ST Transmission Service 2022 ST

[garycrist]

When servicing the transmission take these steps and save $$$$s.

Easy as pie but, things have changed from prior models.

Tools needed;

Common screw driver 8mm or 7 mm socket, 14mm socket, 10mm hex (Allen Key) 6 quarts of ULV Mercon I used Vavoline pliers to remove clamp for the fill port .

The trick to get cheaper transmission fluid was to order it online from O'Riley's and pick it up! That saves $$$s.

1. ST up to operating temp.

2. Remove Air Box

3. Remove lower cover under transmission.

4. Use 14 MM socket to drain transmission. DO NOT REMOVE 10 mm ALLEN PLUG TILL FLUID IS DRAINED! Otherwise a flood of fluid is yours to clean-up.

5. After fluid is drained remove 10MM Allen plug and reinstall 14MM drain plug.

6. With vehicle level, add 3 quarts of fluid and start ST.

7. Add 2 more quarts and shift into all gears several times.

8. Add last quart with drain pan under the 14MM plug.

As the St warms up fluid will leak out till full @ 185 degrees of fluid temp. Once the flow slows down reinstall 10MM plug WITH ENGINE RUNNING!!!

If you turn off the engine while the 10MM plug is out, a flood of fluid will gush out requiring MORE transmission fluid.

Put it back together and smile.

[atulo]

The Mercon ULV from Rock Auto ($6.18) is cheaper than O'Reilly ($12).

[GTSnake]

10 hours ago, atulo said:

The Mercon ULV from Rock Auto ($6.18) is cheaper than O'Reilly ($12).

Wow, that's the cheapest I've seen.  The lowest I've found outside of Rock auto was $8/qt.

[kruzr1]

Just wanted to clarify on garycrist procedures concerning the refill process. The following is taken from my service manual. For me to reach that required temperature I had to drive the vehicle for awhile. Just by sitting parked and idling, the temps would not go up enough. After I had drained the fluid I refilled it with a little more than I took out before driving.

4. Connect the diagnostic scan tool to the vehicle. Monitor the TFT PID .

5. With the engine running in PARK on a level surface make sure the transmission is at normal operating temperature 85-93° C (185-200° F).

6. With foot on the brake, slowly select each gear position, stopping in each position and allowing the transmission to engage.

7. With the engine running in PARK, remove the oil leveling plug.  

[garycrist]

As of today 7/7/2024 NAPA online $6.49 for Vavoline ULV, pick-up.

Get some while it's cheap.

[lildisco]

Ordered some for my 2020 SEL AWD. Roughly the same cost as Motorcraft, but for whatever reason I prefer Valvoline for transmission fluid. You also need to order in quantities of 6 if you do free shipping. 

[STBEAST]

Good information! Seems Ford has overlooked the importance of TRANSMISSION. PTU AND RDU fluid changes. Since these service intervals no longer exist in the current (digital) owner's manuals.

What are the recommended intervals??

[Davidoo]

That's great information.  I guess I'm confused though how in any way a 22 ST (I have one with 20,200 miles) would require changing at just 2 years.  

[lildisco]

Preventative maintenance. To my knowledge, there's no filter on these transmissions. Best to change the fluid every 30,000 or before instead of waiting & causing more harm than good. It's relatively easy & cheap for ST's & non ST's to do. Especially for piece of mind. I may do my next flush sooner to get the Valvoline in there instead of the Motorcraft fluid. 

[Davidoo]

3 hours ago, lildisco said:

Preventative maintenance. To my knowledge, there's no filter on these transmissions. Best to change the fluid every 30,000 or before instead of waiting & causing more harm than good. It's relatively easy & cheap for ST's & non ST's to do. Especially for piece of mind. I may do my next flush sooner to get the Valvoline in there instead of the Motorcraft fluid. 

 I get it, but wow, I just can't imagine changing the transmission fluid in a 2-year-old car.  I mean, I always do the oil changes a bit before recommended, but I have to say that I've been driving since the 70s and only ever changed transmission fluid on a vehicle once on one I bought used with and unknown service record.  I never keep anything more than 100,000 miles and knock on wood, never have had a transmission issue.  Are there 3 things you are changing?  I thought transmission and PTU were the same thing.  Are you changing rear differential at 2-year intervals as well?  

[lildisco]

3 hours ago, Davidoo said:

 I get it, but wow, I just can't imagine changing the transmission fluid in a 2-year-old car.  I mean, I always do the oil changes a bit before recommended, but I have to say that I've been driving since the 70s and only ever changed transmission fluid on a vehicle once on one I bought used with and unknown service record.  I never keep anything more than 100,000 miles and knock on wood, never have had a transmission issue.  Are there 3 things you are changing?  I thought transmission and PTU were the same thing.  Are you changing rear differential at 2-year intervals as well?  

Depends on your driving style. I tow a ZTR Mower in a 5x8 trailer almost every week during the summer months. This year I hauled about ~3,500lbs of mulch twice (about 10 miles one way) from Lowe's. Not very smart, but it was over a short distance & I didn't go over 35mph the entire way. I also haul random other things a few times a year, but towing also shortens the service intervals. 

The Power Transfer Unit (PTU) is located up by the transmission. Usually gets hot because of the engine bay & heats up the fluid & the fluid breaks down faster. I changed that out to Redline Lightweight Shockproof 75W140 (Smurf Blood) & it appears to handle the heat & beating I do when towing. I believe that I swapped it out ~18,000 miles & then again ~8,000 miles later & still looked new blue with way less shavings on the drain plug. 

Rear Drive Unit, RDU, I've only changed once with Motorcraft 75W Disconnect Fluid (only brand compatible with the RDU that I'm aware of). It was pretty nasty & I should probably do it again soon. 

Transmission has already been discussed, but all depends on usage. I wouldn't go above 30,000 on either of the 3.

 

As far as changing the fluids compared to the previous vehicles you've driven, there's probably a lot more electronics in your steering wheel compared to your entire car of your youths. These electronics have a finer tolerance than your previous vehicles. Tiny amounts of dirt & debris can create havoc on these electronics. Better to have fresh clean fluid, than dirty old broken down fluid. 

 

Edited July 9 by lildisco

[Wubster100]

Thanks for all of the sale prices. Valvoline ULV is still available for $6.49 with free shipping. Mercon ULV is $6.18 and Dexron ULV is $4.91 at Rockauto, but there isn't free shipping.

[Davidoo]

Yes, a lot of that is different than the vehicles we had in the 70s.  I also get that if you are pulling a trailer it should be done more often.  In the old days there was just a transmission and rear differential, now there is a third item, a PTU?  Obviously I haven't done this kind of maintenance myself in decades because I don't keep the cars long enough.

[garycrist]

@Davidoo I know you did not forget about Jeep and it's Quarda trac system.

Boy, that additive smelled like beets and stunk!

[chr8990]

@garycrist good information and I completely agree with @lildisco regarding the maintenance schedule for these transmissions. I changed the PTU and RDU fluid as well before 30K.

 

For reference, here are the instructions that the shop uses when changing the transmission fluid.

2022 Edge ST Transmission Fluid Drain and Refill.pdf 2022 Edge ST Air Cleaner Outlet Pipe.pdf 2022 Edge ST Air Cleaner.pdf

[DistractedDev]

On 7/10/2024 at 1:56 PM, chr8990 said:

@garycrist good information and I completely agree with @lildisco regarding the maintenance schedule for these transmissions. I changed the PTU and RDU fluid as well before 30K.

 

For reference, here are the instructions that the shop uses when changing the transmission fluid.

2022 Edge ST Transmission Fluid Drain and Refill.pdf 1.27 MB · 10 downloads 2022 Edge ST Air Cleaner Outlet Pipe.pdf 649.26 kB · 4 downloads 2022 Edge ST Air Cleaner.pdf 257.11 kB · 2 downloads

These instructions seem to indicate that an additional liter / quart should be added after leveling the fluid and reinstalling the plug. Wouldn't this mean the OP would be a quart low? I feel like I'm missing something here.

[dabangsta]

Yeah, that adding a quart after leveling it with the sight plug removed is weird.

 

When I checked the level on mine (not an ST so different transmission, so the reason???) it was very slightly underfilled at 90,000 miles, but I could see that it was very close to spilling some out. It wasn't 1 quart over filled.

[DistractedDev]

Thanks @dabangsta. The procedure does appear to differ between the 8f35 (2.0) and the 8f57 (2.7) transmissions. I found the instructions for the 8f35 in this thread, courtesy of @colinc755. The linked PDF doesn't include the addition of the extra quart.

 

 

I'm about to change my fluid in hopes of addressing some transmission issues once Milton passes through. I have enough fluid so I think I'll add the extra quart. This really has me wondering as I took the ST into the dealer and they assured me the transmission fluid was topped off after they couldn't reproduce the (admittedly very intermittent) slippage from a stop. I don't see how they could check without adding a quart after the fact, which I'm sure they would have put on my invoice. I'll do a best effort measurement of what comes out and compare that to what goes in.

Edited October 9 by DistractedDev

[DistractedDev]

I finally got around to performing a drain / fill on my 2019 ST. Rather than recap everything said, I'll post the numbers and results.

 

Fluid out: 5 qt 24 oz

Fluid in (net): 7 qt 9 oz

 

Notes:

• The net amount accounts for the spillage (6 oz) while leveling the fluid using the sight plug
• Fluid in includes the additional quart added after leveling the fluid and installing the sight plug
• Slightly elevating the passenger side with a jack while draining helps the fluid drain more quickly / completely
• Leveling was done with the fluid at 185 F while parked in my garage 

I was 1/2 qt low even before taking into account the additional quart added after leveling. Most of the lazy shifts and slow engagement is gone. There is still the occasional oddity, but these are now the exception and not the norm. I'll probably reset the adaptive learning again when I have time to properly perform the post reset procedure. Hopefully this was also the cause of the few egregiously slow engagements from a stop, but time will tell.