weve all seen wildbills tc change and have pondered it. i tried it. heres what i found:

i bought 2L of MOBIL1 synthetic 75w 140 ls gear oil (redline not available around here)
i rolled it up on ramps. set out the oil catch tray, put a small bucket under the tc.
popped the plug with a ratchet, 3" extension, and a swivel extension.
then i just stared in disbelief as i lay there.

nothing came out. nothing. not 650ml, not 50ml.... nothing.

all i got out of it was the small ball of oil (looked more like black grease, seeing i could roll it in a ball!) and CHUNKS!!! of metal stuck to the magnetic plug.

seeing this made me fell sick.

i have a small vacuum/suction pump with one inlet, and one out-let. with a length of tubing on the inlet and stuck into a bottle of gear oil, and the tube from the outlet sticking into the tc, i pumped in about 400ml of oil and re plugged it.

ran it a a mile or two and drove on one ramp, under right side tire to tilt the drain plug at a more downward angle.

drained this and got about 150ml out of it. oil was black. lots of metal fragments. switched the ramp to the left side tire to tilt the plug up a little for refill.

pumped in another 400ml for a total of about 600-650. replugged and ran like this a few days

again ramp under right tire, drained about 550ml of dirty, metal filled pieces out of the tc. i then switched ramp and pumped about 600ml back into it.


replugged it and have been running in this state, tc seems to be doing ok. will be doing again in about 200 or so miles, and im guessing itll be black again, but hoping for most all metal pieces to be out.

before i did any of this i thought it should be done but because i didnt notice any major signs i put it off and put it off. big mistake. it literally could have been any mile in the near future when the lack of oil might cause my tc to freeze up and explode....

after next tc drain and refill im doing the tranny, then rear diff.

mobil1 also makes an atf fluid that states on the label that it is equal to IDEMITSU K17. about 8.87/qt here in western ma. gear oil was like 18.?? /qt

so to any one who thinks theirs is PROBABLY ok due to the "sealed for life" policy, pop that fill plug and see. you might just s--- your pants like i almost did......stevis05


"sealed for life" must have been referring to the company owners pockets, not trannys and tc's

 

Good Job..you may have saved yourself a whole lot of money..

When I drained mine originally after only 30,000 miles..I had about 400 mL total of tar come out even after standing the right side up almost to tipping the car over (LOL)

I drained and refilled twice now in the last 5000 miles..The last time the oil looked like new still..

BTW, I used Royal Purple as it claims to have properties to help heal scared surfaces in gears, etc.

Also, don't forget to install the cooling scoop/duct for the TC, at least in the summer months.

 

Scary. Very scary. When we did mine (uaing Bill's kit of course) at least we did get some out and it was still "fluid". This is a must do for anyone who is planning on keeping their X-Type past the warranty period.

 

scoop? haha, as long as ive owned my car that piece has not existed on it. long gone, and i know that the snow around here will take it right off if i did replace it. i am the third owner of my car, got it with 60k, it now has 80k, and after doing this i realize im the first one to do it since it rolled out of the factory. i have no warranty, so 40 bucks in oil beats a $3k tc job.

-stevis05

 

I think anyone that has driven in the snow with the X-type, the TC/Air Scoops is probably the first thing to go...If I lived in an area that had frequent and plentful snow, I would remove it for the winter and then put it back on in the Spring..It only has 1, 10mm bolt holding it on.

 

Now you have me curious. Where are these scoops, and how would I tell if mine have survived thus far?

 

Steve, how many miles did you have on your car when you changed the fluid?

Mine's likely to hit 30000 in the Spring. I'm thinking this is something I should plan on doing in the spring or summer.

 

Change you oil.

You need to remove the scoop to drain the oil. If you can get to your oil pan drain plug without removing something, your scoop is missing..

FWIW I've replaced mine twice. I would not run the car without it. They are absolutely vital for the TC case to last.

 

I wish you could buy the "scoop" in bulk. I could use like a 10-pack.

 

You can...just order 10 from the dealer

 

Excellent thread guys. This has me moderately worried about my tc's state of being. I've been planning on flushing it for some time but this makes me wanna do it asap

 

the car has like 80,4xx mi, i did the tc after thinking about it for a long time... wish i wouldve done it sooner. my biggest thing for a while was the valve system wild bill and dennis black show. i built my own exaclty the way dennis black did and i wasnt able to use it. i just couldnt get the threads started because of the part of the valve that a wrench goes around was hitting on the upper lip ot the tc. once i found there was no oil i didnt care any more. the only goal was to put oil in the tc, and flush it repeatedly to get every metal flake possible out! i stuck the hose from the pump in about a half inch(all i could) and made a seal with my finger wrapped around the hose, holding it against the fill hole. pumped it fast and fired it in, got a little messy but drop the pump and plug the hole! quick wipe and tighten, then rewipe. i lost a little fluid but it didnt matter, the fact that I ACTUALLY KNOW what the oil is like in there now is a peace of mind to me. but that tranny oil is really buggin the s--- out of me now.... -stevis05

 

I've got this hankering to put some quality mobile 1 synthetic lube in my tc rear diff and trans. Just need money and time alotted. I bet it would drive even smoother!

 

WOW!! Im getting ready to perform same change and im so curious to see what i get out of Tc!! I have 91000 ml on her an i dont have records of her maint from previous owner!
Wish me luck!

 

Okay, Good Luck! Let us know what comes out and how much.

 

Ya keep us posted to how it looks in there

 

With car on lift (not tilted), mechanic removed inspection plug on right side bottom of case (near output shaft). He said there was no fluid he could detect by finger. So he shot some Mobile 70w-140 synthetic gear oil in. It took barely 1/2 qt. before it dripped out. I should have vacated TC fluid while the engine/trans./TC was out of car two weeks ago.I thought to empty and refill trans. then? Amazing how/why Ford and Jag engineers set this car up to be very tilted towards their access only...$$$.

 

I get from mine TC ...0.00000 oil with 93k on them. I just think I WAS LUCKY.

 

Damn I've never heard of a tc that just loses its fluid. How the hell does something like this happen?

 

Shaft seals.