral, at idle, a few quarts low doesn't affect it one bit.