3.5L EcoBoost 10R80 Deep Transmission Pan install, initial impressions

[22Platinum]

Bought a B&M deep transmission pan from American Trucks. Shipping was fast and free. Amazon, AutoZone etc wanted a whole lot more than RockAuto for the Mercon ULV. Bought 12 quarts and had 1/2 a quart left over, including changing the transfer case fluid. (NOTE: ULV does not go in the transfer case; Mercon LV does.. mistakes were made) A normal filter change is 6ish quarts to get onto the dipstick and 7.5qts total, but this deeper pan took 8 to get on the stick and 9.5qts to be between 5 and 6 on the dipstick.

Job was fairly easy really. Fordtechmakuloco has an excellent video (as always) on the procedure. On the 21 3.5 EB there is no need to remove anything other than the pan. Crack the rearmost bolts and let it drain; continue to loosen bolts towards the front. I used a $8 fluid pump from Harbor Freight and it worked perfectly. The B&M pan wasn't designed for the studs and heat shielding to be reinstalled and came with all new hardware. Don't forget to switch the magnet over before you reinstall! I broke the old pan getting the magnet off. Gasket is re-usable and didn't even attempt to leak; so nice not putting RTV all over everything and hoping for the best.

The aluminum pan doesn't cause the transmission to run notably cooler, maybe a few degrees, but I did notice that transmission temperature fluctuations were significantly reduced; instead of varying from 174-205 traveling at speed unloaded, the temps were steadily between 184-189.

The fluid was ready to be changed at 30,178 miles: was dark, though not black. Transfer case fluid was slightly lighter.

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[Vater]

Wishing they would make one for the Powerboost transmission as well but as of yet, no one does. The fit is slightly deeper with the electric oil pump on the PB, thus all the mfgs of deeper pans has yet to make one for the PB.

 

[DNASMART]

Thanks for the post!
This is on my to-do list.
How are you monitoring the temperature?

 

[missileboy]

I added a PPE Deep Sump pan to mine @4K miles when I did the Whipple. PPE adds approx 1.75 qt more capacity. Same as you, the trans temps get to temp~195 and pretty much stay there. Fluid looked okay, but you could see the break in debris (very small) in the juice. I cannot believe they don't recommend trans juice changes at 30K miles! These deep sump pans makes it so nice to service the trans now. I also added a B&M remote dip stick, no more getting under the truck to check trans levels.

I have the temp page in my center display selected and it has the trans temp displayed (and ENG Oil and Water temps) with the numeric readout to easily keep an eye on the trans temps.

 

[22Platinum]

How are you monitoring the temperature?

There is a port on the new trans pan where you can install your own , external temperature sensor, but I installed the included block-off.

I used Forscan to enable the actual degree values on my engine and trans temp gauges. Looks something like this:

 

[DNASMART]

Oh, that's good, did not know you can do that.
Thank you.

 

[HammaMan]

Wishing they would make one for the Powerboost transmission as well but as of yet, no one does. The fit is slightly deeper with the electric oil pump on the PB, thus all the mfgs of deeper pans has yet to make one for the PB.

The issue on MHTs is the 2 aux flow paths for the hybrid clutch and motor cooling spray nozzle. It's a bit more complex than these sand molds can handle which is why there isn't one.

 

[Snakebitten]

The issue on MHTs is the 2 aux flow paths for the hybrid clutch and motor cooling spray nozzle. It's a bit more complex than these sand molds can handle which is why there isn't one.

I can live with the composite pan, but wish there was a trustworthy method to modify one with a drain bolt.

 

[JohnTrigger]

Amazon, AutoZone etc wanted a whole lot more than RockAuto for the Mercon ULV. Bought 12 quarts and had 1/2 a quart left over, including changing the transfer case fluid.

Your transfer case takes Mercon LV, NOT Mercon ULV, AFAIK.

 

[HammaMan]

Your transfer case takes Mercon LV, NOT Mercon ULV, AFAIK.

Yes, I would always use the thickest oil possible to reduce wear. TCs do indeed use LV fluid per spec.

 

[Henfield]

I meant to do an ATF change last service, but forgot about it until afterwards. So its going to happen in about two months when I change the oil to. Pretty much run 5k OCs. Will have 40k then.

 

[22Platinum]

Your transfer case takes Mercon LV, NOT Mercon ULV, AFAIK.

Dang thanks for catching that! An oversight on my part, glad I have the forum. Fortunately I haven't gone far.

So deeper Tranny pan "so bigger" in terms of height which translates into "closer to the ground ...?" - yes/no...?

It does but it's really marginal; I might can get you a before/after measurement but I expect it's less than 2". Certainly the swaybar, other items hang lower. I do have a 6" lift though so I may be biased.

 

[FirstFord]

I also added a B&M remote dip stick, no more getting under the truck to check trans levels.

I would like to hear more about that. How difficult was the installation? I read in the specs that it uses a 3/8" opening - that kind of threw a wet blanket on the idea for me.... It seems to me that it would take a l-o-n-g time to fill 6~7-ish quarts through a 3/8" opening. Am I wrong?

 

[Bubbasuwannee]

Bought a B&M deep transmission pan from American Trucks. Shipping was fast and free. Amazon, AutoZone etc wanted a whole lot more than RockAuto for the Mercon ULV. Bought 12 quarts and had 1/2 a quart left over, including changing the transfer case fluid. A normal filter change is 6ish quarts to get onto the dipstick and 7.5qts total, but this deeper pan took 8 to get on the stick and 9.5qts to be between 5 and 6 on the dipstick.

Job was fairly easy really. Fordtechmakuloco has an excellent video (as always) on the procedure. On the 21 3.5 EB there is no need to remove anything other than the pan. Crack the rearmost bolts and let it drain; continue to loosen bolts towards the front. I used a $8 fluid pump from Harbor Freight and it worked perfectly. The B&M pan wasn't designed for the studs and heat shielding to be reinstalled and came with all new hardware. Don't forget to switch the magnet over before you reinstall! I broke the old pan getting the magnet off. Gasket is re-usable and didn't even attempt to leak; so nice not putting RTV all over everything and hoping for the best.

The aluminum pan doesn't cause the transmission to run notably cooler, maybe a few degrees, but I did notice that transmission temperature fluctuations were significantly reduced; instead of varying from 174-205 traveling at speed unloaded, the temps were steadily between 184-189.

The fluid was ready to be changed at 30,178 miles: was dark, though not black. Transfer case fluid was slightly lighter.

I have this pan for my 2021 Raptor and plan to get it installed the next couple of weeks. The only issue I'm concerned with is clearance to the factory transmission skid plate.

 

[missileboy]

I would like to hear more about that. How difficult was the installation? I read in the specs that it uses a 3/8" opening - that kind of threw a wet blanket on the idea for me.... It seems to me that it would take a l-o-n-g time to fill 6~7-ish quarts through a 3/8" opening. Am I wrong?

Only hard part of the pan work is getting to the bolts in the rear of the pan under the exhaust crossover. If you loosen the exhaust, it is not too bad. Install for the dip stick is easy. Hardest part is getting the trans up to temp to get a good level check on the stock dip stick to transfer over to the new one. You don't use the 3/8 tube to fill the whole transmission, there is a "fill" port on the side of the new pan, assuming you will use a deep sump pan!

If you were going to use the stock pan with no fill port, then you would have to remove the dip stick tube at the trans to fill from there, then re-install it. if you have a aftermarket pan, you will put ~10qts in there then you can add whatever amount needed to top it off through the dip stick tube to get the level set. The real beauty of the dip stick is not having to climb under the truck to check your fluid level. The stock trans check stick is right adjacent to the cat on the passenger's side, so you need to have some good high temp gloves else you could easily burn yourself doing a check!

My PPE pan holds an additional 1.75 quarts, some of the others hold 2 additional quarts, so make sure you have enough trans fluid when/if you do the change. I would go ahead and install a new trans filter while you are dropping the pan, regardless of miles.

YOU MUST GET THE TRANS TEMP UP TO min of 204 degrees to get a good level check. you will see videos and read post where it is described as the perfect level is between the "5" and "6" circles on the stock check stick IF YOU COUNT THE CIRLES ON THE STICK FROM THE BOTTOM END UP! FORD numbered the circles in reverse! The triangles are half marks in between the circles.

But if you look closely (zoom in) on the pic, you'll see FORD numbered them the opposite, The outer most circle at the end of the stick is numbered as "6" so if you were to fill the level to between the "As Numbered" 5&6 circles on the stick, your level will be low. So technically, you would fill to between the number 1 and 2 circles (as the stick is numbered) on the stick, so that needs to be made clear! I have not looked at the official FORD maint manual for what it states, and I cannot find anything in the owner's manual except wording regarding trans fluid type and capacity. But purely based on the stock dip stick and how it is marked, correct level is between the 1 and 2 labeled circles. If you hear between 5 and 6, they are counting the circles from the end of the stick up to the handle of it.

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