Ford Escape trans service

[onion]

I'm not saying that this is going to destroy your transmission. Likely nothing at all will come of it... but if you're going to the trouble of a home flush, then it means that you're trying to get every last little mile out of that transmission. To that end, I think you're unneccesarily introducing potential problems.

The front pump will be turning- which of course isn't a problem since the pump isn't being starved of oil. Also, the input shaft and foreward clutch hub (on pretty much ANY transmission) will be turning. These are going to be supported by bushings... and it doesn't do them any good to run without lube.

I think that slightly more frequent drain/fills may be a better approach. I know it's a lot of trouble to remove the pan, and I'm a lazy ba$tard myself. That's why I always weld in a drain plug the first time I drop the pan on a transmission.

 

[g20ooh]

Onion ,
Thats a great point and a great question in all your previous here . I'm so out of date on modern ats I just sit here and wonder about that just the way you described it .
I also wonder if the ones with no flow or very little flow in top gear thru the cooler are somehow a different proposition that will allow it .
We need one of the auto transmission people to speak up .
Wouldn't surprise me if it was more installation and technique specific than is commonly discussed or done .

 

[bdai]

onion, you're right, and I'm a drain-fill person myself, but for different reasons (it's just easier). The return line doesn't just dump into the pan, and I hadn't considered that before. However, ATF is like motor oil in that it coats metal surfaces for a while and doesn't just run off, so as long as you don't take hours to do your flush, those parts should get enough lubrication for running the transmission at engine idle speeds.

I guess if you were bored enough, you could rig up something like a balloon in a soda bottle - bottle gets filled to the brim with new fluid, balloon gets placed inside. Hose is run from the bottom of the bottle to the return line fitting on the transmission. Old fluid is pumped into balloon, and that pushes the new fluid through the return line into the transmission. But, in my opinion, you'd be wasting time trying to solve an issue that doesn't exist (or at least, won't affect your transmission life by any practical amount).