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MTX Transmission Fluid Change

S

Savior

CEG'er
Joined
Dec 6, 2002
Messages
306
Location
Honolulu, Hawaii
Is it difficult? I'm sure I can do this myself with a little instruction. Shotwell informed me that I should use Royal Purple SyncroMax manual transmission fluid, and I'll need about three quarts.

But as to the actual procedure, could someone post some pics of the underside of the tranny, indicating where the drain and fill bolts are, and maybe tell me what things I need to buy from my local AutoZone/wherever, like a transmission funnel and stuff like that?

Also, I somehow got the impression that you have to drain the fluid out, and then actually pump the new fluid up into the transmission using some sort of small pump and tubing assembly...? Is this right? :confused:
 
No pics, but I can explain.

The drain plug is underneath, and faces sideways, like the oil drain plug. It has a hex-head (allen-wrench), and it faces the passenger's side wheel.

The fill plug is on the FRONT of the case, on a vertical face, about half-way up. It faces the radiator, and also has a hex-head. From the front, it's just to the right of your front engine mount.

To fill it, you need a small diameter hose or tube. Run it from the top, down into the fill hole, and fill to spill. It holds just shy of 3 quarts. The SynchroMax has a small spout, so it's easy to fill with a proper-sized tube (about a half-inch in diameter).
 
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Awesome! Thank you so much, definitely doing this very soon. My tranny's at 106k with original fluid, and it's getting a little boggy.

One last thing about the Royal Purple SyncroMax: Is there a specific grade or type that I'm looking for? Or is there only one kind? Any suggestions on where to buy it at a good price?
 
JoeM said:
+1 for Ford honey!
Get it from Steve @ Tousley 651-484-8888.
It's not cheap though.
Click to expand...

yes it is pricey .... only drove a few miles still but the mtx was nice and smooth, not sure I notice a different from the syncromax in my old mtx but maybe I will ...
 
Andy Bennett said:
To fill it, you need a small diameter hose or tube. Run it from the top, down into the fill hole, and fill to spill. It holds just shy of 3 quarts.
Click to expand...

Remember that the "fill to spill" method relies on the car being level. Some people don't realize this and will drain the fluid with the car up on stands and fill it the same way. The trans will take more than 3 quarts when this happens.

Also, different revisions of the MTX-75 have different fill levels. Some are 2.7 quarts, and some are 2.1 quarts. Of course, fill to spill takes care of both.
 
quick question...

I'm fairly certain my car is level or damn close to it. I'm putting the tranny fluid in now (Ford "Honey") and I've put 2.7 (judging by the bottles indicators) or just a touch more in right now but it hasn't spilled out the fill hole. Should I leave it with the 2.7 quarts and trust that or should I fill til it spills?
 
SVT#4967 said:
quick question...

I'm fairly certain my car is level or damn close to it. I'm putting the tranny fluid in now (Ford "Honey") and I've put 2.7 (judging by the bottles indicators) or just a touch more in right now but it hasn't spilled out the fill hole. Should I leave it with the 2.7 quarts and trust that or should I fill til it spills?
Click to expand...

Very good question... Answer, anyone? I wonder this as well.

I think in the How-To (linked above in this thread) on the old forums, the guy said "fill to spill". Is this OK to do? Is it excessove? Will it hurt the tranny?
 
well I took a small screw driver and stuck it into the hole and the fluid was right there. In the manual it says to fill the fluid to within 0-5mm from the hole so I felt it was good. So I put the bolt back in and went about getting other things done.
 
SVT#4967 said:
well I took a small screw driver and stuck it into the hole and the fluid was right there. In the manual it says to fill the fluid to within 0-5mm from the hole so I felt it was good. So I put the bolt back in and went about getting other things done.
Click to expand...

How does it shift?
 
haha, will have to wait a bit longer to find out. I'm currently finishing up a 4 month long project with this car that has included head gaskets and any seals I removed getting to them, PS pump, PS lines, oil filter relocation, oil separator, cleaning the intake ports, installing seat heaters, etc.

I just finished up the wiring on the seat heaters earlier today and am about to get the switches mounted and the seats reinstalled. Then I will be trying to start the car up for it's first time since all this either today or tomorrow.

So hopefully later this week I will have some feedback on the shifts. Unfortunately I just bought this car in September and only drove it 300 miles before doing all this work so I don't really recall much of how it shifted before, though I don't recall it was real stiff or anything like that.
 
Good luck. While you've got your car down, you ought to check out the shifter bushings. Mine were shot, and fixing them made more of a difference than swapping out the trans fluid. If you pull your drivers side wheel, you should be able to see the shifter cables inside.

Matt
 
hetfield said:
Remember that the "fill to spill" method relies on the car being level. Some people don't realize this and will drain the fluid with the car up on stands and fill it the same way. The trans will take more than 3 quarts when this happens.

Also, different revisions of the MTX-75 have different fill levels. Some are 2.7 quarts, and some are 2.1 quarts. Of course, fill to spill takes care of both.
Click to expand...

You are so smart Mike. I will be doing this to my 215K tranny soon.
 
As the original FAQ said, make sure you get the fill plug out first before you drain the MTX. Otherwise you'll be stuck with an empty trans until you do get it removed. I had a devil of a time getting the fill plug out of mine until I got the car off the ground far enough to get a breaker bar under there. Whoever had put the plug in last really thought it must hold the car together somehow as it was really tight. :nonono:
Karl
 
yeah, that would suck. I did make sure my fill plug was loose before draining, mine weren't hard to remove. Also, the torque spec on the fill and drain bolts is 45 Nm.
 
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