I always felt that the flush was a gimmick if your fluid was not totally burned. On my last vehicle (V10 ford) I droped the drain plug on the tranny (a great feature) and dropped 6 quarts out every other oil change. That meant that I changed 6 quarts of the fluid every 3k miles. In my mind that kept the fluid fresh.

I am wondering if any of you do a similar thing with these trucks. I asked a friend that owned a transmission shop and he said with that practice I would ensure to keep fresh fluid in it and had no need for a flush.

I am planning to put a mag hytec pan with extra capacity on this truck and drop the fluid and add at a specified interval. (interval not yet determined)

I know this doesn't get it all, but with regular changes this should keep fresh fluid in the tranny.

What do you think? Bad practice or not?

 

More maintenance is better anyday than no maintenance!!!! Did you have any trouble out of the trans in the Ford??? If not then I would say that you are heading down the right path!!! Good Luck!!

 

Chances are if your fluid is "Totally burned" then the damage has already been done. The reason for the flush is preventative maintenance...in other words make sure good fluid with fresh additive packages are working not fluid that has the additive packages used up and burnt. Burnt means there has also likely been a lack of lubrication encountered.

I vote for the cautious approach and change the fluid at the recommended interval or earlier if the fluid is starting to show any signs of discolouration.

Your approach with the partial flush isn't a bad one and over time works fine...every once and a while is doesn't hurt to start completely fresh however. If you are concerned then you can always take a sample and send it off for analysis just like people do for engine oil.

 

There is actually a way to make your own flushing maching that is very reasonable. The basics is to hook a tank of new fluid to the intake line of the trans cooler and then hook a tank to the out put of the cooler. When you get fresh fluid in the out put tank you are flushed.

 

Which way does it flow?

 

The flushing machine is a great invention. You actually use the vehicles pump to move the old transmission fluid out and push the new fluid in. If it is done at the recommended intervals it will help save you money on major tranny repairs by flushing out the trash left behind by just draining. The gauges on the machine can determine if you need to change the filter.

 

I for one sure would not, not change my tranny filter at the same time it was flushed, as it is cheap to buy & replace. Also I would not bet not changing my tranny filter on some gauges on some machine that may or may not be correctly calibrated. I would rather be safe then sorry later on down the road.

JMHO

 

Whoa that is one of the most confusing posts of all time. 2 nots in a row does not make a right!

 

Doing your own flush is a piece of cake:

1. Drop pan, change filter, replace pan
2. Fill pan with fresh ATF
3. Disconnect rear tranny cooler line and attach 4' clear poly tubing. Run tubing to a 5-gallon bucket near driver's door and tape tubing to handle to prevent it from shooting out of bucket.
4. Start truck in neutral. (put on jackstands and run through gears for even better flush).
5. Shutoff engine when no more fluid comes out (only takes a few seconds).
6. Refill pan, repeat 4 and 5 until all old fluid is out (approx 4 gallons).
7. Reattach cooler line
8. Check fluid level, hot, idle, neutral, level ground.

 

That's the way I did mine. To clarify step 3, slip the hose over the cooler line, the rear line is the return. And do attach it to the bucket, fluid comes out very fast.

 

Handled hundereds if not thousand of fliud exchages(flush)what ever term you want to use.Fleets,wally wagons,everyday vehicles over a 6 or 7 year time frame.Two machines that stayed in use every day.Enough to wear the fittings out on them couple times a year.Best thing to happen to the consumer and a auto trans since its invention.Leave the filter until 60 or 90k and exchange/flush it every 30k unless hard towing usage.Fleet owners LOVED them.Failure rate dropped of autos trannys dropped tremenously.

 

I am currently skeptical of flushes. I have seen more than one vehicle (including my last one, a Toyota, where I was the original owner and had a trusted and scrupulous mechanic do a flush at about 30k) where the flush seems to have stirred something up such that an A/T that seemed 100% content before started acting flukey after.

I think the originator of this thread has the right idea: drain the pan every other oil change. No, you won't get every last drop, but if you do it regularly, that does not matter. To add to that, if you are starting with a new vehicle, as I am, plan to add a sub-micron bypass filter to strain out the really small crud that the stock filter (really just a screen) won't catch. Torque converters apparently (and, by their shape/ spin, not surprisingly), act like centrifuges that accumulate crud at their outer perimeter. Catch the tiny crud with a really fine bypass filter before it can accumulate in the nooks and crannies of the converter or other mechanisms, and "rotate" the fluid by draining what drains freely and easily, once a year or so. Costs less than the gizmoid flush, and please fill me in on why (assuming you're willing to do it yourself) it isn't as or more effective?

 

You can be as skepital as you want.Until you SEE the shift improvements and longivity it adds to a auto keep doing it old school and dropping that pan and adding new fliud to used fliud.FLIUD EXCHANGE is really what it does.Dosen't stir up anything.The trans itself is the pump.Just changed the trans filter for the FIRST time in my 2000 Mercury Gran Marquis 4.6. Filter could have gone longer.What was in the pan wasn't enough to commint about.First EXCHANGE was 30k with Amsoil syn.fliud.Second at 90k with filter.I'll say it again.Best thing to happen to the consumer in the way of P.M.since sliced bread.