'21 10r80 underfilled from factory?

[mdomicolo]

My diffs & trans were all under filled from factory. 22’

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[Gros Ventre]

Ar the end of the day the transmission is a hydraulic machine. In order to operate properly it needs a specific level of pan fluid. There is a suction tube for the pump and if it uncovers, as happened to me because of cold temperatures (eg fluid shrinkage), it'll make noise and could damage itself. This was a factory fill issue un-noticeable unless you live in a really cold place. The procedure to check level ensures there are no bubbles or unfilled tubes and passages throughout it along with oil at the right temperature since hydraulic oil has a significant coefficient of expansion. I'm really bothered that Ford has not put in a dipstick. As I mentioned above a 1 drop per mile shaft seal leak can nearly drain the transmission by its first scheduled service. I recently had a seal leak on my front axle. it was so small as to not leave any noticeable mark on the ground. It was noticed and reported by a dealership tech doing other work. Had it repaired and asked for the differential topped up. He put in nearly a quart and a half (nearly 75% was gone). In other words the leaking shaft seal was at a rate nearly undetectable but it was likely within a few thousand miles of the differential lunching itself.

 

[Sojourner]

Here's to hoping Ranger5g's Fitzmotor can come up with the F-150 dipstick he's been working on sometime in the near future.

His Ranger dipstick is PHENOMENAL. See here: https://mikesbuildshop.com/

 

[Old Hat]

My transmission shifts great, zero issues. I'm thinking of checking the fluid level with the truck dead cold, parked in my garage sitting at the normal truck rake. Then note the reading to compare to future checks. If it's leaking it'll be lower when cold too.

 

[Gros Ventre]

My transmission shifts great, zero issues. I'm thinking of checking the fluid level with the truck dead cold, parked in my garage sitting at the normal truck rake. Then note the reading to compare to future checks. If it's leaking it'll be lower when cold too.

Be alert. I cannot verify this. It has been posted on here that when cold some fluid will drain out if you remove the fill plug. So when removing it do it slowly so that if leakage does occur you can stop and tighten the plug back down. So why might this be the case? It may be that some fluid drains back into the pan on shutdown and is then pushed back up into the transmission on start up. So the cold level might be above the fill plug level even though in operation and at temperature it is below the fill plug level.

 

[Gros Ventre]

Note: if the above is accurate... This might be one reason Ford decided to do away with the dipstick. If true then the "cold" level on a dipstick might be above the "hot" level causing some confusion.

 

[Old Hat]

Be alert. I cannot verify this. It has been posted on here that when cold some fluid will drain out if you remove the fill plug. So when removing it do it slowly so that if leakage does occur you can stop and tighten the plug back down. So why might this be the case? It may be that some fluid drains back into the pan on shutdown and is then pushed back up into the transmission on start up. So the cold level might be above the fill plug level even though in operation and at temperature it is below the fill plug level.

If this is the case then the only way to fill to full level would be to do so while running. (and hot) Seems odd to me. Is that what is being done?

 

[v8440]

On all my older transmissions, the standard procedure has been to check it while running after having slowly run it through all gear selections. All but mopars got checked idling in park, mopars got checked idling in neutral because the old torqueflite architecture transmissions don't pump fluid to the converter in park, but they do in neutral. To account for thermal expansion there's a range indicated on the stick-the top end of that range is for a warmed up transmission, the low end of that range is for a cold transmission. Why this became unworkable is beyond me. It's crap like this that makes me want to drive my '96 blazer until it's too rusty to be safe.

 

[d0nkey]

Ar the end of the day the transmission is a hydraulic machine. In order to operate properly it needs a specific level of pan fluid. There is a suction tube for the pump and if it uncovers, as happened to me because of cold temperatures (eg fluid shrinkage), it'll make noise and could damage itself. This was a factory fill issue un-noticeable unless you live in a really cold place. The procedure to check level ensures there are no bubbles or unfilled tubes and passages throughout it along with oil at the right temperature since hydraulic oil has a significant coefficient of expansion. I'm really bothered that Ford has not put in a dipstick. As I mentioned above a 1 drop per mile shaft seal leak can nearly drain the transmission by its first scheduled service. I recently had a seal leak on my front axle. it was so small as to not leave any noticeable mark on the ground. It was noticed and reported by a dealership tech doing other work. Had it repaired and asked for the differential topped up. He put in nearly a quart and a half (nearly 75% was gone). In other words the leaking shaft seal was at a rate nearly undetectable but it was likely within a few thousand miles of the differential lunching itself.

Thats a scary situation, glad you got it rectified. I tend to be the pessimist who always checks my fluids (diff/trans/brakefluid/coolant/etc) during an oil change, because sometimes I don't trust my own work and have to double check it to make sure I did the previous jobs right!

 

[Gros Ventre]

But this axle shaft leak was so small that I didn't trigger on it.

 

[WhiteLightningnshitshadow]

Little chance it was underfilled…

My 2022 6/22 was 3.3 qt low from the factory. It damaged my valve body. Replaced under warranty after 3 different fuckig trips at 6k or 7k miles

 

[Gros Ventre]

My 2022 6/22 was 3.3 qt low from the factory. It damaged my valve body. Replaced under warranty after 3 different fuckig trips at 6k or 7k miles

Wow... 3 1/3 qts low from factory... wonder how they road tested it?

 

[ttnuagmada]

If I check and determine mine is low, how does one determine how much to add?

 

[JohnTrigger]

Add a little at a time until it’s on the dipstick between 5-6 (transmission hot) (non-powerboost)

 

[ttnuagmada]

After doing some digging, it sounds like the numbers are half-quart steps and that Ford recommends adding 1/4 qt at a time.

I did check mine, it was good. I get a little bit of a lurch going from P to D or R with the Livernois tune, and Livernois suggested it could be underfilled. I'll have to let them know that's not the case.

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