Hello, my name is John Kelly and this is the WeberAuto YouTube channel. Today we are going
to learn how to check the automatic transmission fluid level on a 2010 Ford Mustang GT this has the
4.6-liter engine and the 5R55S 5-speed automatic transmission this automatic transmission does not
have a dipstick instead it uses the standpipe method of checking the fluid level inside the
pan this standpipe is the drain plug in the bottom of the oil pan of the transmission but
you'll notice there's a hole in the middle of it there where another plug goes so if you want to
drain all the fluid out of this transmission you take this big plug out if you just want
to check the transmission fluid level then you have to precondition the transmission and the
transmission fluid to the proper temperature get the engine at the proper rpm run the gear
shifter through all the gears to circulate fluid through all the places it needs to be
inside the transmission and then you remove this Center plug at that point as long as you're at
the right fluid temperature if the transmission was overfilled fluid will overflow and come out
the bottom of the drain plug if no fluid comes out then you need to add the proper fluid and
add too much fluid so that it does come out the proper fluid for this particular transmission
is the Mercon 5 automatic transmission fluid now sitting right beside me here I have the Ford IDS
scan tool software setup and we are monitoring the transmission fluid temperature right now it
is showing 113 degrees now the in the instructions for checking the fluid level for this transmission
it tells us that the fluid temperature needs to be between 80 degrees and 120 degrees Fahrenheit
or 27 to 49 Celsius and then the engine rpm needs to be around 650 and then as I said
before moved the gear selector through all the gears, put it in Park, make sure it's on a level
hoist, and pull that plug so let's do that on this on this vehicle here okay we've got the
vehicle lifted on a hoist and right behind my head here as you can see is the transmission oil pan
and in that oil pan if we zoom in is the drain plug this outer piece and then the transmission
fluid level check plug the inner piece and so once we get it up to the proper temperature
we're going to have to use a hand wrench to hold the outer plug from rotating while we loosen the
inner plug with a number 27 Torx bit so once again the procedure is to start the engine let
it idle run it through all the gear ranges let it idle again, pull that plug and see a fluid comes
out or not. it's very important that the engine stay running through this entire procedure now
you're not going to have a lot of time because as soon as the fluid temperature hits 120 degrees
Fahrenheit the fluid has expanded too far and you've got to stop and let it cool down
and go again so we have to be very quick at doing this go ahead and start it whenever you're ready
now we're going to take it through all the gear
ranges stopping for a few seconds in each gear range
our fluid temperatures come down 102 with the engine running okay we're in Park they're at
102 on the fluid temperature now we're going to take the plug out that inner plug is only
tightened to 89 inch-pounds, not foot-pounds so it's not very tight and just double check
our temperature again 105, 107, so we are within that 80 to 120 degree range now
we'll just take the plug out in this case we are not getting any fluid coming out of the
transmission which means either it is too low or it's just right but we don't know which one
it is so at this point we have to shut it off and add fluid back to the transmission
but we can't shut it off unless we put the plug back in so let me grab the plug
okay with no fluid coming out of the fluid level check plug with the engine running and the fluid
at the proper temperature we don't know if the fluid level is too low or if it's at the right
fluid level that little bit that came out was just what was stuck in this tube itself above
the plug but nothing came out afterwards so the instructions in the Ford service information tell
us tell us to use a special service tool and I tried to buy that special service tools no
longer available and so I called Ford service and they said that there is a new tool that
replaces the previous one and it's from Mityvac and it's this great big pressurized fluid tank
with a Quick-Connect fitting on it and it that goes with this adapter kit right here and part
of this adapter kit has this pipe right here this pipe right here the threads right into the
bottom of that drain plug and then we have a Quick Connect fitting for that pressurized tank full of
the proper transmission fluid and then you just connect the hose to the Quick Connect fitting hose
to this pipe and pump fluid in with the engine running and then take the Quick Connect fitting
off and wait for the fluid to finish dripping out and then you will be at the proper
fluid level this kit also comes with adapters for other vehicle manufacturers all right so
let's hook this up and actually do it on this vehicle so we have to have the engine running
when we pull this plug out to put the adapter pipe from the Mity-vac kit up in it alright so
I'm going to screw in the adapter now I'm going to connect the Quick Connect fitting from the
Mity-vac adapter right there and then the mighty bat back adapter needs to be pressurized it has
a hand pump that you just pump it up with the proper fluid in you got to remember that the
fluid that's in this pressurized tank may not be the correct fluid that you need for your
transmission okay I've got it pressurized I'm going to open the valve and run some fluid end
it's better to run too much glue it in than not enough all right that ought to do it so
now when I disconnect this Quick Connect fitting whatever comes out was the overage
of fluid so we're still got a slow drip that tells us it needs more fluid still
we'll open up our valve and let more fluid flow in we are at 100 degrees adding that
new fluid has cooled it down just a little bit so we are adding room temperature fluid a room
temperature is about 85 we're up to 104 on the transmission fluid temperature, this is
several quarts low all right let's check it again there we go now we've got the fluid coming out
like it should now I can take out the adapter
put the plug back in torque it to the 89 inch-pounds while keeping
upward pressure on it because it's a one of those ridiculous Torx bits there we go
clean everything off and we are good to go let's just double check our fluid temperature make
sure we didn't exceed anything we did not we're still at 1 over 5 107 so that is the
proper method of checking the fluid level on a 2010 Ford Mustang with the 5r 55s automatic
transmission any Ford product with that same 5-speed transmission without a dipstick would
be checked the same way you always want to verify that you're running the fluid at the
correct temperature for that vehicle it may not all be at the same temperature range the
transmission that replaced this in a later model Mustangs is the 6R80 transmission and it also
does not have the dipstick that most people are used to it does have a dipstick but it's
this short little tiny thing that you still have to lift the vehicle up and get to from
underneath so they've gone away from this stand pipe method of checking the fluid to I'm not
sure a better or easier method of checking the fluid with this little tiny dipstick that comes
in from on top of the oil pan casting area so be aware that as soon as I get access to one
of those, I'll show you how to check the fluid level on those this has been a demonstration of
checking the fluid level on a Ford Mustang without a dipstick thank you for watching