Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting ATX Maintenance

My car has 45k on it and I was just wondering if I should have a transmission fluid and/or filter change in the near future. What do you think?

Crazy Craig's 'Tour

98 SE Sport
Silverfrost
ATX V6
Tinted windows, 35%

"It must be nice to hope for the thing you wish to want"

Yes, Iv'e heard that you should change the tranny oil around 30,000. But I don´t think there is any filter or screen that you can change. When I did mine we added a few quarts of synthetic oil too.

No filter, so you want to do a drain, flush, and refill. Drain the tranny, fill it with 4 Qts. generic Mercon fluid, run it for a few minutes going up and down through all the gears. Drain it again, and then refill it with synthetic fluid. My manual say suggested interval is 30K also.

There certainly is a filter, but not one you're going to be replacing in a half hour with a 3/8" ratchet, a few rags, and a drain bucket.

It is a non-serviceable device which is buried deep within the casing, and just about the only time you'll be replacing it is when the transmission is out of the vehicle and opened for other service.

30 K will keep the transmission gremlins away.

Actually,

You should service your transmission at least every 15,000 miles, or less, to keep it in TOP condition.
If you go by FORD's recommendation of every 30,000 miles, then your tranny will go the way the rest of ours has gone.

My First transaxle went after it was serviced at 30,000 miles.
The Torque Converter Clutch system kept loosing pressure,
it overheated the transaxle, and burned it up bad.
And all of this happened while I was HIGHWAY driving too.
The transaxle got so hot that it overheated the engine coolant,
from the radiator, which overheated my engine,
and damaged my Catalytic Converters.
All of which was replaced within 3000 miles of replacing the transaxle.

Yes I am sure of it, and the Dealer confirmed my suspicions.
Only overheated while HIGHWAY driving.
City driving was always NORMAL.
I even consulted Terry Haines on this,
and even though he doesn't do slush boxes,
he said it was possible.

My second transaxle, I also service at its 30,000 interval,
just like FORD said it should be, and I got the same problems again.
Because it started to act up, I installed an A-Pillar Gauge Pod,
with Autometer Voltmeter, Oil-Pressure, and Trans Temp gauges.
My Trans Temp gauge went as high as 250 deg F on the
second transaxle while highway driving.
Way too hot for transmission fluid.
I reserviced it 5,000 miles later, and the problems went away.
Temperature barely gets close to 190 Deg F.
I serviced it again at 10,000 miles and there are still no signs of problems,
and the temperature stays below 180 deg F on the highway,
and gets as hot as 210 deg F when city driving, which is normal for our transaxles.