Transmission Horror Story (replacement/factory underfilled?)

[landiscarrier]

I changed my trans fluid at about 30k and we found that it was under filled by approx 1.5 quarts from the factory. Based upon what we took out and to get it back up to the correct level on the dipstick.

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[Dgc333]

With all the talk about the tranny being under filled from the factory I decided to get off my butt today and check it. I purchased a qt of Mercon ULV Incase I needed to add any.

Here are my findings:
1. There is no way I could get the plug loose from underneath. I went from above with a 3 ft extension. The plug was way tighter than the 50 ft-bs the manual states.
2. I checked it cold and there was nothing on the dip stick. I used FordTechMukaloco's recommendation to fill it cold up into the section on the dip stick below the recommended band. I added fluid to 3/4 of the way through the 6/5 band and called it good.
3. It didn't take much fluid to go from none on the dip stick to 3/4 of the way up the 6/5 band, approximately 1/3 of a quart.
4. The tranny had weird shifts when cold and ambient temps were below 30F. We will see if the small amount of extra fluid corrects that. It has always shifted OK when temps were above 30F whether the tranny was warm or not.

 

[Chattownranger]

Here are my findings:
1. There is no way I could get the plug loose from underneath. I went from above with a 3 ft extension. The plug was way tighter than the 50 ft-bs the manual states.
2. I checked it cold and there was nothing on the dip stick. I used FordTechMukaloco's recommendation to fill it cold up into the section on the dip stick below the recommended band. I added fluid to 3/4 of the way through the 6/5 band and called it good.
3. It didn't take much fluid to go from none on the dip stick to 3/4 of the way up the 6/5 band, approximately 1/3 of a quart.
4. The tranny had weird shifts when cold and ambient temps were below 30F. We will see if the small amount of extra fluid corrects that. It has always shifted OK when temps were above 30F whether the tranny was warm or not.
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So I'm not on here all that often so may have missed it but what is this cold check procedure you speak of?

 

[Chattownranger]

its magic 8 ball stuff
nothing scientific, just someones observation that when there oil was in the proper level hot, when cooled it was found to be at this level cold.
assuming all the draining, settling and whatnot occurs consistently over all transmissions, it could be an accurate "cold" check.

but a one of instance check isnt enough to convince me its a viable alternative.
i need more guinea pigs willing to risk their transmissions to get my confidence up
[/QUOTE]

Haha, I am with ya! I have been meaning to do the hot check for some time now I just haven't found the time yet. This was just the first time I had seen someone mention an actual cold level on the dipstick nubbin so was interested for sure.

 

[Dgc333]

Haha, I am with ya! I have been meaning to do the hot check for some time now I just haven't found the time yet. This was just the first time I had seen someone mention an actual cold level on the dipstick nubbin so was interested for sure.

The YouTuber FordTechMacholoco is a master tech at a Ford dealer. Techs that do this kind of work always find a quicker/easier way to do things than what is in the factory service manual. In his video on changing the tranny fluid in a 10 spd he is quite clear about where the fluid needs to be cold to have it within range hot. Not sure why Ford doesn't put this in the manual, every automatic transmission had marks on the dip stick for when the tranny is cold and when hot.

 

[Chattownranger]

The YouTuber FordTechMacholoco is a master tech at a Ford dealer. Techs that do this kind of work always find a quicker/easier way to do things than what is in the factory service manual. In his video on changing the tranny fluid in a 10 spd he is quite clear about where the fluid needs to be cold to have it within range hot. Not sure why Ford doesn't put this in the manual, every automatic transmission had marks on the dip stick for when the tranny is cold and when hot.

Gotcha! Thanks for letting me know who he was. I rarely visit YouTube. As a mechanic myself I agree we will always find a quicker, easier way to solve a problem. I just wasn’t aware who was suggesting this so was wondering. Hopefully your truck is running smoothly now after your work on it.

 

[Langwilliams]

The YouTuber FordTechMacholoco is a master tech at a Ford dealer. Techs that do this kind of work always find a quicker/easier way to do things than what is in the factory service manual. In his video on changing the tranny fluid in a 10 spd he is quite clear about where the fluid needs to be cold to have it within range hot. Not sure why Ford doesn't put this in the manual, every automatic transmission had marks on the dip stick for when the tranny is cold and when hot.

I've seen one of the ford 10 speed videos an the one I saw said if you check it cold it should be one block below the hot level. It also said there are 3 different types of dipsticks used so I don't know if the ranger has the one with the blocks and numbers like the video showed.

 

[thetylerstanley37]

With all the talk about the tranny being under filled from the factory I decided to get off my butt today and check it. I purchased a qt of Mercon ULV Incase I needed to add any.

Here are my findings:
1. There is no way I could get the plug loose from underneath. I went from above with a 3 ft extension. The plug was way tighter than the 50 ft-bs the manual states.
2. I checked it cold and there was nothing on the dip stick. I used FordTechMukaloco's recommendation to fill it cold up into the section on the dip stick below the recommended band. I added fluid to 3/4 of the way through the 6/5 band and called it good.
3. It didn't take much fluid to go from none on the dip stick to 3/4 of the way up the 6/5 band, approximately 1/3 of a quart.
4. The tranny had weird shifts when cold and ambient temps were below 30F. We will see if the small amount of extra fluid corrects that. It has always shifted OK when temps were above 30F whether the tranny was warm or not.

Following this

 

[Dgc333]

I've seen one of the ford 10 speed videos an the one I saw said if you check it cold it should be one block below the hot level. It also said there are 3 different types of dipsticks used so I don't know if the ranger has the one with the blocks and numbers like the video showed.

The Ranger has the dip stick with 6 numbered blocks. I added fluid to 3/4 of the way up the block below the hot block. The hot block is 4-5 and one below is 5-6.

Seems strange that the lost level on the dip stick is 6 and the highest level is 1. I would have expected it to be the other way around.

 

[NotBudule]

the lack of a tranny dipstick really made me angry (to say the least) but if Ford don't want me to check it , so be it ...

 

[Dgc333]

the lack of a tranny dipstick really made me angry (to say the least) but if Ford don't want me to check it , so be it ...

It does have a dip stick, you just have to get under the truck to check it.

 

[NotBudule]

It does have a dip stick, you just have to get under the truck to check it.

Exactly , and that location means Ford didn't want ME to check it... But they seem ok with me checking the oil , which seams strange to me ...

 

[D Fresh]

Exactly , and that location means Ford didn't want ME to check it... But they seem ok with me checking the oil , which seams strange to me ...

Why not?

By your own admission you, or one of your personalities, have already crawled under there.

 

[NotBudule]

Why not?

By your own admission you, or one of your personalities, have already crawled under there.

Been under there more than once , and will again , but alas , I shant be checking any dipsticks that could ,and have been in the past , conveniently located up top, ...somewhere near the oil one would be fine...and from what im reading on here it wouldn't do anygood anyway if I could get the damn thing out , have to go to tech school to read it properly ... Its Fords baby 2027, ill never hit the milage and probably have a differant Ranger by then , If things get back to normal ...

 

[Porpoise Hork]

Has anyone else dealt with anything similar?

Mine was underfilled by nearly 2 qts. The symptoms were not quite as severe as yours but when cold it would lag shifting into gear, and had very erratic and occasional extremely hard shifts. There was also some torque converter cavitation (vibration) issues as well. All that settled down after the dealer checked it and topped it off at 5K miles and I used FORSCAN and cleared the transmission shift tables on it. Since then it's been fine other than my wife complaining about how hard it shifts (5* 93 performance tune) when she drove it while her SantaFe was getting the engine replaced. She's used to the Hyundai slush box transmission with nearly imperceptible shift points. Guess she didn't like the more noticeably firm shifts of mine.

It's got 14K on it now and I'll probably get the filter/fluid replaced at 20-25K despite Ford saying 60K.

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