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Check your transmission fluid level… they are low!

1919 Views 56 Replies 20 Participants Last post by  daveed12
I finally had the weather and time to check my transmission oil level. I found a plastic syringe at a Central Tractor store, grabbed some tubing, put the car up on my quickjacks and off we go. Unfortunately the syringe only held 2 oz but it was easy to fill and work with under the car. Hoping it would only take a few ounces I went to work. 7 times sliding out from under the car to refill the syringe and the fill hole was finally leaking oil. What the heck! Manually put the car in neutral and ran it for 7 minutes. Went back under the car and it took almost 6 more syringes until it started leaking oil again! 25oz to 26oz low. It makes me wonder if I did something wrong but I followed the directions to a T. At least the transmission should be ready for the drive to Shelbyfest. Next up is checking the alignment to make sure my toe is not excessive.
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I finally had the weather and time to check my transmission oil level. I found a plastic syringe at a Central Tractor store, grabbed some tubing, put the car up on my quickjacks and off we go. Unfortunately the syringe only held 2 oz but it was easy to fill and work with under the car. Hoping it would only take a few ounces I went to work. 7 times sliding out from under the car to refill the syringe and the fill hole was finally leaking oil. What the heck! Manually put the car in neutral and ran it for 7 minutes. Went back under the car and it took almost 6 more syringes until it started leaking oil again! 25oz to 26oz low. It makes me wonder if I did something wrong but I followed the directions to a T. At least the transmission should be ready for the drive to Shelbyfest. Next up is checking the alignment to make sure my toe is not excessive.
Jim I absolutely believe it! Mine was 17.5oz down. Good thing you caught it before it caused any problems.
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Pretty much the same as mine. I have 4-5 oz left in a quart container.
I'm not very happy with the factory fill being 15% low.
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I finally had the weather and time to check my transmission oil level. I found a plastic syringe at a Central Tractor store, grabbed some tubing, put the car up on my quickjacks and off we go. Unfortunately the syringe only held 2 oz but it was easy to fill and work with under the car. Hoping it would only take a few ounces I went to work. 7 times sliding out from under the car to refill the syringe and the fill hole was finally leaking oil. What the heck! Manually put the car in neutral and ran it for 7 minutes. Went back under the car and it took almost 6 more syringes until it started leaking oil again! 25oz to 26oz low. It makes me wonder if I did something wrong but I followed the directions to a T. At least the transmission should be ready for the drive to Shelbyfest. Next up is checking the alignment to make sure my toe is not excessive.
Grabbed your post and the replies out of the “what did you do today” thread and made a separate thread here.

Yes, these trannies come low on fluid from the factory. I used a little pump garden sprayer to push the fluid up into mine when I made the video and subsequently switched to a gear lube style hand pump that I got at O’Reillys similar to this… it works well.

Pump!
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Well, that's certainly a shocker for me!

I'll have to check on that when I get the car back home on friday (currently getting ppf + ceramic done).
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Here’s a link to my three and the parts I purchased to add fluid to the DTC. Basically followed Tims advice on the garden squirter.

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Not to defend Ford in this matter, as I have replaced my lines and had to refill fluid and I know it was low to begin with. But, think about this. When the car is assembled, a sealed transmission is married to the engine and k memeber and then installed in the body of the car all on an assembly line. The car is never started and brought up to temp and then rechecked, the car is completed, and then sent down the line. So, (again, not defending Ford) it would only make sense that our transmissions are low on fluid. If I am wrong, please let me know. This is why I think we are receiving these cars low on fluid. I would venture to guess, if I go and check my F150 (2022) it is probably low as well.
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Not to defend Ford in this matter, as I have replaced my lines and had to refill fluid and I know it was low to begin with. But, think about this. When the car is assembled, a sealed transmission is married to the engine and k memeber and then installed in the body of the car all on an assembly line. The car is never started and brought up to temp and then rechecked, the car is completed, and then sent down the line. So, (again, not defending Ford) it would only make sense that our transmissions are low on fluid. If I am wrong, please let me know. This is why I think we are receiving these cars low on fluid. I would venture to guess, if I go and check my F150 (2022) it is probably low as well.
Kerry there is a point at the end of the line where they do run them up to temp and check fluids. It’s at that point they probably don’t think of checking the trans. It holds a lot of fluid up top after it’s shut down. They completely missed a chance to fix it on 21/22’s there were quite a few 20’s with the same problem.
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Kerry there is a point at the end of the line where they do run them up to temp and check fluids. It’s at that point they probably don’t think of checking the trans. It hols a lot of fluid up top after it’s shut down. They completely missed a chance to fix it on 21/22’s there were quite a few 20’s with the same problem.
Chris,
That may be true and you would know better than I, but you can almost bet they are not putting every single car on a lift and checking that level.
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Not to defend Ford in this matter, as I have replaced my lines and had to refill fluid and I know it was low to begin with. But, think about this. When the car is assembled, a sealed transmission is married to the engine and k memeber and then installed in the body of the car all on an assembly line. The car is never started and brought up to temp and then rechecked, the car is completed, and then sent down the line. So, (again, not defending Ford) it would only make sense that our transmissions are low on fluid. If I am wrong, please let me know. This is why I think we are receiving these cars low on fluid. I would venture to guess, if I go and check my F150 (2022) it is probably low as well.
This may be true but you would think Ford would know that the transmissions are low on oil and adjust levels accordingly. They know the factory fill spec. Why subject yourself to warrantee issues if they can be avoided? I’m fine as I didn’t have any performance issues but others did (Chris) Glad that forum members discovered this so we can be proactive. And yes, it wouldn’t hurt to check your F150 levels.
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hmmmmm, adding one more checklist item on the to-do list when I get car up on the lift next week!
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Chris,
That may be true and you would know better than I, but you can almost bet they are not putting every single car on a lift and checking that level.
100% they are not checking the DCT levels. It’s a complete failure on Ford’s part.
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Not to defend Ford in this matter, as I have replaced my lines and had to refill fluid and I know it was low to begin with. But, think about this. When the car is assembled, a sealed transmission is married to the engine and k memeber and then installed in the body of the car all on an assembly line. The car is never started and brought up to temp and then rechecked, the car is completed, and then sent down the line. So, (again, not defending Ford) it would only make sense that our transmissions are low on fluid. If I am wrong, please let me know. This is why I think we are receiving these cars low on fluid. I would venture to guess, if I go and check my F150 (2022) it is probably low as well.
if something is designed and built to use X amount of something in it, and it is designed to only work well with enough of that thing in it, then at the very least the car should be shipped with a big ass glow in the dark sticker somewhere it cannot be missed that says: TOP OFF BEFORE FIRST USE.

Something like this would work well
Motor vehicle Automotive design Automotive tire Automotive wheel system Engineering


Better yet, ship the car with the right amount of fluids in it, or have the dealer top it off, like they did with engine oils, windshield/radiator/break fluids. Now that I listed those, I better check the levels for all of those too.

Edit: the car comes with a free day at track school, it's not too much to ask that it also includes the right amount of fluids out of the dealer's lot.
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if something is designed and built to use X amount of something in it, and it is designed to only work well with enough of that thing in it, then at the very least the car should be shipped with a big ass glow in the dark sticker somewhere it cannot be missed that says: TOP OFF BEFORE FIRST USE.

Something like this would work well
View attachment 271194

Better yet, ship the car with the right amount of fluids in it, or have the dealer top it off, like they did with engine oils, windshield/radiator/break fluids. Now that I listed those, I better check the levels for all of those too.

Edit: the car comes with a free day at track school, it's not too much to ask that it also includes the right amount of fluids out of the dealer's lot.
Agree completely. Ford is really broken now. Their quality control is nonexistent. I’ve seen no evidence they’re getting any better despite much lip service saying otherwise and that quality czar they appointed. Both my F250 and GT500 had multiple very serious paint flaws and panel gap issues. I haven’t gotten around to checking the trans fluid since I haven’t had any shifting issues, but it looks like I probably should.

I wouldn’t trust the idiots at the dealer to air up my tires, much less check the dct fluid. If they had to add any, it would probably take 6 months for them to get it. Lol. I’ve been waiting months for sunroof parts to come in for my truck that were supposed to be in stock.
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Agree completely. Ford is really broken now. Their quality control is nonexistent. I’ve seen no evidence they’re getting any better despite much lip service saying otherwise and that quality czar they appointed. Both my F250 and GT500 had multiple very serious paint flaws and panel gap issues. I haven’t gotten around to checking the trans fluid since I haven’t had any shifting issues, but it looks like I probably should.

I wouldn’t trust the idiots at the dealer to air up my tires, much less check the dct fluid. If they had to add any, it would probably take 6 months for them to get it. Lol. I’ve been waiting months for sunroof parts to come in for my truck that were supposed to be in stock.
It gotten so bad I’m leaning towards keeping the ST a while longer in hopes that they get their act together. I usually get the misses a new vehicle every 3 years. Probably not going to happen this round.
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It gotten so bad I’m leaning towards keeping the ST a while longer in hopes that they get their act together. I usually get the misses a new vehicle every 3 years. Probably not going to happen this round.
Same here. I had plans on replacing the wife’s gen2 raptor and my diesel F250 this year. We both drive a LOT so I usually replace every 3 years, but with the horrible quality issues and the fact Ford is just leaving off half the features you pay for and giving token amounts of money back, I’m gonna wait another year. I really hope Ford gets its act together. I looked at the GMC Denali and Ram Longhorn heavy duty trucks and really wanted to like them, but neither held a candle to the way my over 3 year old F250 drives. We are toying with a TRX for the wife but haven’t gotten a chance to drive one yet. I really want a Raptor R for her but I’m not paying 50k over for one.
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I finally had the weather and time to check my transmission oil level. I found a plastic syringe at a Central Tractor store, grabbed some tubing, put the car up on my quickjacks and off we go. Unfortunately the syringe only held 2 oz but it was easy to fill and work with under the car. Hoping it would only take a few ounces I went to work. 7 times sliding out from under the car to refill the syringe and the fill hole was finally leaking oil. What the heck! Manually put the car in neutral and ran it for 7 minutes. Went back under the car and it took almost 6 more syringes until it started leaking oil again! 25oz to 26oz low. It makes me wonder if I did something wrong but I followed the directions to a T. At least the transmission should be ready for the drive to Shelbyfest. Next up is checking the alignment to make sure my toe is not excessive.
Yep, if I remember was down a half a liter.
if something is designed and built to use X amount of something in it, and it is designed to only work well with enough of that thing in it, then at the very least the car should be shipped with a big ass glow in the dark sticker somewhere it cannot be missed that says: TOP OFF BEFORE FIRST USE.

Something like this would work well
View attachment 271194

Better yet, ship the car with the right amount of fluids in it, or have the dealer top it off, like they did with engine oils, windshield/radiator/break fluids. Now that I listed those, I better check the levels for all of those too.

Edit: the car comes with a free day at track school, it's not too much to ask that it also includes the right amount of fluids out of the dealer's lot.
Hey, Aviation Ordnance guys, Yes the remove before flight safety pins, Doing CAG ARM/DEARM, we would remove those pins before flight.

Yes Ford should do something Similar Criatura :unsure: :)
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Grabbed your post and the replies out of the “what did you do today” thread and made a separate thread here.

Yes, these trannies come low on fluid from the factory. I used a little pump garden sprayer to push the fluid up into mine when I made the video and subsequently switched to a gear lube style hand pump that I got at O’Reillys similar to this… it works well.

Pump!
Do you recall the correct size hose you used to fill the case?
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