My '02 Taurus has 72k miles on it and I'm ashamed to admit though I religeously change my motor oil, I have never serviced my transmission. So I'm thinking that I should flush it, not just drop the pan. My question to BITOGers is, do I drop the pan and change the filter before or after doing a flush? My reasoning is to change the filter after the flush to have a fresh filter with the new fluid. Any advice or thoughts? Also, I plan to go with a full synthetic (Goodyear here uses Kendall). Any comments on Kendall? I've not seen much mentioned about it here on the forums. Is it any good?
Transmission Flush
- Thread starter houmaite
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drop the pan, change the filter, top it off.
skip the flush.
in 20k, drain/refill the ATF.
skip the flush.
in 20k, drain/refill the ATF.
I had my 02 Chevy prizm 3 speed auto flushed with mobil dexron III and then the next week had the filter and gasket changed with ATP filter, looks good and red. I would advise only changing the filter and gasket though, I took the gamble flushing mine. If you change the filter and gasket and clean the pan and magnet once a year or every so many miles depending on transmission recommendations you might not have to take the gamble of a flush, the fluid in my transmission was black with particles is why I flushed.
I would flush it. Is Kendall synthetic with Mercon V rating? Might want to do a Auto-RX as well.
I added a Magnifine trans filter to my 98 and Daughters 96 Taurus. I also replaced the stock power steering filter with the same magnifine filter. It fits in the same holder just like the stock one.
I replaced the power steering filter at about 70K. The dealer wanted $70 for a stock replacement with hose Assy. I said No Thanks.
The Magnifines can be had for less the $20 a piece.
Good Luck
I added a Magnifine trans filter to my 98 and Daughters 96 Taurus. I also replaced the stock power steering filter with the same magnifine filter. It fits in the same holder just like the stock one.
I replaced the power steering filter at about 70K. The dealer wanted $70 for a stock replacement with hose Assy. I said No Thanks.
The Magnifines can be had for less the $20 a piece.
Good Luck
I think it's half a dozen of one or the other. Flush first and your clean fluid is being contaminated as it circulates before you drop the pan and change the filter. Drop the pan and change the filter first and you're gonna contaminate the new fluid when you flush it afterwards with what's still inside the torque convertor and valve body. I flushed my '04 24V Duratec Taurus first and changed the filter afterwards. I disconnected the trans line at the cooler and ran the engine till it pumped dry. Refilled and did it again, then again, till fresh clear fluid came out. Pumped it dry again and then dropped the pan. Mine was a former Hertz rental with 30k on the clock and the trans pan magnet was like a big fuzzy worm with trans debris. But I cleaned it, changed the filter and refilled with fresh and must have had a 98% refresh rate compared to a mere pan drop and reload. That's gotta be about as much trans maintenance as you can do really. It took about 12-15 qaurts of fluid as I remember, which is not cheap. But if you're gonna do it, why not do it right?
And I should also add that I would absolutely flush over just dropping the pan and not flushing. You only change a fraction of the fluid with a pan drop alone, whereas you get almost all of it with a flush. You're gonna get messy and have to fool around with basically the same stuff anyway, so why would you only change a quarter of the fluid? Would you take the trouble to change your engine oil but not the filter? Come on. You're only gonna do this every few years so spend the extra hour and $40 on fluid to flush, and do it right. Don't step up to the plate then cheap/lazy out at the last minute.
Consider putting a drain plug in the pan, when you have it off. In the future, it will be less messy and way easier for you. Also, partial changes are better than a sharp stick in the eye. You can thus change out 1/2 of the fluid a few times quick and easy, and approach a full change.
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