Total tyranny fluid/filter change 03 Grand Marquis

[ZZman]

129,000 miles and unknown maintenance history.
I dropped pan and changed filter. The magnet was covered in a metal slurry. The fluid was dark red.
I pulled a trans cooler line and pump out a total of 14 nasty quarts.
It was actually easy to do except or a rounded out 10mm bolt on the pan in a bad location.

 

[WyrTwister]

Did you replace the rounded bolt ?

Best of luck ,

 

[Canadastang]

Let me guess. The rounded bolt was the sneaky little bugger that's partially blocked by the tranny crossmember?

A little trick I've found that helps is to use a shallow socket, slide it above the crossmember sideways and engage it on the bolt, then put an extension on the socket.

Which tranny cooler line did you pull? Top or bottom? I guess it probably doesn't matter, but I've been meaning to do a complete change on my town car at some point.

 

[The_Eric]

No drain plug on the torque converter?

 

[ZZman]

I pulled a rubber hose from under the car between the radiator and engine. Unfortunately the wrong one at first. Trans fluid all over the driveway.
Looking up from the bottom it was the hose on the right.

 

[Canadastang]

Drain plug was eliminated on the 4R70 and perhaps all Ford tranny's in 2001

 

[ZZman]

Originally Posted By: The_Eric
No drain plug on the torque converter?


I read they stopped that in 2001-2002. I never looked.

 

[WyrTwister]

When I was a young pup in the 1970's , it was fairly common to have a drain plug on the torque converter .

I was thinking they stopped providing a drain plug some time there after , 1980's , maybe .

We have a 1991 Caprice , will look when I do a spill & fill on it .

Best of luck to you ,

 

[ford46guy]

My MGM was around his mileage when I got, it had the cherry in the pan.
Did filter and 5 qts.
At 150K did flush
Now at almost 180K its fine. Going to do 5 qts soon, I have the dorman pan with the plug.


I like pumping fluid thru the lines. 16qts for a Crown Vic. Goes very fast with a helper, about 1-2hrs with a pan drop on your own.

 

[ZZman]

Originally Posted By: Canadastang
Let me guess. The rounded bolt was the sneaky little bugger that's partially blocked by the tranny crossmember?

A little trick I've found that helps is to use a shallow socket, slide it above the crossmember sideways and engage it on the bolt, then put an extension on the socket.

Which tranny cooler line did you pull? Top or bottom? I guess it probably doesn't matter, but I've been meaning to do a complete change on my town car at some point.


It was a pain due to the cross member in the way. I finally hammered a slightly small socket on it.

I pulled a rubber hose from under the car between the radiator and engine. Unfortunately the wrong one at first. Trans fluid all over the driveway.
Looking up from the bottom it was the hose on the right.

 

[ZZman]

I decided to try Supertech Mercon V for fluid as it was 2-3 dollars cheaper per qt.

 

[Bgallagher]

Originally Posted By: ZZman
I decided to try Supertech Mercon V for fluid as it was 2-3 dollars cheaper per qt.



Good stuff. I have used their Dex 3 stuff before and it worked great

 

[SubieRubyRoo]

Originally Posted By: ZZman
I decided to try Supertech Mercon V for fluid as it was 2-3 dollars cheaper per qt.


$2-3 cheaper than what fluid? Valvoline MaxLife is still only $18/gal at WM. It's a great fluid as well.

 

[ford46guy]

Originally Posted By: ZZman
I decided to try Supertech Mercon V for fluid as it was 2-3 dollars cheaper per qt.


If you have a local motorcraft distributor you may get it for less than the SuperTech. Look on the Ford site and you may see a non-dealer place come up.

 

[zorobabel]

Originally Posted By: SubieRubyRoo

$2-3 cheaper than what fluid?

$2-3 cheaper than "Total tyranny" brand ATF...

 

[ZZman]

Originally Posted By: zorobabel
Originally Posted By: SubieRubyRoo

$2-3 cheaper than what fluid?

$2-3 cheaper than "Total tyranny" brand ATF...


Then other stores and car parts stores. It is a little over $4 a quart.

 

[69GTX]

ZZman, did you just idle and pump out old fluid as it was filled via the dip stick tube? That would be easiest. The procedures I followed had you turn the car off after multiple short idle periods where the pan was refilled each time. As soon as the flow slows down or bubbles show up, you turn the engine off and then add more fluid. The risk there is if you go too far and leaving the car idling when fluid is no longer flowing.

I did an 18 qt Mercon V flush on my 4.6L last year. Filter changed as well. The trans cooler fittings are quite accessible to tap into for the flush. No complaints about pan access or removal. The reusable factory gasket is a trooper and looks bullet proof. That should last the life of the car. I stick with Mercon V specs of 7.0-7.6 cSt viscosity. The all purpose fully synthetic Max Life starts off at 5.8. It takes the semi-syn MercV's 20K-30K miles to get that low. I prefer to use the OEM recommended viscosity. And there are fully synthetic Merc V's that won't shear lower than around 6.4-6.8 cSt after 20-30K miles.

 

[ZZman]

Originally Posted By: 69GTX
ZZman, did you just idle and pump out old fluid as it was filled via the dip stick tube? That would be easiest. The procedures I followed had you turn the car off after multiple short idle periods where the pan was refilled each time. As soon as the flow slows down or bubbles show up, you turn the engine off and then add more fluid. The risk there is if you go too far and leaving the car idling when fluid is no longer flowing.


I did the same as you.