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Ok, I've read through several old posts about draining the tranmission fluid. I want to change my current ATF with the Mobil 1 Syn ATF. According to my Chilton's book, you just drain the transaxle by removing the drain plug with a 3/8" ratchet. Then fill the transaxle with new fluid, start the car and shift through all the gears for roughly 5 minutes. Easy enough! But now I've found several posts saying to remove a line to the oil cooler and completely flush the system of the old fluid BEFORE you put fresh fluid into the transaxle. Why doesn't the Chilton's book list this as an option? And where is this oil cooler line located? Near the radiator? I really have no clue with this one. I've owned my car for about 36,000 miles and have never replaced my ATF. If I drain the pan and then run the car for awhile and then re-drain the pan, will this get most of the old fluid out or is it a waste of time and money? Or should I just save time and bring it to my local Ford dealer for a complete flush and refill (quoted at roughly $90). Let me know what you all think. Thanks!
1997 Contour GL Sport ATX
Zetec/2.0 liter
K&N High Flow Air Filter
Mobil 1 SuperSyn 5W-30
Mobil 1 Oil Filter (M1-204)
Fram Sure Drain System
Ford Motorsport 9mm Racing Wires
Recontented Fog Lights, Rear Dome Light, Underhood Courtesy Light, Glove Compartment Light
Pirelli HPs
Kenwood in-dash CD player
Infinity 5752cf speakers
World Champion New England Patriots Fan for Life!
Wife's Car:
1998 Contour SE ATX
Duratec/2.5 liter
Mobil 1 SuperSyn 5W-30
Mobil 1 Oil Filter (M1-210)
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Joined: Feb 2002
Posts: 31
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I don't think running the engine with a half drained tranny is a very good idea. When you drain the pan you'll get about 4 quarts of fluid out. The lazy method: Drain the pan, refill with Mobil 1, drive around a bit, drain again, and refill. (this is what I did) Otherwise, instructions how to flush, swiped from the mailing list:
Disclaimer: I changed the fluid in my transmission without incident, YMMV.
If you stand at the front of the car, on the left side of the radiator there are two fittings for the transcooler. The fitting that is at the top is the line coming off the transmission, so by disconnecting here and extending with a hose, the transmission fluid can be drained into a bucket while the car idles in neutral. At the same time new ATF is added into the dipstick tube by means of a long skinny funnel at about the same rate as the fluid drains.
Materials needed:
-bucket marked in two quart intervals
-funnel with a long skinny end that will reach and fit into the dipstick tube
-about 3 feet of 1/2" OD flexible hose (I used vinyl)
-17mm open end wrench
-11 to 16 quarts of ATF of your choice
I pulled the cover off the power distribution box so that I could pull the fuel pump relay if I needed to shut things down quickly. The fuel pump relay is the middle t-shaped relay above the row of 4 fuses. If you have help, then you don't need to bother. The fitting in the radiator is 17mm, so unthread this and pull the line out of the radiator. If you pull up and over while wiggling, you can move the line next to the radiator where there is a little bit more room to work in. The hardest part of the whole thing is getting the hose onto the tubing flare so that it is fairly secure and not kinked against the front of the engine bay. I used cheap clear vinyl tubing from the hardware store when the rubber hose I had purchased turned out to be too rigid.
For my 95, I passed the hose over and behind the headlight assembly and put the hose on the transmission line behind the headlight, hooking the flare to a lip on the back of the plastic headlight housing. I don't know if this would work on the newer headlights. I also put a plastic wire tie around the hose behind the fitting just in case so I didn't baptize my car and driveway in ATF. Like I said this is the most difficult part, I also considered making a funnel out of a 20 oz pop bottle by cutting a hole at the bottom side of the bottle, hanging the bottle upside down from the trans line with a hose at the mouth of the bottle to direct the ATF down beneath the car. This would certainly work, but would need a low profile container like a huge oil pan to catch the outflow. Just an idea if you get frustrated trying to get the hose on the line.
Once the hose was on the trans line, I just dropped the end into my marked bucket. Pull the trans dipstick out and put the funnel down into the dipstick tube. I opened all my ATF bottles, which in my case was a 5 quart size jug of petroleum Mercon and 11 quarts of Mobil 1 ATF. Once this is done, everything is ready. Block the wheels, put the e-brake on, and place the shifter into neutral and then start the car. Go back around to the front of the car and start pouring in ATF at about the same rate as it is coming out. I started pouring petroleum Mercon after the first quart was already out and tried to stay about 1 quart behind. After
the first 5 quarts were in, I started pouring the
Mobil 1.
The capacity of the transmission is 10.3 quarts, and I wanted the first 5 quarts to be a flush, I stopped the engine after 16 quarts were out. At this point I had poured a bit over 14 quarts in, so I added another bottle of ATF and put everything back together. After running the car a bit, the dipstick said I was low and it took another 1.5 quarts to get just below the max line.
The extra ATF used to flush is probably not necessary, but I wanted to try and get the old stuff out.
David Jewett/MI
95SE/ATX, SVT Induction kit, Vuncannon False Alarm, resonatorless, badgeless, hood liner removed Coming Soon! Leda Suspension Kit
Tom
98 LX
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Can I just remove the cooler line and drain the old stuff and then fill up with new stuff, or does the car have to be running to get it out through the cooler line? I don't care if it's a complete flush. The tranny pan looks real hard to get to.
"Wow, that sank fast." "Yeah, like a rock." 96 Contour GL ATX 9mm Ford Racing Wires; 2 Resonators down, 1 to go;"Special airbox"; many mods planned Sony CD player: 50wattsx4;remote; Speakers=50 watt Pioneer 6x8s Ross Evans 
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I have a couple of mods in my to do list but i put them on hold, I got my 1999 SE about three months ago it just turned 47,000 miles, i wanted to do some modes but i'm afraid the previous owner never changed the Automatic tranny fluid. (whoever had it treated it very very badly, Paint had pits all in it, carpet stained very bad, but with a lot of soap wax and clay bar she actually looks like new) I'm going to get it changed in the next 2 weeks. Whats the best fluid, Mobil ! ATF, Thick Shift ATF, and where's the best place to have it flushed and refilled i'm thinking my ford dealership, may cost more but i want it done right.
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Can I just remove the cooler line and drain the old stuff and then fill up with new stuff, or does the car have to be running to get it out through the cooler line? I don't care if it's a complete flush. The tranny pan looks real hard to get to. Never tried draining it through the cooler lines, so I can't help you there. The tranny pan is easy to drain, there's a plug on the bottom of the tranny at the end closest to the rear of the car. It has a square indentation in it. Use a 3/8" drive ratchet and a short extension (with no socket) to remove it. About 4 quarts should come out. Then you can refill through the dipstick tube.
Tom
98 LX
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The best thing to get a good change is to do just like the above 'How-To' says. Its a little messier but you'll get a lot more fluid out than the 'Flush n Fill' method. Redcon, The engine must be running for the pump in the tranny to be running. So no, you can't just remove the line and drain the fluid. White, If you can afford it Mobil 1, IMO, is very good for ATF. I certainly wouldn't go to a Ford dealer for the flush though, you'll probably end up with other problems just from Ford touching your car.  Numerous local shops should have flushing machines that will do a very good job of removing most of the old fluid. I think I was quoted $90 a couple years ago and I think that included the ATF. I did the flushing method listed above and got a lot of the dark dirty fluid out. Like it says, the biggest problem is getting the drain tubing onto the tranny cooler line.
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Under the car the other day(does anyone else have to use make shift ramps, b/c normal ramps hit the bumper?) and it looked like the drain plug was on the side of the tranny, closest to the firewall(didn't notice anything on the bottom) Anybody with a pic, plz post. It would be appreciated greatly.
"Wow, that sank fast." "Yeah, like a rock." 96 Contour GL ATX 9mm Ford Racing Wires; 2 Resonators down, 1 to go;"Special airbox"; many mods planned Sony CD player: 50wattsx4;remote; Speakers=50 watt Pioneer 6x8s Ross Evans
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OP
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Posts: 174 |
The transaxle drain plug is located on the bottom and toward the rear. You use a 3/8" ratchet (w/o a socket) to remove it. The ramps I use do not hit the front bumper at all. They are black plastic and I picked them up at Pep Boys. Not sure of the name of the top of my head but they're the only black plastic ones out there, I'm pretty sure. Unless you have SVT ground effects, you shouldn't have a problem with these ramps. I think they sell for $25.
1997 Contour GL Sport ATX
Zetec/2.0 liter
K&N High Flow Air Filter
Mobil 1 SuperSyn 5W-30
Mobil 1 Oil Filter (M1-204)
Fram Sure Drain System
Ford Motorsport 9mm Racing Wires
Recontented Fog Lights, Rear Dome Light, Underhood Courtesy Light, Glove Compartment Light
Pirelli HPs
Kenwood in-dash CD player
Infinity 5752cf speakers
World Champion New England Patriots Fan for Life!
Wife's Car:
1998 Contour SE ATX
Duratec/2.5 liter
Mobil 1 SuperSyn 5W-30
Mobil 1 Oil Filter (M1-210)
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Joined: Feb 2002
Posts: 31
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Here you go: 
Tom
98 LX
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I gotta get under my car again...it seems it never looks the same as the pictures. is it the same on ATX and MTX?
"Wow, that sank fast." "Yeah, like a rock." 96 Contour GL ATX 9mm Ford Racing Wires; 2 Resonators down, 1 to go;"Special airbox"; many mods planned Sony CD player: 50wattsx4;remote; Speakers=50 watt Pioneer 6x8s Ross Evans
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