Transmission fluid level

[JGDallas]

I have done three times of Transmission fluid change.
First time at around 30K, I did drain and refill only and verify fluid level while keep engine running and trans reached operation temperature.

Second time at around 60K, I did drop the pan and replace the filter as well, while filter was removed, I also loose those screws that attach the valve body to transmission frame, and let vale body loose, that way, it drained almost all fluids around 12 Liters. And refill back fluid later and verify fluid level when transmission is at operation temperature.

Third time at around 80K, I was lazy, I did drain and refill at cold engine/transmission.
I drained and measure how much and then just refilled same amount.

No issue at all, transmission is smooth as butter.

From what my observation, I really don't understand why it matter so much about the fluid level.
All fluid sit in pan will be sucked and pumped through the trans pump, and fluid pressure is only inside the valve body and transmission drums, when fluid in the pan has no pressure, and even overfill the fluid, it only cover up to to level of the filter and vale body, and it won't interfere with the pressured path, so what can cause issue when overfill??

Some says that overfill fluid may cause bubble in transmission, but I can see only thing that stir up bubble is the gear teeth of the pump, but the question is the gear must already merged under fluid level, otherwise, it can not suck in fluid if fluid not reach it pump entrance, so I still don't get it

Great you've done it 3 times. Did you really notice too much difference when you replaced fluid 2nd and 3rd time? Color changes within 1000 miles (simple oil property), but did you really have issues with shifting that the fluid change solved? Or, was your truck running fine before the fluid change, and ran just as fine after the fluid change? Asking because I did my first fluid change at 60K miles. The truck was equally fine before and after as far as shifting is concerned. Never figured out why Ford says 150K miles for this service!

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[Kelvin]

Great you've done it 3 times. Did you really notice too much difference when you replaced fluid 2nd and 3rd time? Color changes within 1000 miles (simple oil property), but did you really have issues with shifting that the fluid change solved? Or, was your truck running fine before the fluid change, and ran just as fine after the fluid change? Asking because I did my first fluid change at 60K miles. The truck was equally fine before and after as far as shifting is concerned. Never figured out why Ford says 150K miles for this service!

I did first fluid change because it started showing signs of clunky upshift or downshift between 3-5,
I tried clear adaptive table with Forscan, but it didn't help and got worse.
I did second fluid change and also rebuilt valve body with clip insert for the 6 solenoid, and it works perfectly, the clunk is gone, and shifting is smooth as butter.
Then the third fluid change didn't feel difference as for transmission performance.
All three changes of fluid didn't seem to make much difference regarding to fluid color, just bit darker, other than that didn't see much concern.
I probably will keep doing fluid change every 30K for my truck

 

[JGDallas]

I did first fluid change because it started showing signs of clunky upshift or downshift between 3-5,
I tried clear adaptive table with Forscan, but it didn't help and got worse.
I did second fluid change and also rebuilt valve body with clip insert for the 6 solenoid, and it works perfectly, the clunk is gone, and shifting is smooth as butter.
Then the third fluid change didn't feel difference as for transmission performance.
All three changes of fluid didn't seem to make much difference regarding to fluid color, just bit darker, other than that didn't see much concern.
I probably will keep doing fluid change every 30K for my truck

Awesome bro! I didn’t know the trick with clip inserts in solenoids. How could you tell the 6th solenoid was the issue?

 

[FaaWrenchBndr]

I did first fluid change because it started showing signs of clunky upshift or downshift between 3-5,
I tried clear adaptive table with Forscan, but it didn't help and got worse.
I did second fluid change and also rebuilt valve body with clip insert for the 6 solenoid, and it works perfectly, the clunk is gone, and shifting is smooth as butter.
Then the third fluid change didn't feel difference as for transmission performance.
All three changes of fluid didn't seem to make much difference regarding to fluid color, just bit darker, other than that didn't see much concern.
I probably will keep doing fluid change every 30K for my truck

that’s good to know
Thanks for sharing all that information
With previous trucks, and especially the Toyotas, I’ve always done a pan drain & fill, usually at 25-30k. That one is much easier with the overflow drain. I really wish Ford had a drain port and a overflow port instead of this dipstick BS

 

[Kelvin]

Awesome bro! I didn’t know the trick with clip inserts in solenoids. How could you tell the 6th solenoid was the issue?

Sorry my bad typo.
I did clip inserts for all 6 solenoids with sonnax: https://www.sonnax.com/parts/5576-solenoid-stabilization-clip-insert

The symptom of my transmission was like it was fine when transmission is cold especially in winter, but when it got to operation temperature, it started clunky. It seems to more relating to temperature, so the clip spring is the first thing I want to try.

 

[flynavy]

Recently had torque converter replaced and dealer "filled to proper level" which I'm assuming means dumped 12 quarts in and sent me on my way.

I checked recently at proper temp and it was high, on the 4 mark of the dipstick.

The more that I think about it, I have a hard time believing these techs are truly running up to proper temp and going through the full proper procedure. With that being said, will I have issues leaving it filled high? What kind of issues might I see?

 

[flynavy]

Edit: I was way off. This was the reading just now. I removed about 1.5-2qts and then got no reading on dipstick. Added 1 quart back and it’s right on the 5. The ratio doesn’t seem too even but that means dealer threw 12qts in and I’m assuming there was .5-1qt residual from removing transmission and torque converter maybe?
Can someone smarter than me explain? @Snakebitten

 

[Way2qk4u2c]

Recently had torque converter replaced and dealer "filled to proper level" which I'm assuming means dumped 12 quarts in and sent me on my way.

I checked recently at proper temp and it was high, on the 4 mark of the dipstick.

The more that I think about it, I have a hard time believing these techs are truly running up to proper temp and going through the full proper procedure. With that being said, will I have issues leaving it filled high? What kind of issues might I see?

What was the reason for replacing the torque converter?

 

[flynavy]

What was the reason for replacing the torque converter?

Classic shudder. I drained and did filter and shudder came back so that’s when I went to dealer.

 

[jkosh22]

Edit: I was way off. This was the reading just now. I removed about 1.5-2qts and then got no reading on dipstick. Added 1 quart back and it’s right on the 5. The ratio doesn’t seem too even but that means dealer threw 12qts in and I’m assuming there was .5-1qt residual from removing transmission and torque converter maybe?
Can someone smarter than me explain? @Snakebitten

Did you check the trans level with temps between 205-215? And on a level surface?

12 quarts I believe is “dry fill”. I replaced a 10r80 and it came prefilled already. Had to adjust I think 3/4 of a quart. If they JUST replaced your converter, it’s not totally necessary to drain the transmission as torque converter is removed with the trans. You’ll lose about 2.5-3 quarts with torque converter replacement and prime of new one. If you got an invoice, it should tell you how much fluid was used.

 

[Way2qk4u2c]

Classic shudder. I drained and did filter and shudder came back so that’s when I went to dealer.

How many miles on it?

 

[flynavy]

How many miles on it?

61k

 

[flynavy]

Did you check the trans level with temps between 205-215? And on a level surface?

12 quarts I believe is “dry fill”. I replaced a 10r80 and it came prefilled already. Had to adjust I think 3/4 of a quart. If they JUST replaced your converter, it’s not totally necessary to drain the transmission as torque converter is removed with the trans. You’ll lose about 2.5-3 quarts with torque converter replacement and prime of new one. If you got an invoice, it should tell you how much fluid was used.

They replaced torque converter as well as two sets of clutch plates. So transmission was removed, would that mean a full drain?

Also yes I did check at correct temp. This photo is cold, so at proper temp it was lower but still out of range.

work order showed 12 quarts

 

[jkosh22]

They replaced torque converter as well as two sets of clutch plates. So transmission was removed, would that mean a full drain?

Also yes I did check at correct temp. This photo is cold, so at proper temp it was lower but still out of range.

work order showed 12 quarts

Was the truck running when you check it cold? Most cold checks would be either not on the stick or just barely. Fluid expands as it warms up. If it was that high when it was cold, than it was way overfull.

If clutch packs were replaced. Than yes all fluids were drained and clutch packs are inside the CDF drum. Which hopefully they used the updated drum.

 

[flynavy]

Was the truck running when you check it cold? Most cold checks would be either not on the stick or just barely. Fluid expands as it warms up. If it was that high when it was cold, than it was way overfull.

If clutch packs were replaced. Than yes all fluids were drained and clutch packs are inside the CDF drum. Which hopefully they used the updated drum.

yep checked cold and off, that’s why my brain is hurting.

Man I’m super conflicted. I’ll post the work order, they replaced the transmission mount but I don’t see any parts related to CDF. It would be obvious right? Maybe I’m missing something. Manager even joked that they usually go ahead and install new CDF if they are already in there.
Is it even possible to replaced clutch plates and just re use old CDF? Would that just be poor practice?

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