Should I freshen up ATF fill? (Blotters)

[TallPaul]

Subject vehicle is a '92 Aerostar with the 3.0 V6 and 120,000 miles. ATF Change history is as follows:

43150 miles: conventional and filter change
68500 miles: Mobil 1 and filter change
86150 miles: Mobil 1 and filter change
102,874 miles: Redline and filter change (install pan plug)
103,500 miles: Redline (no filter)to increase the proportion of Redline

Figuring how much is changed out with a pan drop and for the last change, by he new drain plug, I came up with that currently the ATF is comprised of

60% Redline
25% Mobil 1
15% Dino

It's been about 17,000 miles since the last time I freshened up the ATF. With the pan plug I can get about 3 quarts out (system holds 9.7). Changing out 3 quarts Redline D4 would then bring the proportions to about

70% Redline
20% Mobil 1
10% Dino

About 30 percent of the total would be new Redline.

 

[dave1251]

TallPaul. This is my personal preferance with no data to back it up. If I where to do the pan drop and not to not flush the transmission. I would change the fluid every 15-20K. So I advise you to "freshen" your better half's fluid.

 

[unDummy]

Both blotters look very clean. But, fluid is considerable darker in the 2nd(no noticeable wear/dirt/debris in blotter). So, is the fluid oxidized or being baked?

I would definitely change the ATF more frequently. Consider a couple 5k runs.
Since it is only 3 out of 10 quarts at the drain/refills, I personally wouldn't go over 10k miles or a year.

 

[TallPaul]

Well at least the 3-quart fresh up. Maybe if I drain it. then run the engine for about 30 seconds, I'll get more out.

I did another blotter while it was hot and running and got a slight inner ring.

Anyway, I guess the question now is do I go for a full changeout, which it has never had, or just the 3 quart fresh up?

Either way, I plan to use Redline D4. This transmission gets a lot of hard use on this underpowered 3.0.

 

[Steve S]

Look at the old oil then look at the new oil,what do we see? I would do a flush to rid the oil oil but then a used oil anaylsis would be more exact.

 

[Steelhead]

send in a sample for analysis.
you may have an oxidation beast on your hands or band/disc slippage
do you have the external ATF cooler on your Aero?

after UOA, i would do a filter change and full 12 qt gentle flush with the Walmart stuff and a bottle of auto-RX for a couple k then put in the good stuff in the picture

the A4LD will last well past 200k if cared for. they do have a problem with valve body bore wear and loose VB pistons causing inadequate band/clutch hold pressures

my last full 12 quart gentle flush changeout in my 4R55 with M1 ATF is still titty pink after 30k even with towing

 

[Steve S]

Quote:

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Look at the old oil then look at the new oil,what do we see? I would do a flush to rid the oil oil but then a used oil anaylsis would be more exact.

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flush to get the atf in the torque converter out instead of just the oil in the pan.

 

[MonumentOiler]

Both blotters look good to me. I wouldn't be scared of just a little color change. Why not do a UOA to correlate with the blotter before draining out all that expensive synthetic fluid.

 

[bmwtechguy]

These transmissions in the Aerostar just run hot. My sister had/has one of these in a 95 Aerostar 3.0 and hers did not get its first changeout until over 100k miles. The only thing that probably saved the unit was the nice aux. cooler from the factory, which Ford found necessary to keep these units together for a reasonable period of time. We flushed out the trans. with Amsoil at that point using the cooler line and changed the filter to get a complete change. 50k miles later did the same thing and took a sample of the fluid at the same time to see how it had held up. The fluid had started to darken and change smell considerably form new fluid, but the rec. from OAI was that the fluid was still ok for continued use. That unit is still going strong at 250k miles or so and probably needs changed again, but they moved to south FL and so it probably will not get done unless they bring it up here. I am now using additional (add-on) filtration in the transmission fluid cooler circuit to units like these to make em last even longer....

 

[TallPaul]

I took a couple more blotters and get a darker ring in the middle, not really bad, but hey, for a transmission I don't want to mess around. Change the filter, clean out any debris in the pan, and exchange all the fluid.

Really I think the Redline maybe did some cleaning in this transmission and that would explain the brown. If true, good idea to change out.

I have a shop that will do the job. I would mess with it, but don't really feel like messing with the pan drop. Let them hassle with it. I have enough to do with the motorhome and other stuff going on. Got 15 qts Redline D4, so I am ready.

 

[MonumentOiler]

What no D6 ? Where's your sense of adventure.

 

[TallPaul]

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What no D6 ? Where's your sense of adventure.

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You're right. But Redline doesn't have D6 yet, so I could maybe use their Type-F for the B&M Quick Shift effect. A slam shifting A4LD transmission in an Aerostar. Could be fun--for a while--then...

 

[levi]

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Either way, I plan to use Redline D4.

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Hey, TallPaul, thought you were a big MaxLife fan? What, their transmission fluid not good enough for you?

*

 

[bulwnkl]

Quote:

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You're right. But Redline doesn't have D6 yet...

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Huh? They list it on their website...?

 

[TallPaul]

Quote:

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Quote:

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You're right. But Redline doesn't have D6 yet...

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Huh? They list it on their website...?

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Oops, my goof. Never heard of D6. Thought he was pulling my leg there. Should have checked.

 

[TallPaul]

Quote:

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Quote:

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Either way, I plan to use Redline D4.

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Hey, TallPaul, thought you were a big MaxLife fan? What, their transmission fluid not good enough for you?

*

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Maxlife for the motor, but I really feel there is benefit to running ester in the transmission and rear end. Maybe PS too.

 

[TallPaul]

Shop just called me. The flush is done. They dropped the pan, changed the filter, re-installed the pan, then ran the oil ATF out through the cooler line while running the engine and pouring the new stuff in. Used 15 quarts of Redline ATF to change a 9.7 quart system. WHEW! Costly, but worth it. From now on I think I will do a 3 qt pan change (through the drain plug I had installed) every 6000 miles which is once a year. That way only about 2% of the fluid will ever get older than the 50,000 mile maintenance interval and I can have the filter changed every 50K. I'll report back if there is any change in shifting, but won't pick up until later today.

 

[TallPaul]

Before ATF Change:

After ATF Change:

Not sure it did much good. Note I had several blotters from before and all but the one displayed did have a dark ring. Anyway, they changed the filter then ran the engine with the cooler line in a bucket while pouring new fluid in. The system holds 9.7 qts and they only used 10.3 qts in the process. I think they could have gone farther. I had available 15 qts. I wonder what partial change this represents? Should have had them flush with cheapo ATF, then added the Redlne in several pan drains (I have a drain plug).

With the torque converter surely mixing the incoming oil with the old, maybe this is as good as it gets, even with a 15 qt run. Surely they saw the fluid looking better out the drain line, so it must have acheived a fair amount of turnover, maybe 80% but who knows.

In the future I will be sure to do partial changes frequently enough that I should never have more than about 2% older than the drain interval. With this Aerostar, that means about a 3 qt change every 6000 miles.

 

[PT1]

Get yourself a fluid extractor and start swapping out fluid on a regular basis along with engine oil changes. You will get a better result for much less $$ spent.

 

[TallPaul]

Yep, you got it. Well, I needed the filter changed anyway, and a good bit must have gotten changed out. I have nearly 6 qts left and I have a drain plug, so I will do two 3 qt changeouts. That will make 65% of the fluid brand new. Of the remaining 35%, hopefully more new than old.

I just wonder if they torque converter didn't changeout, then it would be little more than about half new.

I'm going to check with him on how the filter looked (good indicator of filter change interval) and may as well ask if he put it in drive during the flush as that should change more of the torque converter, though I think it flows anyway.

Horrible thought, what if the line they used for dumpout was pumping directly out of the pan?????