Hi. I recently bought a 2013 3.7 FWD with 40k miles. My first concern was getting all the fluids changed out. I have yet to flush the cooling system however I have changed the engine oil and transmission fluid. I thought I’d share my input on how I did it.
Located under the air box you will find the transmission fill cap. Ford was nice enough to include a dipstick built into the cap.
I started by going for a drive. Got the transmission fluid up to operating temperature. Then I removed the underbody cover and located the transmission drain bolt (there is no pan).
After allowing the fluid to fully drain, I applied thread sealer to the drain bolt and carefully threaded it in to the case. (It’s easy to strip/crack the case). I added 4.5 quarts of Castrol TransMax Universal ATF from Walmart. The bottle says it’s compatible with Mercon LV so I trusted it. Per Ford the correct amount of fluid to add is 4.23 quarts, I added 4.5 because why not? Unfortunately there is no side drain like you would find on a differential. You can always check the fluid level with the dipstick but make sure the car is up to operating temperature first.
So far I have performed 2 drain and fills. After the first drain and fill, I noticed a huge difference in shift quality. The car was no longer “bucking” when shifting between lower gears. After the second drain and fill I barely feel the transmission shift now. I’m not joking when I say it’s like a knife cutting through butter. I’m not sure about the long term but so far I have no issues with this Castrol TransMax ATF. I plan on doing this procedure every 5-10k miles. It’s literally so cheap and easy to do so why not ?♂️.
Hope this helps even a little bit!
