I want to do a transmission filter, although im realllly skeptical about it.

[NaomiTheNomad]

Wanting to do some basic matinence with ny transmission, think its a 5r44e. Vehicle is 06 ford ranger 3.0 with 244k, 2wd, trans code D, my transmission fluid is not burnt smelling and has no weird things floating in it, however i do not know the service history on it. Reason why im afraid to drain and refill with a new filter is i have heard stories of old transmissions not shifting afterwards. My symptoms are rough shifting and a low whining noise in reverse ( also heard reverse goes out first). From what i know it does not slip, just rough shifting, when it shifts to third it kicks.Here is also a photo of the fluid, it is kind of hard to see on the paper towel but its a brownish color with a really light tint of pink to it. I have two people who work on old cars saying if it isnt burnt or slipping drain and refill with a filter should be ok, just dont do a flush as it can dislodge gunk keeping it together, then i have a buddy from a shop that says dont touch it at all, what is yalls recommendation? Drain filter and refill or leave it?

 

[Brain75]

the biggest issue (I've done a ton of research but do not own any of the lesser ones - have a 5r55e that has never been touched ...yet) is getting the valve body perfectly aligned during reassembly if you touch it.

the A4LD, 4R44E, 4R55E, 5R44E and finally 5R55E are evolutions of a family - so generically reading up on any/all of em will point you in the direction of issues and what to do and not do.
Honestly after having read all that I have read, if I had to pull one I would replace it with a 5R55E (for the full story google 'frankentranny' - see what all it takes to rebuild any of the lesser ones to have the reliability of the last evolution).

the tech library has tons of info on em, issues etc.

Seven Common Problems With The Ford 4R55E Transmission - The Ranger Station

About This Transmission: 4R44E / 4R55E – The name 4R44E means 4 forward gears, rear-drive platform (or 4WD, with a different tailshaft housing), rated for 440 ft/lb torque (after torque converter multiplication) and electronic shifting. 4R55E is the same but … Continued

www.therangerstation.com

Transmission, Transfer Case & Driveshaft - The Ranger Station

DISCLAIMER: Activities and vehicle modifications appearing or described at The Ranger Station and it’s pages may be potentially dangerous. We do not endorse any such activity for others or recommend it to any particular person – we simply describe … Continued

www.therangerstation.com

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Alright, I have a bit to say on this so I’m gonna say give me a little bit to get over to the laptop…

 

[Brain75]

As far as generic advice, I ---always--- used to replace filter+fluids, I've never opened one of these at all, but from Shran's most recent PSA, it looks like it is still a standard pan+ filter without getting deep into it/messing with internals. (filter usually is on the bottom of the pickup and can be replaced without doing anything more than a gasket for the pan)

Ignore the paint peel unless you have that aftermarket, just showing you what the pan / pickup looks like:

PSA: A4LD/4R/5R transmission oil pan paint peeling off inside

If any of you have purchased an ULTRA-POWER 265831 oil pan from RockAuto (the one with a drain plug) for a Ranger I would highly encourage you to go out and pull it to see if the paint on the inside is peeling off. I put one of these on my wife's truck in 2020 and pulled the transmission...

www.therangerstation.com

Other advice I would throw out, it is more about the smell (burnt), and cleanliness of the oil (any metal bits, plastic bits in the oil - look for "sparkles") than anything else... and by all means make sure you are using the right fluid back in.

 

[19Walt93]

I did all the automatic transmissions at our dealer for 5+ years before getting "promoted" to service manager. Changing transmission fluid will never harm a transmission as long as the correct fluid and filter are used. When I retired we had 8 different fluids for Ford transmissions, there is no such thing as universal fluid so get the right stuff. For a Ford that means Motorcraft. When refilling it check the level often- you want to avoid running it with the fluid extremely low and avoid it being overfull once the transmission is warm. I agree that flushing isn't a good idea. If the fluid is discolored, change it, run it for a few days or weeks and change it again.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Alright...

So I've heard the whole thing about how you can do more harm than good changing the transmission filter and fluid but I am going to disagree to a point on that all. If something is failing, new fluid and a filter probably is not going to resolve that. But, depending on what the transmission is doing, fluid, filter, and SERVICING the trans plus flushing the trans cooler CAN resolve issues.

Case in point, my 92 Ranger. I was getting a little slipping, hesitation and whatnot. When I dropped the pan, the fluid was a bit sludgy. That had me worried, but I went on with my plan anyway which included a shift kit (TransGo), bunch of valve body mods, new reverse servo O-rings and gasket, fluid and filter, plus adjusting the bands as best I could (rust prevented me from getting it exactly perfect but I got it better than it was). All of that can be done without dropping the transmission. It's messy and fiddly work (you have to be really careful not to scratch anything with the valves or valve body), but it really wasn't difficult at all. A little daunting in appearance to someone who has never dove that deep into things, but I'm not always the best at being able to read something and do it, yet I was successful.

I will note that the whole purge procedure doesn't fully remove all the air from the system, you'll still have some fits for a bit. Mine took a couple weeks of driving to fully smooth out, but it was 1,000x better than even a new 5R55 in how it performed. With a limited slip rear, it was capable of lighting up the back tires just from hitting the gas too hard from a stop. So this may be worth considering. I'm not sure what your mechanical knowledge level is, but this really just requires patience, care, cleanliness, and some fairly basic tools.

 

[NaomiTheNomad]

Alright...

So I've heard the whole thing about how you can do more harm than good changing the transmission filter and fluid but I am going to disagree to a point on that all. If something is failing, new fluid and a filter probably is not going to resolve that. But, depending on what the transmission is doing, fluid, filter, and SERVICING the trans plus flushing the trans cooler CAN resolve issues.

Case in point, my 92 Ranger. I was getting a little slipping, hesitation and whatnot. When I dropped the pan, the fluid was a bit sludgy. That had me worried, but I went on with my plan anyway which included a shift kit (TransGo), bunch of valve body mods, new reverse servo O-rings and gasket, fluid and filter, plus adjusting the bands as best I could (rust prevented me from getting it exactly perfect but I got it better than it was). All of that can be done without dropping the transmission. It's messy and fiddly work (you have to be really careful not to scratch anything with the valves or valve body), but it really wasn't difficult at all. A little daunting in appearance to someone who has never dove that deep into things, but I'm not always the best at being able to read something and do it, yet I was successful.

I will note that the whole purge procedure doesn't fully remove all the air from the system, you'll still have some fits for a bit. Mine took a couple weeks of driving to fully smooth out, but it was 1,000x better than even a new 5R55 in how it performed. With a limited slip rear, it was capable of lighting up the back tires just from hitting the gas too hard from a stop. So this may be worth considering. I'm not sure what your mechanical knowledge level is, but this really just requires patience, care, cleanliness, and some fairly basic tools.

I appreciate your feedback on this, i do have a fair amount of mechanical knowledge, mostly on engines and suspension since thats what i have been working on, now im moving to the transmission so its new to me, know a little about them but not as much as the other stuff. I like to keep on top of my maintenance religiously and the trans filter is the last thing i haven't gotten to. Im pretty eager to learn about it and happy for everyone sharing their knowledge with me.

 

[Shran]

The theory is that old oil left in a high mileage transmission contains a lot of grit from the clutches. That grit supposedly helps keep the clutches from slipping... new clean fluid won't do that. It sound plausible but I don't know if there's any science to back it up so I remain very skeptical of that theory.

The other thing with automatics is doing a "flush" where the vehicle is hooked up to a power flush machine - you get fresh fluid throughout the trans but it stirs up all the grit.

IMO the best thing to do is to pull the pan, change the filter, clean out the pan or preferably replace it with one that has a drain plug (but is NOT painted inside!!!) and measure the fluid you removed, and refill it with that exact amount. I believe you get about 3 quarts by dropping the pan on an A4LD variant... the total capacity on these is like 10 quarts, thus the importance of the drain plug - you can drain & refill 3-4 times to get fresh fluid throughout. It can be kind of costly to do it this way but you get a fresh filter, the pan is clean and you end up with clean fluid.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

I appreciate your feedback on this, i do have a fair amount of mechanical knowledge, mostly on engines and suspension since thats what i have been working on, now im moving to the transmission so its new to me, know a little about them but not as much as the other stuff. I like to keep on top of my maintenance religiously and the trans filter is the last thing i haven't gotten to. Im pretty eager to learn about it and happy for everyone sharing their knowledge with me.

I’m working on putting together an old video set I did on the process. It’s not the best, I was trying to do it all with a cellphone and a tablet back then. Not sure when I’ll have it together and on my YouTube yet, but it’s all on my computer finally and I’m working on it.

 

[SenorNoob]

If the filter is working, it should filter out any grit right? At least anything large enough to be increasing grip? I have heard that if you pass 200K without servicing in older (think late 80's) you might not want to open it up. That's supposedly due viscosity changes over time.

I just avoid the problem altogether. Drive manual. LOL

 

[NaomiTheNomad]

Ok, so i decided to man up and told myself to just do it and if anything happens ill learn. No complications, no leaks, made sure i cycled through all gears and let it warm up then got it to the cross hatch on the stick. Then had to go to work so i drove it 20 miles with no issue, the shifting is way smoother now, there is still a small bump, probably because there is still old fluid in there. The pan also looked really really clean, just a small bit of sludge on the magnet and a really small amount of tiny metal bits in the oil that were barely visible, almost like they might have put a new transmission in it.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Ok, so i decided to man up and told myself to just do it and if anything happens ill learn. No complications, no leaks, made sure i cycled through all gears and let it warm up then got it to the cross hatch on the stick. Then had to go to work so i drove it 20 miles with no issue, the shifting is way smoother now, there is still a small bump, probably because there is still old fluid in there. The pan also looked really really clean, just a small bit of sludge on the magnet and a really small amount of tiny metal bits in the oil that were barely visible, almost like they might have put a new transmission in it.

If you didn’t already do it, I’d suggest adjusting the bands. They are supposed to be adjusted regularly but nobody does

 

[morsetaper2]

If you didn’t already do it, I’d suggest adjusting the bands. They are supposed to be adjusted regularly but nobody does

About 15-ish yrs ago I had a 2001 Ranger that was often throwing codes on the trans - "Check Transmission Lights". Had two shops tell me I needed a new transm. Was reading all the forums to try and solve issue w/o replacing transm. on another forum, someone had similar symptoms as mine... long lags between shifts, then bam!! it would shift hard! And then I'd get a "Check Transm Light". I read that he did a band adjustment and that solved the problem.

So after adjusting the bands on mine that solved my problem, and I never had another issue w/ that transmission from that point on. There was a low and a high speed band adjustment on my Ranger. One of the adjusters was easy to get to, the other more difficult. I did the easier to adjust band and that fixed my problem. Never did touch the other one.