got 2003 ranger 4x4 with 180000 miles on it. trans works great..fluid looks dirty.should i change it with the high miles or leave it a lone.

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2003 Ford Rager 4.0 stepside

Has it ever been changed before? If not it's living on borrowed time anyway. I definitely wouldn't do a flush but just dropping the pan and changing the filter and the 3-4 quarts from the pan won't cause any further damage. The trans holds 10 quarts total, the pan doesnt remove it all.

The myth of not changing the fluid comes from scenarios like this. A trans with high mileage and no maintenance and then the fluid gets changed and it suddenly fails. It was going to fail anyway...

what you could do in that situation. do a drain and fill of the trans and change the screen. Start the truck up, let the fluid circulate, drain the fluid again. that will help get the worst of the fluid out

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2021 F150 5.0 Screw

Past:18 F150 2.7, 16 F150 5.0, 14 F150 5.0, 07 F150 5.4, 03 Ranger 4.0

Master Certified Ford Parts / Warranty Admin

This is how I do mine. When its time for maintenance I buy a case of 12 quarts then drop the pan and change the filter then seal it back up, re-fill the 3-4 quarts and drive for a bit. Then drain the pan again and refill, then repeat a third time. Having a drain plug makes the second and third fills take less than 5 minutes. Im admittedly a little nuts with transmission fluid maintenance though. Mainly because I despise rebuilding automatic transmissions...

When I got my Ranger it had 150k miles on it. The trans fluid did not look good so I dropped the pan, changed the filter and refilled. After another 6k miles I sucked 2+ quarts out of the dip stick tube and replaced with fresh fluid. I have had no problems. I did use genuine Mercon V fluid.