Transmission Fluid change

For this level of service the AOD and 4r70 are identical. Only the gear ratios and controls are different-they use the same rebuild kits even.

Realistically this should only take 2hrs start to finish, with most of the time trying to get all 13qts back in. As for the fluid my research has shown you can use Mercon V in a AOD/E4OD but do not cross contaminate with Mercon-meaing only change during a rebuild.
 
IIRC easiest way to get the torque convertor drain is remove the rubber cap, then use a flat blade screwdriver to push on the flex plate gears and rotate it. That is how I have done it in the past. Saves time crawling in and out from under the car to try and get the drain lined up.
 
Ok so in the interest of being safe and not unbolting the wrong thing, this is the Torque converter drain bolt right? the little one not the silver nut with the flange. Its a dumb question i know but I do NOT want to start taking a bolt out before I know exactly what its for.
Torque Converter drain.jpg
Oh and yeah I know my rear main is leaking, it bugs me too.
 
1997ThunderbirdLXV6 said:
I've read that many times, but I just don't see the point when you can easily siphon the fluid in the pan through the dipstick tube.

Hand pump $5; new pan with drain plug $50 (guesstimate). I know which I prefer.

@Jae 'Bird , I also recommend reusing your pan gasket. It's probably better than any aftermarket gasket.
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Hand pump? Like the one from Hobo Fright? Yeah, that will certainly make a man out of you. You can add a drain plug, they have kits that are not that much. Drill the hole, incert the plug... BAM! Next time you go to change the oil it won't be such a friken mess. Never understood why they won't put a drain plug on the tranny pan.

I re-used my pan gasket, but it was the rubber one. Lasted after many many oil changes and no leakes. Cork? Forgetaboutit.
My two cents.
 
1997ThunderbirdLXV6 said:
Ohh, and not sure if anyone mentioned this: if you spill even the tiniest amount of transmission fluid onto your exhaust, it'll cause a huge, dense white cloud of smoke as the fluid evaporates. It's apparently harmless, but it can be scary if you don't know what's going on.
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Hmmmm.... That has never happened to me. Maybe I should try it!
 
Yeah, I don't have an aod. My suggestion would be, pull it and if a few quarts of mercon comes out, that's it. :)
The other one looks like the flexplate bolt I always strip, because it's standard ,lol.
 
What torque should I use for the filter bolts? I figure its a pretty small number. And yes I managed to make this a two day debacle :facepalm: I blame the fact that I am undoing stuff that some tech at some point, pardon my French, royally fucked up. For instance, there is no pan magnet because the dumbass that serviced this last would have forgot to put it in (it would have been last serviced at a shop).
 
There's 3 bolts holding it in. Not sure about torque, maybe the gurus will chime in.

Joe
 
I don’t have an exact torque spec, but just tighten the pan bolts with a small 1/4” ratchet. If in doubt, go on the looser side. It is much easier to snug them up a little more later if the gasket is seeping than to deal with stripped out threads in the trans. Also make sure the flange of the pan is flat. If someone went too tight on the bolts, especially with a cheap gasket, it can dimple the flange where the bolts are, and then when you tighten it, it leaks from the areas between the bolts. If this has happened, just use a ball peen hammer and something on the back end as a dolly and gently tap them back down all the way around.
 
Thanks guys, I ended up bolting it up before anyone responded so I went with the safe option of just snug and no more, then I went with 15 ft lbs for the pan bolts and they all were hand threaded in to start to make sure I didn't strip any of 'em. The new rubber gasket compressed a bit and things look good, I will post the pic of the old filter for reference for the future people doing this job. I couldn't reuse the old pan gasket cause it was old crusty cork and flaked apart, but it held a seal good for over 8 years so that's a plus. I am really hoping that everything I did was right and I have no leaks, getting the new fluid in tomorrow and I double checked again and turns out I lied and I actually did get mercon V but that's good because I imagine the shop that did it last (like 8 ish years ago) would have used mercon V because Ford made that switch much before that so I should be fine, at least I hope.
 
Mercon V was developed to minimize clutch plate and band slippage when activated to be holding. It makes a big difference in the 4r70. The aod and aode are similar enough, I don't think it will hurt. The 3-4 shift is a race between the od band applying, and the intermediate clutch releasing. a manual downshift to 2nd from fourth can break an early 4r70w. The 02 and up can deal fine. The big fixes I use are kolene steels, raybestos blues in the direct, and one piece teflon seals instead of scarf cut. That seems to be bulletproof. I'll be sure in another 100k miles :)
 
Ok so this is a couple days later, I am completely done and it went great, I got the fluid filled to the proper level and it drives and shifts great and so far, no leaks where its sitting so I think I got the pan sealed properly. For completeness' sake I will post the pan shmoo and what the AOD filter looks like. It seems like I'm kinda the first one to document what the procedure is and how it differs slightly from the 4r70w.
Transmission Shmoo.jpeg
Here you can see the pan and what was in the bottom, not too bad, also no magnet cause the idiot who serviced it last forgot to put it back :facepalm:
Transmission filter.jpeg
Here you can see the 3 bolt holes that hold it up to the valve body. My filter is a high quality Wix filter and it came with a fiber gasket to replace the broken cork one you see up at the top around that square hole.
Sorry for the delay is getting these posted, reason is I started summer term at uni and got this done right before I started so I finished it and the next day started school.
One last note, if yall would be cool with it, I might make up an AOD specific tech article that goes into specifics about what I found different with this fluid change vs what its like for a 4r70w, things like my crank pulley being a 22mm socket not 18mm and the filter having 3 bolts and the torque converter drain and whatnot.
Thank you once again for your guys' help, I seriously appreciate it and couldn't have done it with out you. Just know that if you commented on this thread or even liked someone else's post, I read it and used that info to help and even i didn't explicitly respond to you, your post was still appreciated.
 
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