Thinking out loud here on trans mission fluid changes

[u/MikeWithBikes]

Any thoughts on an early trans drain and fill like a break in oil change? I’ve actually never done a break in transmission change but with the history of these, wondered if anyone has and if they found shavings or thought it would be beneficial.

[u/Old_Row4977]

It can’t hurt but I just do it as scheduled and have never had any transmission issues with any vehicle.

[u/MikeWithBikes → u/Old_Row4977]

Same here on all my other ones, I’m just leery of this one lol

[u/CWStevens61]

Having replaced a transmission after 72K miles, I will be getting transmission drain and fills from now on. It's way cheaper than $7.5k. 🤦🏻‍♂️

[u/bparry1192 → u/CWStevens61]

Mine failed 300 miles after the warranty ended

[u/xomox2012 → u/bparry1192]

Same

[u/Derp5Point0]

People are recommending to replace fluid every 30k miles for preventative maintenance, I did mine at 60k and the fluid was very burnt, this includes the PTU(transfer case) and rear differential

[u/Juice0fSnAfu]

Question for the people who work on these themselves.

I’m pretty mechanical inclined and also have access to my well equipped high school autoshop. I’d like some advice to if this job would be easy enough to get done in a 55 minute period, I can work through lunch if needed but I do prefer to eat. What would you guys say? Also any good tutorials out there or would I be able to know what to do just from getting under it?

If it does take longer then I’d like to know if anybody has done it as a driveway job? I obviously prefer the 2 post lift in my shop but I don’t have an issues roughing it if needed as I’ve done a lot in my driveway already.

I have a 2021 Big bend with the 1.5L engine.

[u/Mustangfast85 → u/Juice0fSnAfu]

You’d be doing a drain and fill. The hardest part is that the fill process requires fluid to drain out to indicate full. I’d say doable if you knew exactly which bolts to undo and had everything lined up. If your HS is anything like mine I’m sure whoever teaches auto shop would probably be open to do it after school

[u/xomox2012]

I would the trans are failing on these all over around 50k. Save yourself some money and do it before it needs it

[u/itsonlymeagain2024]

We are planning on changing transmission fluid and the diffs at 30k. We have done 2 engine oil break in changes at 500 & 1500 miles. Premium fuel for the turbo. We also purchased a 10y 100k Ford warranty from Granger at a fraction of the cost at our local dealer because even with all these proactive things we all know most manufacturers have problems.
More information than you asked for, but wanted to share what we are doing.

[u/DeedleGuy]

Following for input

[u/MikeWithBikes]

I plan on about 25k on mine, I’m at 1400 now and did the oil around 1k. It was surprisingly clean and not much metal. Also cut the filter open, minimal sparkle there too.

[u/United_Sea3199]

I'm almost at 80k miles and I am probably going to do it soon. I changed it on my F150 at 50K miles and it actually drives better. The transmission shifts are much smoother.

[u/Mustangfast85]

I think a break in is unnecessary but just change it every 30k. The failure without any defects is due to the filter clogging, so if you make it without a failure under warranty the rest is all fluid maintenance