Falcon 4 speed Auto Fluid Level Check
If you own a Falcon manufactured after Febuary 1996 chances are you have gone looking for the transmission dipstick and come up blank, and for good reason, they don’t have one!
Falcons made after this date have a ‘sealed’ transmission and have no dipstick, only a filler plug on the side of the transmission similar to what you would find on a manual gearbox.
This does make checking the fluid level and condition a bit more involved however with a trolley jack, two sets of chassis stands and a good quality 16mm ring spanner or socket and ratchet it can be done without too much drama. The reason I say to use good quality tools is because the plug in the transmission is usually very tight and sooo easy to round off and the only way you can be sure that this won’t happen to you is if you use quality tools.
This check should be done when the transmission fluid is cold.
The first thing to do is to jack the car up front and rear and try to get it as level as possible. It is important to use chassis stands as you will be getting underneath the car and this should not be done when the car is supported by the jack alone if you want to celebrate your next birthday!
Once you have the car level and secure, slide underneath the drivers side about in line with the front of the drivers door. This is what you are looking for; (please note in this pic the exhaust is removed as this transmission was coming out but it will give you the general idea).
The little red arrow points to the location of the plug. This particular plug was so rounded off that we had to drop the transmission down as much as possible and weld a nut to it. Shame really as the transmission was coming out but I wanted the pictures to look right!
Now with your 16mm spanner or socket fitted as squarely as possible on the plug heave on it in a anti-clockwise direction. All going well it should undo and screw all the way out with no problems. The plug has an ‘o’ ring on it to stop any fluid leaking.
When cold the transmission fluid should be level with this hole. The easiest way to get an idea of the fluids condition is to stick a clean finger in to the hole and have a look at the colour on your finger and also smell the fluid, checking for any ‘burnt’ or overheated smell.
NOTE: ‘Dexron’ type transmission fluid is not compatible with these transmissions. The correct ‘TQ95′ transmission fluid must be used.
If the fluid is not a clean red colour or if it smells like it has been hot I would advise getting a transmission service done as soon as possible. Also a good idea is to fit an aftermarket transmission cooler as the factory one is limited in it’s cooling capacity.
We have a great tutorial courtesy of Paul Taylor (Tinntter) for the fitment of two transmission coolers here. Paul fits two of them to further increase the cooling and has clocked up thousands of kay’s without a drama. Oh, and remember not to over-tighten the plug when your finished as you don’t want to have drama next time you do this job.
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hi,
excellent article.Yes,TQ95 fluid should be used.
dont use a 16mm use a 5/8 it fits better.
I have just had the misfortune of purchasing my first falcon, an XH ute….after years of driving holden utes of all types and easily servicing and checking on things myself and having never had a mechanical drama I’ve gotten a falcon having heard over the years how much better they are for towing.
I tow once to find the the transmission starts playying up only to find myself under the bonnet feeling like an idiot for an hour cause I can’t find the trans dipstick…..another monumentally bad idea from the genius of ford engineering….I’M GOING BACK TO HOLDEN!!!!!!!
Hi-Make sure that you use a SINGLE HEX socket or ring spanner, and you will be very unlikely to round off the plug.
Cheers.
Absolutely Rod, good tip, thanks for that.
It’s a 5/8 bolt all right cause the 16mm just rounded the bolt head. how fucked is that 2009 and they still using imperial bolts the tight asses. fancy not even having a dip stick that’s just unbelievable.
and the pictures above seem to show alot more room and space around the bolt than what I have . Ford suck dogs nobs.
My 4th falcon a AU – had a tail shaft seal leak. Replaced seal, bought TQ95 fluid, 45 minutes later, goggling how to fill transmission on a AU. Thanks for the tips fellas. It is a weird set up. Now I will have to jack it up again. Leave it for another day.
No worries Wayne, sure is an odd setup. Hope you managed to get it sorted.
G’day mate I have a EL Falcon and the oil is leaking between the engine and the transmission, I know it is a costly job to replace the seals and would like to put some Nulon Stop Transmission Leak Oil to my transmission, I would like to know which hose I will have to remove from my radiator that cools the transmission oil as I want to drain out the oil from the Torque Converter too when changing the transmission oil, can you guide me in this. Also if I am going to fit an aftermarket oil cooler, how to fix it and also how to block off the hole in the radiator.
Thanks & Regards,
Liston Spink
Liston….Go buy 44 galls of fluid on rotate it….OR drop your sump on the box and drain…either way it messy and you ain’t gonna save it..if thats what your after……After market cooler? why do you want to block of inlet or outlet????
i have an au got the tranny serviced now it wont select gears properly wats wrong with it!!!!
hi good article, this my second falcon , 2001 au series 2 ,my first wa a xy in 87, it will be my last, how rediculous no dpstick , talk about bad designing, just another way to try and force the hard working people of australia to part with there mone , well done ford— NOT. anyway thank you very much for the heads up , at least i wont look like an idiot now i know there isn’t a dipstick to look for.
i have a EL falcon with a 4 speed auto in it, and it doesn’t anyways go into reverse gear. what do you think it might be? the trans oil has been replaced, the fluids been changed and can’t think of anything but changing the trans. do you have any ideas?
^^^
It may be the park neutral switch. make sure its clean and connected properly. Or it may be the linkage to the trans form the shifter?
Hi,
I have a 1999 au and it has just started dripping trans fluid, I tried tightening the sump bolts but it did not help.
Do you recomend using a stop leak product or any other option?
And No dipstick? ……. What dipstick thought of that!!!!!
I doubt I will ever own another Falcon. Problematic rust buckets!
Hi Steve,
You could try one of the stop leak type products, just be aware that they are only a temporary measure, as much as the manufacturers will tell you otherwise!
If the leak is from the pan gasket (sump) there is little that you can do other than replace the gasket, tightening the bolts doesn’t often slow any leaks (as you found out). If the trans. hasn’t been serviced for a while it might be a good time to have the fluid changed and the leak looked at?
Yeah, gotta love the no-dipstick, smart way to sell heaps of reco’d transmissions because people don’t think to check or change the fluid, but not much good for anything else!!
Take care,
Craig
Hay Craig,
Why did ford do the no dipstick thing any way? All drivers know to check or get the trans checked at times. why make it a trolly jack job?
It looks like my auto is not a 5 minute fix, It is working fine at the moment I just don’t want it to die.
Thanks for your advise.
Steve
I’m not too hasty to slam ford for the omission of the dipstick. My understanding is it was done to stop people pouring dexron into it instead of TQ95. If your transmission leaks you should fix the leak, not keep topping it up. If it doesn’t leak then it wont need topping up.
No dipstick idea is quite smart really, how many manual gearboxes have a dipstick? But the correct amount of oil is just as important, the less holes in a transmission means the less foreign bodies that find their way in (dirt, water.etc) also some new european cars don’t have an engine oil dipstick, instead relying on an oil level sensor showing on the dash tge correct amount of oil required……. ya gotta love technology
I’ve just replaced the trans in my 99 au and want to be sure I get the fluid level right. With dipsticks you check at operating temp with engine running. Is this not the case with the non-dipstick tranny? If it is to be checked cold that suits me fine as the exhaust is close.
For removing the plug I found that a six point 5/8″ spark plug socket with a 100mm extension brought the ratchet handle just past the exhaust. (Ring spanner wouldn’t grip it being 12 point).
So should I check the fluid level cold without the engine running?
Also it’s in limp home mode.. What can l do about that?
Any advice would be appreciated.