I recently purchased a 2003 Taurus SES with the Vulcan 3.0. Car only has 47 thousand miles. Should I change the trans fluid or leave it? I know they’re notorious for having bad transmissions, but this one shifts smooth as of now, thanks.
I recently purchased a 2003 Taurus SES with the Vulcan 3.0. Car only has 47 thousand miles. Should I change the trans fluid or leave it? I know they’re notorious for having bad transmissions, but this one shifts smooth as of now, thanks.
That's suspiciously low mileage for a 21-year-old car.
Take a sample of fluid, Ford of that era may have a transmission dipstick. It should be darker red, and not gritty. If it's gritty or burned, don't change it.
Looks like it sat for 10 years in a garage with last owner
Started the car back up and it started idling up and down really rough. I got on the gas so it wouldn’t stall and pulled up to my apartment where it stalled as I got into a parking space. It kept stalling when trying to start it back up.
The car was running fine and suddenly doesn't want to idle. Check and make sure it's getting fuel. It sat in a garage for 10 years, this could be a clogged filter, bad fuel pump or other fuel delivery issue.
That relatively low miles. I would only do a drain and refill and never flush the transmission fluid. I would change it every 30k miles to extend the life of the transmission.
Update- not good.
i dropped the pan and put on a new filter, and new fluid. Drained 6.5 quarts in total. Car started right up, fluid level good. Took it to autozone to dispose of old fluid (checked fluid level again) went to the store, and then drove home (20+ miles with car being shut off three times). As I pulled into my neighborhood I had to shut off my car to open a gate with a fob on my key chain. Started the car back up and it started idling up and down really rough. I got on the gas so it wouldn’t stall and pulled up to my apartment where it stalled as I got into a parking space. It kept stalling when trying to start it back up. Right now I’m unsure what to do. Also kind of hard to recheck transmission fluid level if I can’t keep the car running. Any help or thoughts would be greatly appreciated, thanks.
Turns out it was bad fuel filter, thanks for the help.
@joe-masco Thank you for the update.
Alright thx for the help. Looks like it sat for 10 years in a garage with last owner