Trans. Fluid - Drain-N-Fill

[larryinnewyork]

Tomorrow I will be doing a Trans. Fluid Drain-N-Fill.

Currently at 134,000 miles
Last drain-N-fill was 1 year ago (8,000 miles per year).
I get 3 quarts out from removing the Drain Plug in Pan (with Magnet).

Question: Should the trans. fluid be warmed-up (like engine oil) or can it be drained 'cold' ? ? ?
I'm not having any problems, only doing P.M.
Regular Filter was last changed at 104,000 miles.

Please, no comments about:
1.) Your wasting fluid
2.) Do a Full Flush thru return line

I buy Mercon V at Wal-Mart (Super Tech) and each drain-N-Fill costs me $15.00

I also have an Inline Filter that I would like to replace tomorrow.
It has 35,000 miles on it and I would like to cut it open and inspect.

All comments are welcome.
Thank you.

 

[Ramblejam]

Originally Posted By: larryinnewyork
Please, no comments about

Originally Posted By: larryinnewyork
All comments are welcome.

P.S. - Seriously though, good on you for doing the maintenance!

 

[mclasser]

I do it with warm fluid, like after an in-town drive. This way after I put in the new ATF, I don't have to wait long for the car to get back up to operating temp so I can read the dipstick.

Just be careful not to burn yourself.

 

[larryinnewyork]

Originally Posted By: Ramblejam
Originally Posted By: larryinnewyork
Please, no comments about

Originally Posted By: larryinnewyork
All comments are welcome.

P.S. - Seriously though, good on you for doing the maintenance!


OP here.

Somebody found the moon-shine,,,,,,,,,,, (just kidding).

 

[Donald]

Its less of a concern cold/warm than oil. I would do it warm.

If you have a Magnefine inline filter it unscrews. No need to cut it open.A

 

[CourierDriver]

Why not do it, sounds good, your trans will run forever at that rate. Many folks never change the trans fluid. I do a pan drop every 40 miles and filter,,,always clean when they do it, 7 quarts and is still red.

 

[JC1]

Drain and fill is fine. I've done them both hot and cold on a 98 Sienna. You could extend this interval to every 24 months, but as you mentioned the fluid can be bought for under $20.

 

[slacktide_bitog]

I don't think it matters whether cold or warm, as long as you put back in the same amount you drained out.

A simple drain and fill is sufficient, especially since you seem to do it regularly.

The only time you'd need to do a more thorough ATF change is if you used the wrong fluid, or if you went 200k without changing it. In that case, just do the regular drain and fill, drive it a bit (anywhere from down the block and back to 1000 miles), and repeat 3-4x.

 

[Rhymingmechanic]

If you change it cold, a little more fluid might have drained back into the pan overnight.

Warming the fluid would stir up more wear materials, but the inline filter should already have you covered on that.

 

[01rangerxl]

I think in this situation, cold vs. hot would be a wash. Probably not much "junk" with the maintenance it has had so far.

If this is on your Ranger, I have the same transmission in my 2002. I dropped the pan for the first time at around 148K miles and it was spotless. Just red fluid and a little bit of stuff on the magnet. No sediment in the pan. It had been changed via cooler lines on dealer/indy shop "flush" machines every 30K before that (pan had never been off). I have changed around 4 quarts of fluid via the dipstick tube a couple times with a LiquiVac since then, but am not so religious with maintenance any more. Right now the truck is around 185K and shifts fine, but not perfect. Sometimes it seems like it takes it longer to complete a shift than it used to...like fractions of a second, but I can tell it's getting sloppier. I'm pretty sure it will do 200K just fine, even if I don't touch the fluid again, but I don't know how much past that. This transmission has put up with significantly more towing than probably 99% of 3.0 Rangers though, so I'm not complaining. Getting it rebuilt will be no problem.

 

[supton]

Originally Posted By: CourierDriver
Why not do it, sounds good, your trans will run forever at that rate. Many folks never change the trans fluid. I do a pan drop every 40 miles and filter,,,always clean when they do it, 7 quarts and is still red.


Dang, every 40 miles?

 

[Lubener]

I drain cold after letting sit overnight. If you can, let it drain over night, you will get much more fluid out of it. I recently did a pan drop on a Ford AOD and Buick 4T50E and I got 7-7.5 quarts each out of them doing it this way.If you do it warm, fluid is deposited all over the transmission and it takes a while for it to settle back in the pan.

 

[larryinnewyork]

O.P. here,

Well I did it cold.
Drained 3 1/2 quarts (into graduated container).
Put same amount back in.
System holds 10 qts.
There was very little build up on Drain Plug Magnet / very little.

I've been using a Magnefine 'Inline' Filter for the last 35,000 miles and was curious what it would look like inside.
I unscrewed the Filter and it was uneventful.
* The Paper Element looked as clean as could be
* The Magnet was coated with a thin lawyer of black paste.

I think I could have gone 50,000 miles easy.