Little auto tranny issue with my '03 Town Car

[Town]

Hi Slick Fan,

Yes, the rubber plug seems to serve no current purpose, I thought it might be for access to the nuts and bolts that attach the torque converter to the flexplate (flywheel), but not that either. The 1998 and up through 2007 (and probably beyond) use a plate (that appears just like the AOD trans in TABBOOMA's picture) for access to the torque converter bolts from the trans side and a plug on the back of the engine that is removed for access to the nuts from the engine side of the flexplate.

Great that with a 32% oil change (4.5 quarts of a 13.9 quart refill capacity - not dry fill quantity) you noticed a big improvement in trans shifting performance. Sounds like a good plan to flush the trans.

Good luck.

 

[TABBOOMA]

Interesting, my bellhousing has a rubber plug at the bottom, similar to TABBOOMA's photo, so I assumed my Town Car had a drain. Maybe the plug is just there to look pretty?

　
I really doubt if that is the reason. There would be no need to redesign the transmission housing just to omit the drain plug from the torque converter.
　
Town claims you converter has no drain plug and he no doubt is correct.
　
You might drop that plug and roll the engine around and look for a plug as the illustration for a 2003 model on fordparts.com shows a converter with a drain plug. In fact 2 different plugs, 87650-S (1/8”-27, .375 square head, MSRP $4.00) and 391346-S (1/8“-27, Hex Head (probably 7/16” wrench), MSRP $0.82).
　
Now let me clarify that. There are actually 2 converters listed depending on the transmission part number found on the tag. You can get the number off your tag and take a look at that site. It appears 2003 was a model year that saw two designs used.
　
By only putting 4.5 qt of new fluid you only replaced 32% of the total 13.9 qt capacity.
　
My feeling that a flush with 95-100% clean fluid would be a lot better for the longevity of your transmission than running it around with 2/3 of the capacity being old, dirty fluid.
　
Lets look at the mathematics of the procedure you use.
　
If you had 100 units of contaminants in your fluid when you started, the first time you changed it, you reduced your contaminants to 68 units. Then keep right on changing. Figures rounded off.
　
2nd - 46
3rd - 31
4th - 21
5th - 15
6th - 10
7th - 7
8th - 5
9th - 3
　
It would only take 11 changes to get it down to 1.5 units of contaminates.
　
You can see it would take over 12 gallons vs 4 gallons or less for a flush, and no doubt a bigger mess. You would certainly be a pro at doing it though.
　
You could be real daring and drill and tap a 1/4” NPT plug in the converter. I bet you wouldn’t be the first.
　
Good luck.

 

[GeneLaw1]

150K before a transmission service is inane.

If your transmission makes it to 150K, you should change the fluid.

[/FONT]

In your experience, whats a good fluid change interval?

 

[TABBOOMA]

30K is my choice, right or wrong.

I have always found PM a lot cheaper than repair shops.

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[Town]

Same as TABBOOMA,

for the same reason, 30,000 miles for a flush with filter change has been my normal schedule. At 30,000 miles on my 2007 just had the flush done based upon Ford recommendation and my dealer recommendation. This spring I will do the mark95man flush procedure and the filter change and clean the pan.

The severe service schedule for the trans oil is 30,000 miles, no filter change until normal service at 150,000 miles, unless other work needed on trans.

Good luck.

 

[Rey]

I've been doing it every 30k since new. Never have done a full flush but with the maintenance it's been getting since day one I don't think it'll be an issue. I change the filter every time and cleanup the pan with magnet. Since the car now has 140k I am thinking of putting in a good additive like lubegard along with the fresh fluid.

http://www.lubegard.com/~/C-113/LUBEGARD+Platinum+Universal+ATF+Protectant

 

[GeneLaw1]

I purchased the car with around 45k miles on it. It now has about 61k. I am going to go on ahead and take it in and get a flush done. I have no records of it ever being done.

 

[Slick Fan]

　　
You might drop that plug and roll the engine around and look for a plug...

Next time I'm under there, I think I'll do that & have a look-see.

The severe service schedule for the trans oil is 30,000 miles, no filter change until normal service at 150,000 miles, unless other work needed on trans.

See, and to me, that's waiting too long. I have dropped the pan on an Explorer ('04-ish, I forget the year) that had just over 80K on the clock & there was enough gunk in the pan that I was glad I didn't wait longer. Nowehere near what my Town Car looked like, but bad enough.
It was my sister's vehicle & I know it had a flush job just after she bought it with 39K miles on it.

Since the manufacturers are in business to sell cars & not necessarily parts, I think they forcast certain maintenance items out just far enough to make it into "old car" territory, hoping the owner will trade up.
Same story with 100,000 mile spark plugs that some manufacturers proclaim. Sure, some plugs are better than others, but I would never leave a set of plugs in an engine that long...it's too rough on the ignition system.

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[lassetexan]

Town,
I wouldn't have guessed the regular filter change to be that late, I would have guessed it to be closer to 75,000 miles. IMO, 150K is much too late.
Yeah, the long strand shavings are not a good sign, neither is the brown oil...which after seeing both, I was surprised the oil didn't have that pungent burnt odor. It just smells old, really old. So for now, it's diluted a bit with 4.5 quarts of new fluid. If it still feels like it's not gonna die by May, I'll probably drop the pan again, for a look-see & dilute it out a bit more with another 4.5 quarts.
I'd be surprised if I get another 25K out of this tranny before it throws in the towel.

Lassetexan,
Here's a shot of the solenoid & part number...

For me, the hardest part was trying to locate the release tabs for the plastic PC board connecting the various solenoids to power. Once you remove that, you will need to remove the rectangular shift solenoids (2 bolts, 8mm & 10mm hex respectively), to remove the TCC. That part is an easy job, they pull straight out & push back in the same.

*edit* Here's that PC board I'm talking about, I happened to stumble on this as I was perusing Ebay this morning...
http://www.ebay.com/itm/OEM-BULKHEA...=Year:2003|Model:Town+Car&hash=item35b7729ff4

Hi Lars,

The TCC is the Torque Converter Clutch and it is operated by the TCC solenoid that is pictured. You will need to drop the trans pan for access as Slick Fan did. The TCC solenoid pictured by Slick Fan has been used for many years and fits your car and mine. I don't have a procedure just for the TCC solenoid but the attached procedures may be a help, they are from the 4R75E in the 2006 model that should be the same as the 4R70W in the 2003 model. I cannot see why the manual shift lever needs to be removed, but I have included it just in case.

Since Slick Fan replaced the solenoid without the shift lever being touched the procedures may only be useful for showing you where the components are located.

Good luck.

Hi

To replace the TCC, do I need special tools to do it?

The problem I've with my transmission is that it "lock" overdrive quite rough sometime. So I thought maybe this TCC could be the bad part that cause this rough shifting sometimes.
Any thoughts?

Thanks

 

[Slick Fan]

Hi

To replace the TCC, do I need special tools to do it?

The problem I've with my transmission is that it "lock" overdrive quite rough sometime. So I thought maybe this TCC could be the bad part that cause this rough shifting sometimes.
Any thoughts?

Thanks

There's no special tools required, other than maybe a tiny screwdriver or pick, to release the tabs on the electrical connectors.

From what I understand, the main function of the TCC solenoid to lock up the torque converter when it needs to...it shouldn't keep the tranny from shifting into 4th (overdrive). Although when this solenoid is bad, it does make the shifts feel very "mushy", because the trans control module is reading a faulty part & goes into sort of a "limp mode" until the problem is fixed.
So, if I'm reading your post correctly, you probably don't need this part.

If yours is shifting hard into 4th, two things come to mind. Well, three...
1) Make sure your fluid is clean, and showing full on the dipstick.
2) The shift solenoid "pack" is the rectangular part on the valve body, next to the TCC solenoid. It's possible that this is going bad, possibly.
However...
3) It sounds to me like an issue with the overdrive servo. This is a hydraulic piston (under the valve body) that controls the speed of the shift into 4th. This servo can be affected by gunk buildup, and also the buffer spring in there can weaken and/or break, causing the piston to engage the o/d band way too fast.

Now, I am by no means an expert on auto tranny's, especially electronically controlled ones, so definitely get a 2nd opinion on this.

 

[lassetexan]

Town,
I wouldn't have guessed the regular filter change to be that late, I would have guessed it to be closer to 75,000 miles. IMO, 150K is much too late.
Yeah, the long strand shavings are not a good sign, neither is the brown oil...which after seeing both, I was surprised the oil didn't have that pungent burnt odor. It just smells old, really old. So for now, it's diluted a bit with 4.5 quarts of new fluid. If it still feels like it's not gonna die by May, I'll probably drop the pan again, for a look-see & dilute it out a bit more with another 4.5 quarts.
I'd be surprised if I get another 25K out of this tranny before it throws in the towel.

Lassetexan,
Here's a shot of the solenoid & part number...

For me, the hardest part was trying to locate the release tabs for the plastic PC board connecting the various solenoids to power. Once you remove that, you will need to remove the rectangular shift solenoids (2 bolts, 8mm & 10mm hex respectively), to remove the TCC. That part is an easy job, they pull straight out & push back in the same.

*edit* Here's that PC board I'm talking about, I happened to stumble on this as I was perusing Ebay this morning...
http://www.ebay.com/itm/OEM-BULKHEA...=Year:2003|Model:Town+Car&hash=item35b7729ff4

Hi Lars,

The TCC is the Torque Converter Clutch and it is operated by the TCC solenoid that is pictured. You will need to drop the trans pan for access as Slick Fan did. The TCC solenoid pictured by Slick Fan has been used for many years and fits your car and mine. I don't have a procedure just for the TCC solenoid but the attached procedures may be a help, they are from the 4R75E in the 2006 model that should be the same as the 4R70W in the 2003 model. I cannot see why the manual shift lever needs to be removed, but I have included it just in case.

Since Slick Fan replaced the solenoid without the shift lever being touched the procedures may only be useful for showing you where the components are located.

Good luck.

There's no special tools required, other than maybe a tiny screwdriver or pick, to release the tabs on the electrical connectors.

From what I understand, the main function of the TCC solenoid to lock up the torque converter when it needs to...it shouldn't keep the tranny from shifting into 4th (overdrive). Although when this solenoid is bad, it does make the shifts feel very "mushy", because the trans control module is reading a faulty part & goes into sort of a "limp mode" until the problem is fixed.
So, if I'm reading your post correctly, you probably don't need this part.

If yours is shifting hard into 4th, two things come to mind. Well, three...
1) Make sure your fluid is clean, and showing full on the dipstick.
2) The shift solenoid "pack" is the rectangular part on the valve body, next to the TCC solenoid. It's possible that this is going bad, possibly.
However...
3) It sounds to me like an issue with the overdrive servo. This is a hydraulic piston (under the valve body) that controls the speed of the shift into 4th. This servo can be affected by gunk buildup, and also the buffer spring in there can weaken and/or break, causing the piston to engage the o/d band way too fast.

Now, I am by no means an expert on auto tranny's, especially electronically controlled ones, so definitely get a 2nd opinion on this.

Hi Slick Fan

Thanks for your thoughts.
I have always replace the fluid every year, but I have never flushed the tranny. Think I will start this season with flushing the tranny and see if that will do any difference.
The buffer spring, is it difficult to replace that part?

Thanks

 

[Slick Fan]

Hi Slick Fan

Thanks for your thoughts.
I have always replace the fluid every year, but I have never flushed the tranny. Think I will start this season with flushing the tranny and see if that will do any difference.
The buffer spring, is it difficult to replace that part?

Thanks

I would most certainly flush that baby!
If your problem persists, I would have a trustworthy transmission guy take a look.

The buffer spring is relatively deep inside the tranny, this requires removing the valve body to reach. The servo piston is held into the transmission housing with a snap ring (under tension), the spring is on the back side of that. It takes a trained eye to determine if the spring is at fault, or if there are deeper issues related to the servo piston's operation.
If you have had a VB apart, you may see some of the telltale signs, but if not, a decent trans mechanic should be able to spot a problem & advise.

BTW, a european auto tranny should look very similar to a US auto tranny once inside, once the pan is off & he is "in the noodles" so a descent mechanic should be able to find his way around... Find a good mechanic & I bet you'll be in good hands.

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[Town]

Hi lassetexan,

Attached are the procedures to remove the main control valve body and access the overdrive servo.

Good luck.