99 & up 7.3L Power Stroke Engine and DrivetrainDiscussion of the 99 & up 7.3L Power Stroke diesel engine and drivetrain in the 1999-Up Super Duty trucks and Excursions. No gas engine discussion allowed except on transmissions and drivetrain that pertain to all models. Please confine discussion of topics in this forum to those items that are specific to the 7.3L Power Stroke engine.
There's no internal filter, but I believe the pickup for the pump is screened to keep out the big chunks. An excellent mod is to put a Magnefine filter in-line on the trans cooler line up by the radiator.
As was said, pull the plug on the side and stick your finger in. Fluid should be right at the hole or at a minimum, within reach of your fingertip.
I super-glued a 1/4" rare earth magnet to my drain-plug. After a 30,000 mile run on the fluid, I was amazed at the amount of gunk it collected. I truely believe these transmissions need some form of filtration, and that's one of my mods to install in the future.
Not a bad idea, but there's already a magnet in the bottom of the case behind the drain plug. The Magnefine filter gets pretty fuzzy after running for a while if you disassemble it.
there's already a magnet in the bottom of the case behind the drain plug.
Excellent point, but based on the shear volume of gunk the drain-plug magnet collected in 30,000 miles, I have to believe that my OEM magnet is saturated and ineffective after the 260,000 miles it had before I added a magnet.
No doubt a magnefine or similar device is the ticket to keep a ZF-6's inside free of debris. I have those on the power steering return hose of almost every vehicle I own, and the transmission of my wife's Honda Pilot.
Crappy cell-phone pic my homemade magnetic drain plug:
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