CVT Filter and Fluid Change with PICS!

[dmckmc]

Fluid was drained in park with emergency brake on. I did warm the car to temp and cycle through R,N,D,L before draining. Once drained, I let the fluid in the catch bucket cool to outside temp and then replaced one to one what drained out. I did check the level later to ensure it was ok using the engine temp via the engineering mode. This is a little tricky because the temp rises quickly as the engine is running and the engine must be running to check level. There is about a one quart difference in level between running and not running. Running, the level hit about two-thirds between bottom and top marks and not running the level hit way over the top marker (much like a regular A/T).

[nynd]

Just checked mine again and yes, your correct. With it running, mine was a little more than 1/2 way between the two marks.. fluid was not "hot" to the touch... mearly cool-warm.. and then with it off, it was about 1/2" over the top marker...

Why couldn't these guys just make it so you check at cold - and then check at normal operating...

[veeight]

I went through this same exercise earlier this year (April 2009). The wife's 2005 FreeStyle had around 61k miles on it.

Here are some of my notes:

1. I did not remove the transmission support to change the high pressure filter. The hole in the support will allow a socket extension through, but it is very tight. Getting the filter cover and the actual filter out and back together is another tight challenge with the support in place. Next time, I will remove the support.

2. There are two magnets in the bottom of the transmission pan that should be cleaned. They rest in two shallow pockets and look like thin rectangles. The pan and fluid were very clean in my opinion. No shavings or significant debris of note. The two pan magnets were covered in fine grey shavings of a paste-like consistency. I measured 7 quarts when I drained the CVT. Luckily, I had purchased 10 quarts...

3. The pan filter (low pressure) has a rubber O-ring at the top of the spout that got stuck in the valve body when I pulled it out of the trans. It was easy to fish out with a piece of metal clotheshanger.

4. Be very careful with the pan bolts. I stripped three of them torquing the pan back on. I ended up putting helicoils in the stripped bosses which was fun since the driver's side of the pan is angled away from the ground.

5. The Ford replacement high pressure filter looked a lot cheaper than the factory installed filter it replaced. It has a black plastic body and a white paper element. The factory filter had a metal body with a paper element. There is a bonded rubber/metal stub tube in the high pressure kit that replaces the factory Ford bare metal tube with two O-rings. Therefore, the kit only comes with four small O-rings, not six.

6. I paid around $168 for the 10 quarts of CVT fluid, both filters and a new pan gasket.

[Jack Watts]

Originally Posted by veeight

2. There are two magnets in the bottom of the transmission pan that should be cleaned. They rest in two shallow pockets and look like thin rectangles. The pan and fluid were very clean in my opinion. No shavings or significant debris of note. The two pan magnets were covered in fine grey shavings of a paste-like consistency. I measured 7 quarts when I drained the CVT. Luckily, I had purchased 10 quarts...

3. The pan filter (low pressure) has a rubber O-ring at the top of the spout that got stuck in the valve body when I pulled it out of the trans. It was easy to fish out with a piece of metal clotheshanger.

wow...so you've gone where few have gone before, changing the low-pressure filter as well! If you wouldn't mind, could you give a brief description of what that involves? Also, I hate to ask...but where you using a torque wrench and the bolts stripped before you reached the spec'd torque--not accusing, just wondering when/if I do this myself.

I also just did the fluid change last week. I wouldn't have felt confident doing this without this write-up, so thanks again to the original poster for the excellent write-up with pictures!

Here are some of my additional notes which may help the less-than-pro mechanic:

-I didn't actually have to remove the MAF sensor, it just bent out of the way. This was helpful, no codes to clear later. The bottom half of the air cleaner pulls out after removing one bolt, you have to yank pretty hard

-remove the fender shroud. I didn't do this and I was fighting it while removing the transmission mount, would have been quicker just to take it off. Same with the transmission mount (I almost didn't take it off as well, but it's worth removing).

-the hardest part of the job is getting the 2 left bolts on and off of the transmission mount. I would have saved a lot of time with an impact wrench. Just do the final torque down by hand. The suckers are on there, and the bolts are long.

-removing the HP filter was a little tricky. I used a bicycle spoke hook around the bottom lip and pulled and it came right out. Fingers don't really work....

-the only 'technical part' is making sure you seat the filter up in the housing, and seat the filter cover correctly. Outside of that, it's an idiot-proof job.

-I cleaned the filter housing out with a rag and some compressed air, the flushed it with a little bit of new fluid

-I also filled up the new filter with some new fluid

-it would be a good idea to have an extra trans oil drain plug around. The T-25 is pretty small, and it stripped a little on install at the proper torque spec (the bolt head, not the pan-no big deal by I'm going to replace it on the next drain/fill)

-I'm going to send the fluid off to be analyzed. There were no shavings and it looked pretty good, but I would not leave the fluid in there over the recommended service interval. I really think the best bet would be do do a drain and fill every 30K and the HP filter every 60K or 90K.

[veeight]

Originally Posted by Jack Watts

wow...so you've gone where few have gone before, changing the low-pressure filter as well! If you wouldn't mind, could you give a brief description of what that involves? Also, I hate to ask...but where you using a torque wrench and the bolts stripped before you reached the spec'd torque--not accusing, just wondering when/if I do this myself.

...

The only two filters I know of is the one in the pan (low pressure) and the high pressure filter on the driver's side of the trans case.

Yes I did use an inch-lb torque wrench, but I still managed to break one pan bolt off in the trans and strip two other thread bosses. The Factory Ford Manual says the bolts are to be torqued to 9 ft-lbs (108 in-lbs), but I ended up using approx 7 ft-lbs (84 in-lbs). The bolts stripped or sheared before I reached 9 ft-lbs. I also had trouble getting some of the bolts started in the trans without crossthreading them. I believe the bolts are M6 x 1.0.

[mark v]

I just made this a Sticky so it will always be on top of the forum.

[hipirn]

In a normal Ford CVT transmission 60,000 mile service, is it just a fluid and HP filter change or does it require pan and low pressure (pan filter) replacement as well? hipirn

[hipirn]

Does the Ford 60,00 mile CVT service (05 Freestyle) require just a fluid and High Pressure filter change or does it also require pan removal and low pressure(pan) filter replacement as well?? hipirn

[veeight]

The 2005 Factory Ford Workshop Manual that I have says:

"NOTE: Install a new high-pressure case filter when changing the transmission fluid."

"The filter (high pressure) should be changed every time the fluid is changed or whenever the transaxle is overhauled."

[hipirn]

Thanks vee eight... hipirn