Transfer Case Fluid

[powrus]

Hello everybody. New poster here. Our '03 Explorer Sport XLT has 85K miles and recently had the transfer case fluid changed in order to address noises in that area. It seemed to help. With 40K since our last tranny fluid change, would it be advisable to flush and replace the tranny fluid now, as well?

Thanks.

 

[Sams01XplrSprt]

welcome powrus

 

[Wrench]

Noises in a transfercase does not ususally get solved with the proper fluid type upon fluid change. I us 30k as a complete oil change maintenance schedule for both the trans and the TC. Use only Mercon V in tranny. The TC only holds 1.5L of oil so gets contaminated quickly especially with control track system. Check your manual for the proper fluid types to use. Your way past due for a complete trans oil (14L) & filter change. Is your engine a SOHC V6 ? What model auto tranny do you have? 5RE55 -E,N,S,W?

 

[powrus]

Wrench - Thanks for your reply regarding our '03 Explorer. Explaining more about our transfer case issue, "clunking" noises began after driving approx 45 minutes - never less than that. Since 99% of our driving is 30 minutes or less, the noise problem rarely surfaced. The problem only arose during decel, and would disappear during acceleration, or by selecting the 4/W High button. We took the Explorer to our local Ford service dept for evaluation.

FoMoCo techs did their usual job of over-emphasizing the problem which caused us to leave there and visit a local transmission shop for a second opinion. That tech chose a more conservative approach by draining the transfer case fluid and replacing with new fluid ... and recommending that we drive it for a week or so - in order to see if the sound still existed. That was 2 weeks ago, and we did not hear that irritating sound following a 3 hour trip. We're still in a wait-and-see mode. We understand that the "clunking" problem may not be entirely corrected.

Our Explorer has a 4.0L SOHC FFV V6 Engine, with a 5-Speed Auto O/D trans.

We'll have the transmission fluid flushed and replaced this week by someone other than FoMoCo. FoMoCo may have the specs and the trained techs to do the job best in such instances, but our local Ford service department has lost our confidence over the past couple of years with their "sky is falling" ethics. Every oil change at FoMoCo comes with some catastrophic warning about other areas of our Explorer.

Thanks again.

 

[Wrench]

When you get your trans fluid completely changed (not just removing the oil pan) make sure you specify Mercon V as a replacement- Period!
Don't put Dexron 111 in with an additive. Mercon V is semi synthetic and should only be used other than going full synthetic.
On the TC oil change pay close attention to any metal filings showing with a flashlight. Some filing are not magnetic. Could be your TC chain is loose which rotates all the time or a clutch problem. What model TC do you have? ID Tag on TC case bolt where case halves splits open. BW 4405 or BW 1354?